The Borgward 1500 RS was a racing sports car in the class with up to 1.5 liters displacement, which the Carl F.W. Borgward G. mb H. Automobil- und Motoren-Werke presented at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main in 1951. Until 1958, nine cars of this model were built and continuously developed. The Borgward RS was a successful car, but despite good engine performance, it was often inferior to the Porsche 550, which had better driving characteristics.
History
Records in Montlhéry
Twelve international records in the F class up to 1.5 liters with a car based on the Hansa 1500 on the Linas-Montlhéry circuit encouraged Borgward to participate in Formula 2 races if necessary. The top average speed of the record-breaking car with its streamlined aluminum body and 66 hp engine was 172 km/h over 1000 miles. The initiators were the former racing driver and Auto Union factory director of sports, engineer August Momberger, and engineer Martin Fleischer.
Victories on the Grenzlandring and on the AVUS
However, Borgward did not start in Formula 2, but with a two-seater racing car. Karl Ludwig Brandt had increased the output of the 1.5-liter engine to 80 hp. However, when it was used for the first time in the ADAC Eifel race on May 25, 1952, at the Nürburgring, Hans Hugo Hartmann damaged the car's rear and had to retire. Over the course of the year, the engine output increased to 90 hp and the first successes came, including victories by Hartmann at the Grenzlandring race and at the AVUS. Adolf Brudes, who was already 53, drove a second car, which set a course record for the class up to 1500 cm³ at 208.3 km/h on the Grenzlandring before retiring with engine failure.
Successes at the Nürburgring, bad luck at the Carrera Panamericana
At the Eifel race in May 1953, Brudes and Hartmann took second and third place in the sports car class up to 1500 cm³ with the car from the previous year. After six laps or 136.86 kilometers on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring, Brudes was 3.6 seconds short of victory. A revised model with a 102 hp engine and a shortened wheelbase was ready in July. Hans Klenk thus won the AVUS race on July 12 ahead of Hans Herrmann in a Porsche. One of the best results of a Borgward RS was third place overall in the first 1000 km race at the Nürburgring in 1953, driven by Karl-Günther Bechem and Theo Helfrich, behind Alberto Ascari / Giuseppe Farina in a Ferrari 375 MM Vignale and Ian Stewart / Roy Salvadori in a Jaguar C-Type. 51 vehicles started this race, and 28 reached the finish. Borgward sent two cars to the 3000 km Carrera Panamericana Rally in Mexico in 1953. Brudes suffered a serious accident at the start of the event and Hartmann was disqualified shortly before the end for exceeding the three-hour time limit for the final stage by 7 seconds following a defect. Up until then, Hartmann had been leading his class by an hour and a half over a second.
New engine, but criticism of the chassis
In 1954, Borgward started with three cars, two new builds, and one conversion from the previous year. The cars were lighter than their predecessors, but initially still had their twin carburetor engines. At the Eifel race on May 23, Bechem and Hartmann finished the race of the sports cars up to 1500 cm³ with a double victory; Brudes finished eighth. In the supporting program of the German Grand Prix, the Borgward RS drove for the first time with an injection engine. Bechem finished fifth behind four Porsche 550 Spyders; Hartmann had a serious accident and then gave up his career as a racing driver. Despite increasing criticism from drivers of the handling of the Borgward sports cars, two started for the 1954 Carrera Panamericana; both retired by accident.