Terugblik: de gloriedagen van de BMW motorfiets met compressor

Munich. "Asking me about the most impressive experience in my racing career,
you will make my mind wander back to the year 1939 on that classic island in
the Irish Sea, where the world-famous Tourist Trophy has been held for almost a
century against the toughest competition you can imagine in international
motorsport."

These were the words in 1948 of Georg "Schorsch" Meier in thinking back of his
"most wonderful victory" which now lies 70 years in the past and has long
become a legend - for Georg Meier was the first non-English rider to win the
Senior Tourist Trophy on his BMW compressor machine. This outstanding victory
marked the climax of a long development. BMW had started to test compressor
technology in motorcycle racing back in the late '20s and Ernst Henne's world
records in 1929 had clearly proven that BMW's supercharged engines were able to
offer the very best in power and performance.

Even though this new technology was not yet absolutely reliable at the time,
with
BMW deciding to still use naturally aspirated engines in some races, the
Company's compressor engines already scored their first success on the road
back in 1929: Hans Soenius in the 500-cc and Josef Stelzer in the 750-cc class
brought home the first championships with supercharged engines in 1929. The
second generation of BMW's supercharged works motorcycles then made its
appearance in 1935, now featuring a modern, welded tubular frame destined to
enter series production just a year later in the BMW R 5 and R 6. Now equipped
with two overhead camshafts driven in each case by a side shaft, the engine was
a brand-new development, just like the foot-shift four-speed transmission.

1937/1938: success on the race track.
With Karl Gall and Ludwig "Wiggerl" Kraus standing out as the most successful
riders in the early years, Otto Ley joined the BMW works team in the following
season. It was also in the 1937 season that BMW's machines were upgraded by
fitting the rear wheel suspension already tested and proven in six-day races,
thus setting off the last disadvantages versus the international competition.
As a result, Gall and Ley soon became the most successful riders in the 500-cc
class, and Jock West became the first English rider on the BMW Works Team,
surprising everybody through his outstanding win in the Ulster Grand Prix in
Northern Ireland. And had Karl Gall not been forced to retire while leading the
European Grand Prix in Berne, Switzerland, BMW would also have won the European
Championship decided for the last time this year in a single race.

BMW's compressor machines scored their greatest success on the track in 1938,
when offroad rider Georg Meier entered his first season on the tarmac, winning
the German, Belgian and Italian Grand Prix as well as the Dutch Tourist Trophy
and bringing home victory in Hockenheim, Nuremberg and in the Eilenriede Race.
This, clearly, meant both the European and the German Championships.

But there were also bad days in 1938 - for example on the Isle of Man. BMW had
sent three motorcycles to the Senior TT on the Isle of Man, with Georg Meier,
English rider Jock West and Austrian Karl Gall on the starter grid. Gall
suffered a severe accident in practice and Georg Meier was forced to retire on
the very first lap due to a defective spark plug. The only good news was Jock
West bringing home fifth place for BMW, improving his position over the
previous year by one place in the final list of results.

Going for it: careful preparation for racing in 1939.
To quote Georg Meier, "this did not discourage us in any way in our plans to
enter this challenging race with the same works team also in the years to come.
So together with BMW's small Racing Department we arrived in Douglas in good
time, since the official practice sessions started fourteen days before the
race. Early in the morning, at the break of dawn, we were already out there on
the roughly 60-kilometre-long island track where people claimed that" only an
English rider was able to win the race". And believe me, the circuit with all
its substantial challenges really demanded the utmost of the rider. The big
advantage was that early in the morning the roads were absolutely empty, apart
from the riders themselves, a few officials and the mechanics working
untiringly on their jobs - the big crowd and all the spectators were not there
yet."

Still, BMW's compressor machines from Germany were the subject of close
scrutiny and observation - which is no surprise, considering that the Type 255
BMW RS 500 was not be underestimated: Displacing 492 cc, these outstanding
machines developed 60 horsepower at 7,000 rpm thanks to their mechanical
supercharger.

To keep the rider in control, properly handling all this power at such high
speeds, the engines featured side shafts leading into the two cylinder heads
where two overhead camshafts in each cylinder head controlled the gas cycle.
Benefiting from low weight of just 138 kg or 304 lb, the compressor BMW had a
top speed of more than 220 km/h or 136 mph, provided the rider was consistently
crouching down over the machine. So within just a few hours after practice, the
TT Magazine presented exact studies of the three riders and the speed recorded
in each case.

Terrible news: Karl Gall killed in an accident.
The 1939 TT was a tragic event for Karl Gall, before the race had even started:
On 2 June 1939 Gall once again suffered a severe fall in practice on the jump
over Ballaugh Bridge. And this time he was so badly injured that he died eleven
days later. Once again, therefore, the Tourist Trophy had proven its reputation
of being the toughest road race in the world.

Despite this tragedy, BMW decided to remain in the race. "But I was really
under
great mental stress at the start, with each rider setting out in thirty-second
intervals," states Georg Meier in retrospect, looking back at 16 June 1939.
Meier nevertheless rode a fantastic race, setting up a new lap record in the
very first lap and leading the race ahead of his 42 competitors right from the
start. In lap two he improved his own record once again, becoming faster and
faster as the race continued: "I was able to complete the seven laps without
any significant incidents and I received good news from the pits every time, so
that I knew exactly what was going on. Filling up the tank twice in about 17
seconds, which allowed me to change my glasses and have a refreshing drink,
went very well. And then, after 2 hours and 57 minutes, I at last saw the man
with the blackand-white chequered flag waving me in as the winner. What I
really wanted to do most at that point was literally kiss and hug my wonderful
machine with its white-and-blue colours on the tank which, apart from all those
flies on the wind deflector, still looked brand new, without the slightest
trace of oil or any signs of the incredible race we had just been through."

Meier's average speed was exactly 143.723 km/h or 89.108 mph, again a
sensation. As the next rider to cross the finish line, Jock West came in two
minutes later on his compressor BMW, giving the Company a perfect one-two
victory, especially as he was more than half a minute ahead of rider number
three F.L. Frith on a Norton.

Beaten only by the rules.
Now, at the very latest, the BMW compressor machine was regarded as unbeatable.
So when after World War II German riders were initially banned from
international racing, they simply continued racing their compressor motorcycles
in national events. And in most cases BMW finished right at the top, with Georg
Meier on his compressor machine (which he had hidden in a barn during the War)
bringing home all German championships from 1948-1950. During these four years
the works racing machines saw a number of modifications before the last
national race with compressor motorcycles took place on the Grenzlandring
Circuit in September 1950. From now on German manufacturers and riders were
once again able to enter international sports events, but here supercharged
engines had been banned since 1945. So in response BMW converted some of the
compressor machines to natural aspiration technology.

As a result of this ongoing development and modifications in the post-war
years, hardly any of the works racing machines still in existence today are now
in their pre-war condition. Even the works machine on display in the BMW Museum
features the modifications made for the last few races. And while BMW knew the
whereabouts of a racing machine in pre-war trim, the famous owner of this
motorcycle enjoyed the machine himself regularly at racing events and for years
would not even consider selling it: John Surtees, the only racing driver to win
both the Formula 1 and the Motorcycle World Championship. He had bought the BMW
in disassembled form in the early '80s, restoring this unique machine in a
painstaking process and with a clear focus on the original. But in the meantime
this unique machine has returned to its first "home" and is regularly entered
in historical events.