Georg Meier (racing driver)

Georg Meier in 1989 on the Isle of Man with the BMW 255 compressor from 1939

Georg "Schorsch" Meier (born November 9, 1910 in Mühldorf am Inn ; † February 19, 1999 in Munich ) was a German automobile and motorcycle racing driver .

Career

The "Cast Iron Schorsch" - under this martial nickname he became known - belonged to the group of racing drivers whose talent was already known before 1939, but who were then deprived of the opportunity to develop into a world-class driver by the Second World War .

Meier successfully completed his mechanic apprenticeship, which he began in 1925, in 1928. In 1929 he joined the police service of the Bavarian State Police . In 1933, in police uniform , he set out on the 2000-kilometer trip to Germany. In 1936 he switched to the Wehrmacht . From 1937 he competed in motorcycle races in a BMW . In 1938 he was able to win both the European Championship title and the German championship in the 500 cm³ class for the Munich team. In 1939 he was the first non-British driver to win the 500cc class, the so-called Senior TT, at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man on the BMW 255 Kompressor . During this time he also competed in monoposto car races for Auto Union , for which he came second in the 1939 French Grand Prix .

During the Second World War , Meier was stationed in France and served as the driver of the head of the Abwehr , Admiral Wilhelm Canaris .

After the war Meier tried again in automobile sport . In 1948 he became German Formula 2 champion with Veritas . With BMW-Motorradsport he competed with great success in motorcycle races until his retirement at the end of 1953 and won the German championships in the 500 cc class in 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1953, before he concentrated on his motor vehicle business in Munich .

Meier was voted Sportsman of the Year in Germany in 1949. He also received the Silver Laurel Leaf on January 31, 1952 from Federal President Theodor Heuss .

statistics

Motorcycling

title

• 1938 - 500 cc European champion in a BMW
• 1938 - German 500 cc champion in a BMW
• 1947 - German 500cc champion in a BMW
• 1948 - German 500cc champion in a BMW
• 1949 - German 500 cc champion in a BMW
• 1950 - German 500 cc champion in a BMW
• 1953 - German 500cc champion in a BMW

Isle of Man TT victories

year	class	machine	Average speed
1939	Senior (500 cm³)	BMW	89.38  mph (143.84  km / h )

Automobile sport

Pre-war Grand Prix results

season	team	dare	1	2	3	4th	Points	position
1939	Auto Union AG	Auto Union Type D					22nd	8th.
			DNF	2.	DNF

Legend
colour	meaning		EM points
gold	victory		1
silver	2nd place		2
bronze	3rd place		3
green	Classified, covered more than 75% of the race distance		4th
blue	not entitled to points, covered between 50% and 75% of the race distance		5
violet	not eligible for points, covered between 25% and 50% of the race distance		6th
red	not eligible for points, covered less than 25% of the race distance		7th
colour	abbreviation	meaning	EM points
black	DSQ	disqualified	8th
White	DNS	did not start
	DNA	did not arrive
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)

References

literature

• Stefan Knittel: Georg "Schorsch" Meier. His life in pictures, Delius Klasing Verlag 2011, ISBN 978-3-7688-5325-5
• Steffen Ottinger: Around Zschopau. The story of an off-road motorcycle ride . tape 1 . Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg , Marienberg 2004, ISBN 3-931770-49-4 , p. 11 ff .
• Steffen Ottinger: Around Zschopau. The story of an off-road motorcycle ride . tape 2 . HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-036705-2 , p. 17 .
• Steffen Ottinger: International Six Day Trip 2012. The story since 1913 . HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-039566-6 , p. 28-36 .

Web links

Commons : Georg Meier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Schorsch Meier Sr. ( Memento from June 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 81 kB) at ah-schorsch-meier.bmw.de
• Georg Meier on the official website of the Isle of Man TT (English).
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: Georg "Schorsch" Meier (D). www.kolumbus.fi, September 5, 2014, accessed September 13, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information given by the Federal Government to the Bundestag on September 29, 1973, printed matter 7/1040, Annex 3, pages 54 ff., Here page 68