Formula One driver motorcycle racer
He began his career as a DKW motorcycle racer and later switched to Bayerische Motoren Werke sportscars. The East German factory of Bayerische Motoren Werke would become the Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW) after the war. He raced these Formula 2 cars even in Western Germany until politics prevented this.
In 1957, he emigrated to the West.
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 Jürgen Barth became an engineer at Porsche and also went into motorsport, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1977.