Hans Hieronymus

Hans Hieronymus (born April 18, 1902 in Nuremberg ; † unknown) was a German motorcycle racer .

After completing school, Hans Hieronymus started at Zündapp in Nuremberg and became one of the most successful drivers of this brand. As early as 1923 he celebrated his first victory on the Berlin AVUS with a 246 cm³ Zündapp.

Racing career

Hecker

In 1924 Hieronymus von Zündapp switched to Hecker in Nuremberg as a works driver . There he ran successfully on the lateral and overhead-350 cc - four-stroke engines at different railway, mountain and road racing and off-road rides and ice racing. However, these 350 series engines manufactured by Scharrer & Groß were not very reliable over long distances.

Ermag

One day, Hans Hieronymus met the well-known designer Albert Roder . Roder was responsible for the very fast, overhead controlled 246 cm³ machines that were built by the Erlanger company Ermag (Erlanger Maschinenfabrik AG). These already had hairpin valve springs for high speeds of over 5000 rpm. This 250 was actually a racing engine with its 12  hp . From the end of 1925 Hieronymus went to Ermag in Erlangen as a works rider and won victory after victory with this motorcycle. He went in October 1926, the fastest time of all machines in Feldberg race against 128 competitors at the engine to 1,000 cc engine capacity went to the start. Economic problems at Ermag then led to another switch to Zündapp at the beginning of 1927.

Zündapp

Zündapp mainly participated in reliability drives and less in speed competitions and did not build pure racing machines. That was actually not what Hieronymus intended. He then built his own track racing machine with an overhead controlled 248 cm³ JAP engine, which he successfully used in numerous track and hill climbs. Hieronymus also won the three-day trip in the Harz Mountains, the international five-country trip and countless other competitions. From 1927 onwards, Hans Hieronymus won the Grand Touring Tour of Czechoslovakia ten times in a row .

After falling during a test drive with a test model in 1936, he was forced to end his racing career. The reason was a blocking gear. Jerome landed on a tree and was unconscious in the hospital for sixteen days.

Finally he settled in Witten an der Ruhr.

References

literature

• Automuseum Nettelstedt: Automobile Chronicle Issue 2/1972. Uhle & Kleimann oHG, Lübbecke 1972
• 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. 10 .
• 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. 16 .
• 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. 19-20 .

Web links

• The racing driver Hans Hieronymus