Please answer the following question: Facts: - years: 1953 , 1957 -- 1958 , 1960 , 1964 - poles: 0 - races: 5 - death date: 20 may 1965 - podiums: 0 - points: 0 - birth date: 26 january 1917 - name: edgar barth - nationality: east 1958-1964 -rrb- germany -lrb- 1953-1957 -rrb- frg west german -lrb- - wins: 0 - championships: 0 Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of edgar barth .
Answer:
edgar barth -lrb- 26 january 1917 -- 20 may 1965 -rrb- was a german -lrb- east german until 1957 , then west german -rrb- formula one and sports car racing driver .barth was born in herold .he began his career as a dkw motorcycle racer and later switched to bmw sportscars .the east german factory of bmw would become the eisenacher motorenwerk -lrb- emw -rrb- after the war .he raced these formula 2 cars even in western germany until politics prevented this .in 1957 , he emigrated to the west .barth won the 1959 , 1963 and 1964 european mountain championships -lrb- hillclimb -rrb- for porsche and also the 1959 targa florio .apart from formula 2 races with porsche 718 , he also took part in the 24 hours of le mans on numerous occasions .he participated four times in the german grand prix , the last one in 1964 for rob walker in a cooper .nine months later he succumbed to cancer , and died , aged 48 , in ludwigsburg .edgar barth 's son jurgen barth became an engineer at porsche and also went into motorsport , winning the le mans 24 hours in 1977 .