powerful starter - won't crank the engine -wtf?

After our visit at the small, but very nice Bug meeting in Schermbeck yesterday - here are a few pics:

I noticed an unfaithful sound during engine start. I knew from the beginning that the starter's pinion did not fully cover the flyweels's teeth - but a few people convinced me that this is no problem and they used this configuration for some times. Yesterday evening the starter worked- but didn' crank the engine over! So I removed the starter today for closer inspection:

 from the outside everything looked perfect, but...

 caries! - big time... luckily the flywheel is still intact!

no wonder the engine didn't start! - the teeth didn't mesh any more at all!

As so many times before, Ralf stepped in - with an array of starters, to help me out! He even did a Pizza Starter delivery service - right to my garage!
Once more: THANK YOU for helping me out!