1953 EMW R2 Barth

1952-1953 seasons, when World Driver’s Championship races were held for Formula 2 cars, were perhaps the most diverse in terms of the number of teams involved, including rather exotic self-made designs and small manufacturers. One of such rare birds was Eisenacher Motoren Werke (EMW) – an East German manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles based in Eisenach. In 1953 EMW built its first single-seater R2 based on R1 sport car. The power was provided by BMW 328-based 2.0-liter, longitudinally-arranged 6-cylinder engine capable to around 135hp. The pressure of the state was high in hopes to develop a truly dominant East German Grand Prix car. But the reality was that EMW was competitive only at the national scene. EMW works driver Edgar Barth won 4 out of five races in Sachsenring, Dessau, Halle-Saale-Schleife, and Dresden-Hellerau and easily took the German Democratic Republic Formula 2 Championship. EMW also tested its abilities in West German F2 Championship, but with much less convincing result. Barth was surprisingly high in the protocol of ADAC-Eifelrennen – he finished 5^th ahead of many international names like Moss, Bira, Stuck, Pietsch, Landi and others. But in the next round at AVUS, two EMW cars in hands of Barth and Artur Rosenhammer have retired. Next round, German Grand Prix at Nurburgring,  was the only appearance of EMW on the World Championship scene. Barth qualified 24^th out of 33 cars, but retired after 12 laps with the engine failure. Next year, in 1954, EMW continued to race in East Germany, and the victory of Paul Thiel in Sachsenring and 4^th place in Bernau was the swansong of EMW F2 project. Exclusive scale model by Racing Dioramics represents Barth’s EMW R2 from the German GP.

Season	Series	Event
1953	F2WC	German GP
Driver	No.	Entrant
Edgar Barth	35	Rennkollektiv EMW
Scale	Manufacturer	Collection
1:43	Racing Dioramics
Cat. No.	Quality	Rarity
Formula143 Special Edition