48th international six-day trip

The 48th International Six-Day Race was the team world championship in enduro sport and took place from September 17 to 22, 1973 in Dalton, USA, and the Berkshire Mountains . The national team of Czechoslovakia won the World Trophy for the eleventh and fourth time in a row. The host USA national team won the silver vase for the first time.

competition

Competition scene without details of location

organization

For the first time in its history, the event took place outside Europe.

303 drivers from 18 FIM motorsport associations were registered for the competition . Teams from twelve nations competed for the trophy standings. In addition, 25 silver vase, 50 factory and 24 club teams were at the start.

BRD and GDR each took part in the World Trophy as well as with two and one silver vase team. Austria participated in the World Trophy and Switzerland with two silver vase teams. In addition, seven club teams from Germany were at the start.

1 day

In the World Trophy, the team was led by Czechoslovakia, ahead of Italy and Germany. The GDR followed in 4th place, Austria took 10th place.

In the silver vase classification, Italy's A-team led ahead of Czechoslovakia's B-team and Spain's B-team.

2 day

In the World Trophy, the team from Czechoslovakia led ahead of the FRG and the team from Sweden. The Austrian team was in 8th place. The GDR team - as well as the silver vase team - were withdrawn by their team management because of apparently unsuitable two-stroke engine oil. It was continued in the list of results and from then on occupied 12th and last place until the end of the event.

In the silver vase evaluation, the B-team from Germany was ahead of the A-team from the USA and the team from Sweden.

3rd day

In the World Trophy, the Czechoslovak team led ahead of Austria and the Swedish team. The team from Germany took 5th place.

In the silver vase classification, the USA A team led ahead of the Spain A team and the Netherlands B team.

4th day

In the World Trophy, the Czechoslovak team continued to lead the Austrian team ahead of Great Britain. The FRG team improved to 4th place.

As on the previous day, the A-team from the USA led the A-team from Sweden and the B-team from the Netherlands in the silver vase evaluation.

5th day

In the World Trophy, the Czechoslovak team continued to lead the Austrian team ahead of Great Britain. The team of the FRG was still on the 4th place.

In the silver vase classification, the USA A-team led ahead of the Sweden A-team and the Netherlands B-team.

6th day

Of the 303 riders who started on the first day, 180 reached the finish.

Final results

World Trophy

space	team	Penalty points	Scoring points
1.	Czechoslovakia	0	944.8
2.	United Kingdom	4th	2494.1
3.	Austria	10	4128.7
4th	BR Germany	16	634.3
5.	United States	51	2530.5
6th	Sweden	303	2338.9
7th	Netherlands	718	3789.0
8th.	Belgium	838	5388.3
9.	Italy	100	531.0
10.	France	1021	3266.1
11.	Canada	1550	1877.0
12.	German Democratic Republic (a)	3000	105.4

^(a) Crew withdrew after the first day of driving due to apparently unsuitable two-stroke engine oil.

Silver vase

space	team	Penalty points	Scoring points
1.	United States (A-Team)	8th	1759.2
2.	Sweden	23	494.4
3.	Netherlands (B team)	41	2377.2
4th	Czechoslovakia (B team)	42	911.7
5.	BR Germany (B-team)	494	1543.7
6th	Belgium	500	2127.8
7th	Italy (B team)	507	1388.8
8th.	Italy (A team)	600	235.2
9.	Czechoslovakia (A team)	600	479.6
10.	BR Germany (A-team)	600	1087.6
11.	Spain (A team)	657	2524.1
12.	Canada (B team)	734	3497.4
13.	United Kingdom (B team)	831	1890.9
14th	Switzerland (B team)	871	8727.5
15th	France (B team)	995	3358.7
16.	Spain (A team)	999	2095.3
17th	Netherlands (A team)	1049	2241.8
18th	Switzerland (A team)	1112	2051.6
19th	Finland	1330	1706.8
20th	Canada (A team)	1436	3096.4
21st	France (A team)	1611	970.9
22nd	United Kingdom (A-Team)	1743	3010.7
23.	United States (B-Team)	1800	666.0
24.	German Democratic Republic (a)	2100	119.8
25th	Ireland	2184	850.5

^(a) Crew withdrew after the first day of driving due to apparently unsuitable two-stroke engine oil.

