Team story
Origins
The EMW initials linked East Germany's Rennkollektiv to the Eisenach factory, whose origins lay in BMW's history. In 1953 the racing collective, relocated from Berlin-Johannisthal, became the company's competition department. Edgar Barth was one of the drivers who remained with the programme and took the single-seater to the German Grand Prix.
The Formula 1 journey
The Nürburgring hosted EMW's only championship start. Barth retired without scoring points. That season the Grands Prix counting towards the title, apart from Indianapolis, used Formula 2 regulations: the R2's appearance therefore belongs among the two-litre cars, not the subsequent 2.5-litre Formula 1 machines.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of EMW
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · German Grand Prix
Edgar Barth · German Grand Prix 1953. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · EMW
No classified race result is documented for this part of EMW’s record. The entries and cars listed elsewhere on the page provide the available reference points; they should not be read as completed races.
Latest recorded appearance · German Grand Prix
Edgar Barth · German Grand Prix 1953. The recorded outcome is DNF. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
The single-seater's mechanical layout used a six-cylinder engine derived from the BMW 328. Behind the effort was a state-run collective, distinct from the small private constructors appearing at the same circuit. National racing and sports cars occupied a part of the programme that the championship calendar alone does not represent.
What remains
Work continued with EMW sports cars, later AWE, until the collective closed in 1957. Barth subsequently moved to Porsche in West Germany. His 1953 appearance remains a meeting point between those two histories: a single championship race for EMW within a more extensive East German racing programme.