Franz Seidl (cyclist)

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Franz Seidl Road cycling
Franz Seidl
Franz Seidl
To person
Date of birth November 8, 1879
date of death June 10, 1913
nation AustriaAustria Austria
discipline Track cycling
Team (s)
1898 to 1903

Franz Georg Seidl (born November 8, 1879 in Vienna - † June 10, 1913 ) was an Austrian track cyclist , automobile athlete and aviation pioneer.

Athletic career

As a cyclist, Franz Seidl was a student at the Graz training school . At the age of 16 he successfully drove his first races as an amateur . In 1898 he became a professional ; Between 1896 and 1903 he took a total of 40 first, 30 second and 15 third places on German railways and was fourth among the foreign drivers. His total earnings during this time amounted to 15,407.50 marks.

Seidl mainly drove races on the cycle race track in Vienna and also mainly on multi-seaters. He was particularly successful on the tandem , initially together with Bruno Büchner and later with Anton Huber . Seidl celebrated his most important victory in 1899 on the Kurfürstendammbahn in Berlin by winning the German Grand Prix ahead of Willy Arend .

In 1903 Seidl switched to automobile sport and drove car races in the service of the brewery owner Anton Dreher until he turned to aviation. He joined the Austro-Hungarian Autoplanwerke and was a student pilot of Adolf Warchalowski . On a long-distance flight from Vienna to Wiener Neustadt, he was a passenger of Joseph Sablatnig . The flying machine caught fire and both occupants were burned. He transferred to motor aircraft company by Karl Illner to Aspern, where he also ran a flight school. On June 10, 1913, he took off from Wiener Neustadt in the direction of Aspern , where a flight meeting took place the next day. On the approach to the airfield, Seidl crashed because he had obviously flown a curve too tight and suffered multiple serious injuries. He died while being transported to a hospital.

Web links

Commons : Franz Seidl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Borowik : 300 racing drivers in one volume . Deutscher Schriftenverlag, Berlin 1937, p. 49 .
  2. ↑ Neue Freie Presse Wien, June 11, 1913  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / anno.onb.ac.at
personal data
SURNAME Seidl, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seidl, Franz Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1913