Club teams

space	team	Penalty points	Scoring points
1.	SMK EKSJO	0	1341.2
2.	SMI I	0	1368.4
3.	SMI II	1	2305.5
4th	Moto Club Costa Volpino A	2	1430.7
5.	Moto Club Bergamo	3	1075.9
6th	Amherst Meadowlarks	35	1969.6
7th	Greylock Riders	42	1264.3
8th.	Motoclub Madunia	102	7554.6
9.	ADAC Cologne	110	2377.4
10.	Golden Gators	200	1299.1
11.	Twin City Competition Riders	303	3180.5
12.	Moto Club Costa Volpino B	310	1437.4
13.	Metropolitan Police	350	1703.5
14th	ADAC Frankfurt	400	1156.0
15th	ADAC Stuttgart	447	1138.6
16.	DMV Frankfurt	502	1051.9
17th	ADAC Nuremberg	506	969.1
18th	ADAC Munich	700	1283.4
19th	Lansing Motorcycle Club	808	1805.6
20th	ADAC Heidelberg	922	1123.5
21st	Scottish ACU	1091	3143.2
22nd	RAF Motorsports ASSN.	1197	1733.2
23.	ACC of Australia	1370	3233.2
24.	Zambia Motorsports ASSN.	1743	441.2

Factory teams

space	team	Penalty points	Scoring points
1.	Zündapp II	0	320.8
2.	Jawa I	0	430.4
3.	Jawa II	0	514.4
4th	Jawa IV	0	591.9
5.	Husqvarna II	0	749.0
6th	Monark-Crescent II	0	912.9
7th	Steyr-Daimler-Puch II	3	2529.2
8th.	Triumph Engineering A.	4th	817.9
9.	Husqvarna A	5	1252.2
10.	Steyr-Daimler-Puch I.	7th	1599.5
11.	Ossa	7th	3597.6
12.	Zundapp I.	16	475.4
13.	Jawa VI	20th	1460.4
14th	Husqvarna I	23	301.8
15th	KTM Brouwer	41	1858.6
16.	Jawa V	42	755.8
17th	Penton A	49	1666.1
18th	BMW	94	1480.8
19th	Gilera A	100	183.1
20th	Rocon	177	3593.0
21st	Monark DE VOS I	200	1631.8
22nd	Triumph Engineering B.	233	1227.5
23.	Rickman	300	1720.6
24.	Monark I	303	1426.0
25th	VAC	400	1711.7
26th	KTM B	500	214.5
27.	KTM A	500	316.5
28.	Gilera B	500	664.6
29	J. Robert Racing Sport Puch Team	500	1475.5
30th	Penton B	502	814.3
31.	SWM	507	933.0
32.	Bultaco Team I	509	1710.1
33.	Monark DE VOS II	518	2157.2
34.	triumph	546	1664.6
35.	Jawa III	600	295.4
36.	CAN-AM	623	1296.8
37.	Steyr-Daimler-Puch	649	1933.6
38.	Bultaco Team II	662	2230.9
39.	Monark A.	800	871.0
40.	Dalesman	817	2427.9
41.	Jawa	823	2364.9
42.	KTM Penton	1010	1499.8
43.	Husqvarna	1011	1402.3
44.	Yamaha	1016	609.3
45.	Ossa	1017	1536.7
46.	Kawasaki	1307	525.0
47.	MZ I (a)	1500	31.0
48.	MZ II (a)	1500	74.4
49.	Zündapp	1500	370.4
50.	Simson (a)	1600	23.6

^(a) Crew withdrew after the first day of driving due to apparently unsuitable two-stroke engine oil.

Individual evaluation

class	starter	Failure / disqualification	Class winner	Penalty points	Good points
50 cc	6th	3	Gualtiero Brissoni	0	3070.2
75 cm³	8th	5	Peter Neumann	0	2981.9
100 cc	16	4th	Josef Wolfgruber	0	2660.5
125 cc	71	29	Rolf Witthöft	0	2614.5
175 cc	54	21st	Karl-Ingemar Larsson	0	2773.4
250 cc	67	29	Augusto Taiocchi	0	2666.5
350 cc	27	8th	Květoslav Mašita	0	2761.8
500 cc	36	20th	Jiří Jasansky	0	2797.2
1300 cc	18th	4th	Bengt Gustafsson	0	3048.3
total	303	123

Trivia

Already after the end of the first day of driving, all twelve GDR drivers (including two individual starts) were withdrawn from their management.

After about the seventh of a total of 13 time controls, the two-stroke machines from MZ and Simson began to produce mechanical noises from the engine, followed by a rapid drop in performance. Since the engines were sealed according to the rules and could not be opened, it was assumed that an unsuitable two-stroke engine oil was the cause. It was first decided not to send Fred Willamowski to the start on the second day in order to open the engine of his MZ and to get to the bottom of the suspicion: The piston rings were burned onto the piston, which meant that they no longer worked the cylinder wall and sufficient compression of the fuel mixture was no longer achieved. Since all machines were driven with the same engine oil, it was then decided to remove all drivers from the competition.

The engine oil was purchased from a US company. At the end of the event, they announced that they had provided unsuitable engine oil due to an error.

literature

• Eberhard Pester: World Cup with rough edges . In: Allgemeine Deutscher Motorsport-Verband (Ed.): Illustrated Motorsport . 23rd year, issue 11. Sportverlag Berlin, 1973, ISSN  0442-3054 , p. 254 .

Web links

Commons : 48th International Six-Day Tour  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Speed ​​Track Tales ISDT 1973 - USA
• 6 Days Memories - Dalton 1973
• Final report with final results , accessed on October 4, 2019