Before returning to Solitude in the second half of the season After the debacle at the Schottenring last year, the freshly paved route west of Stuttgart was back in action. Over 400,000 spectators were present at Solitude in 1952, when local teams were able to cheer on local teams in a motorcycle world championship race […]
GP-year 1954 – part 2
Season continues in Northern Ireland After the Tourist Trophy, the Italians in particular were challenged as they had suffered serious defeats in all categories. Thanks to superstar Geoff Duke, it didn’t look like a disaster for Gilera at this point in time, only in the premier class up to 500cc. MV Agusta and Moto-Guzzi, on […]
GP year 1954 – part 1
Before the third World Cup season with German participation Since it is difficult for some people today to talk about a motorcycle world championship for the first three years from 1949 that really deserves this name, things really started for the first time in 1952. Due to the political situation after the Second World War, […]
GP year 1953 – part 4
Early final of the 1953 Motorcycle World Championship After the title decision in the 350cc class for solo machines had only been made before Monza and Fergus Anderson (Moto-Guzzi) had already been confirmed as the new champion, the second to last lap at the Grand Prix of Nations took on particular significance. As our following […]
2023 versus 1953
Thoughts on the past 2023 season and 70 years before that Some people are familiar with the saying “everything used to be better” and we don’t want to toot that horn here. Nevertheless, everyone is allowed to think about what was better 70 years ago than today and in which areas we can be happy […]
GP year 1953 – part 3
Season continues with reinvented Ulster Grand Prix Instead of the dangerous and selective Clady Circuit, the Dundrod Circuit was used. In addition, for the first time after the Tourist Trophy and the Dutch TT, all classes were at the start again. The organizers had spent a lot on the new edition of the Ulster GP, […]
GP year 1953 – part 2
The third of 9 rounds in the Ardennes After the Dutch TT, we continued not far from Assen in Belgium to the beautifully situated Spa-Francorchamps track, which, like the track in the Netherlands, is still used today with a much improved layout. After Enrico Lorenzetti on Moto-Guzzi won the Dutch TT for the first time […]
GP year 1953 – part 1
The starting point before the second real motorcycle world championship Because the most successful pilots and works of the last pre-war years until 1939 were not eligible to participate in the first 4 years of the motorcycle world championship newly introduced from 1949, it is difficult to accept this name. The Germans had won more […]
GP year 1952 – part 4
Starting point before the last 3 Grand Prix weekends The Norton factory racing team was already severely weakened at the German Grand Prix on the Solitude due to the failure of two drivers. The reigning world champion Geoff Duke was still in hospital in Schotten, although his condition had improved so much that it was […]
GP-Year 1952 – part 3
The first German World Championship race on the Solitude The expectations of the fans, teams and pilots from Germany before this premiere were certainly low, but thanks to many fast drivers, their hopes were still very high. Many secretly hoped that there would be cause for celebration. The Solitude race track near Stuttgart had a […]