Edgar Barth (born 26 January 1917 and died 20 May 1965) was a German racing driver who participated in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s. He also had great success racing sportscars and Formula 2.
After starting his racing career on motorcycles, he began racing BMW sportscars in East Germany in 1951. By 1952, he had started racing in East German Formula 2 with the factory Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW) team, winning the championship in 1952 and 1953.
With this success, he was allowed to race with EMW outside of East Germany in 1953. He made his Formula One debut in the non-championship 1953 Internationales ADAC Eifelrennen, finishing in fifth position. He later drove in the non-championship 1953 Avusrennen, although he retired early due to a clutch failure. He participated in his first championship race at the 1953 German Grand Prix, but again retired due to a mechanical issue.
He continued racing in Formula 2 and a variety of other motorsports throughout 1954, 1955, and 1956. Political issues prevented him from racing in West Germany for much of that time. Despite this, he caught the attention of Porsche while racing in France and was offered a factory drive with the team at the Nürburgring. Despite disapproval from the East German authorities, he participated in the event anyway.
Doing so landed him in hot water with the East German government, which subsequently banned him from racing in any motorsport event in East Germany. Knowing that he would be unable to travel outside of East Germany, Barth remained in West Germany near Porsche's factory.
While racing with Porsche in Formula 2, he raced a F2-spec Porsche RS500 for the team in the 1957 German Grand Prix, finishing in 12th position, the highest of the Formula 2 entries. He again raced in a F2 entry in the 1958 German Grand Prix, finishing in sixth position.
Barth was given his first opportunity to race a F1-spec car in a championship race at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix where he finished seventh in a Porsche 718. He raced in a variety of non-championship races in 1961, where he performed well. He was entered into the 1961 German Grand Prix but withdrew from the event.
In 1964, he was one of six drivers to race for the Rob Walker Racing Team in Formula One, participating in the 1964 German Grand Prix. This was his final Formula One appearance, having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year.
He passed away in hospital on 20 May 1965 at the age of just 48.
Formula One Career[]
1953[]
1957[]
1958[]
1960[]
1961[]
1964[]
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Pts. | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 |  EMW Rennkollektiv
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EMW | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1957 | Dr Ing F. Porsche KG
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Porsche* | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1958 | Dr Ing F. Porsche KG
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Porsche* | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1960 | Dr Ing F. Porsche KG
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Porsche | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1961 | Dr Ing F. Porsche KG
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Porsche | 0 | NC | Report |
| Porsche System Engineering
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| 1962 | Porsche System Engineering
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Porsche | Non-championship only | ||
| 1964 |  R.R.C. Walker Racing Team
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Cooper-Climax | 0 | NC | Report |
- * Classified as a Formula Two entrant.
- Italic donates as non-championship entrants.
Career Statistics[]
Career Results[]
World Championship[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||||
| 1953 | 
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||
| Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1957 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||||
| 11th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1958 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||
| 6th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
| 7th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1961 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||||
| WD | PO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964 |
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0 | NC | |||||||||||||
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| Key | |||||
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| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
World Championship[]
| Complete Non-Championship Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | Pts | Pos | ||||||
| 1953 |
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| Ret | 5th | 1st | 1st | Ret | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1961 |
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| 8th | 4th | 4th | 5th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1962 |
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| 6th | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
References[]
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