Great foreman
| Foreman | |
|---|---|
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| Great foreman | |
| Production period: | 1952 |
| Class : | race car |
| Body versions : | Roadster |
| Engines: |
Otto engine : 2.0 liters (99 kW) |
| Length: | 4100 mm |
| Width: | 1750 mm |
| Height: | 1030 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2600 mm |
| Empty weight : | 770 kg |
| Previous model | Little foreman |
The Great Werkmeister is a racing sports car that the designer Georg Werkmeister, co-owner of the Heinrich Werkmeister repair workshop and the bodywork company Werkmeister & Lerch, built as a one-off in 1952 in Dingelstädt ( Thuringia ). The body was designed by Georg Hufnagel, a former Auto Union aerodynamicist , in collaboration with Arno Dietzel, who essentially designed the frame, and Stephan Dudys. The car drove in the sports car class E up to two liters and from 1953 also in Formula 2 . At the end of 1953 - after Georg Werkmeister had relocated to the West - the People's Police confiscated the car, but it continued to take part in races.
engine
Like Veritas , AFM and EMW , Georg Werkmeister used the engine from the BMW 328 , an in-line six-cylinder with a light-metal cylinder head and hemispherical combustion chambers. The V-shaped hanging valves are operated by a camshaft below via push rods and rocker arms, the exhaust valves with additional horizontal push rods over the cylinder head and a second set of rocker arms. In the great foreman, the engine installed behind the front axle, following further development by Erich Koch and Robert Jäger, initially developed around 115 hp (85 kW), later 135 hp (99 kW) (99 kW) at 5800 rpm. The power is transmitted to the rear wheels via a partially synchronized four-speed gearbox, cardan shaft and differential .
Body and chassis
The very flat and aerodynamically favorable body of the two-door open two-seater has a tubular space frame that is welded to a main frame. To keep the weight of the car down, the main frame tubes are drilled through. The sub-floor is completely smooth. To reduce air resistance, the wheel cutouts were covered in races.
The front wheels are suspended from an overhead transverse leaf spring and lower wishbones. At the rear it is a rigid axle with longitudinal leaf springs. The car initially had lever shock absorbers on all four wheels, later telescopic shock absorbers. In 1959, the original aluminum body was replaced by one made of sheet steel with a similar shape and a taller windshield, which the car kept for around 50 years.
Technical specifications
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| Parameters | Great foreman |
| Engine: | Six -cylinder , four-stroke in-line engine , installed behind the front axle |
| Cooling: | water |
| Displacement : | 1971 cc |
| Bore × stroke : | 66 × 96 mm |
| Valve control: | lower camshaft , V-shaped overhead valves |
| Compression: | 10.5: 1 |
| Carburetor: | 3 downdraft carburetors |
| Power: | 135 hp (99 kW) at 5800 rpm |
| Maximum torque : | 185 Nm at 4500 rpm |
| Power transmission: | 4-speed with H-shift , 3rd and 4th gear synchronized, cardan shaft and differential |
| Frame: | Lattice tube welded to the main frame |
| Steering: | Rack |
| Front suspension: | Wishbone below, incumbent transverse leaf spring, telescopic shock absorber |
| Rear suspension: | Rigid axle with longitudinal leaf springs, telescopic shock absorbers |
| Brakes: | hydraulically operated drum brakes, Ø 280 mm |
| Track width front and rear: | 1375 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2600 mm |
| Tire size front / rear: | 5.50-16 / 6.00-16 |
| Length × width × height: | 4100 × 1750 × 1030 mm |
| Empty weight : | 770 kg |
| Maximum weight allowed: | 950 kg |
| Top speed: | 220 km / h |
The great master craftsman in motorsport
After the first test drives on the road between Heiligenstadt and Leinefelde at speeds of up to 220 km / h, the great foreman started his first race on September 3, 1952 at the Sachsenring . The driver was Hans Althoff, who found the car “too toxic” and did not achieve the expected success.
In the 1953 season, Karl Weber from Heiligenstadt drove for foremen. Weber, who already had four years of racing experience, took second place behind Rudolf Krause on his first assignment with the great foreman on May 3, 1953 on the Chemnitz autobahn . On June 7, 1953 in Dessau he was fourth in a field of 13 cars. Weber contested three more races that year, including on August 30th at the Sachsenring , and came third in the GDR championship in 1953. The car was now owned by the trust company Werkmeister after Georg Werkmeister left the GDR in March 1953 and lived in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1954 the great foreman started a few more times. However, he was unable to continue the last race at the AVUS in September because it was not possible to repair a damaged bearing in time.
Remaining after 1954
After the period of participation in races was over, the car remained unused for a few years before it was rebuilt in 1959 and approved for road traffic with a sheet steel body, bumpers and an engine from the EMW 340 . In the period that followed, it changed hands several times, was partially restored in 2004 and, as of November 2006, largely returned to its original condition at the instigation of the owners at the time, with an aluminum body and an EMW-328 engine that corresponds to the original BMW engine.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c dls automobile. Documentation of the restoration. Accessed September 30, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ^ Website oldtimer-tv. Accessed September 30, 2011.
- ^ Edler / Roediger: The German racing vehicles. Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-343-00435-9 , p. 151, 152 u. 182
- ^ A b c d e f Karl-Heinz Cramer: Motorsport East. In: Motorsport History. BMW Veteranenclub Deutschland, Clubnachrichten 3/2002.
- ↑ Information on the nameplate of the car.
- ↑ a b c Wolfgang Melenk: Master of Sports - The automobile racing in the GDR . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-613-02441-1 , p. 168.
- ↑ Information from the community of owners
