Herbert Ernst (racing driver)

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Herbert Carl Otto Ernst , born Herbert Carl Otto Weubel (born January 8, 1893 in Breslau ; † after 1954 ) was a German motorcycle racer and entrepreneur.

Career

Herbert Ernst was born the illegitimate son of Meta Weubel and was later recognized by his father, the photographer Karl Reinhold Ernst, with a certificate of marital status. Ernst inherited his passion for motorcycles from his father, who was one of the first motorcyclists in Silesia . From 1913 Ernst successfully operated the newly emerging motorcycle racing and also hired himself as a mechanic.

In 1914 Ernst volunteered for World War I and initially served as a motorcyclist on the Eastern Front . In the following year he was assigned to the Air Force in Flieger Ersatzabteilung (FEA) 4 in Posen in what was then West Prussia , where he came into contact with aviation. On January 8, 1917, he married the clerk Ilse Erna Anni Schleisener with the rank of private in Opole , from whom he divorced on March 12, 1918. In 1917 Ernst was promoted to sergeant , a year later he achieved his first aerial victory . Until the end of the war in 1918, he remained at the front as an aviator and won numerous other aerial victories.

After the end of the First World War, Herbert Ernst was one of the first to devote himself to motorsport again and in 1924 he became the German 350 cm³ champion of the German Motorsport Association (DMV) on AJS . In 1926 he won the 350 run at the AVUS race in Berlin and in 1927 with victories at the Marienberg triangle race and the Kolberger bath race on his AJS, the second German championship title in the 350 class.

In the 1920s Herbert Ernst owned the general agency for the English manufacturer AJS for Silesia and Breslau at Gartenstrasse 53 in Wroclaw. From 1926 to 1930 he and his companies Ernst-Werke Motorenbau AG and Schlesische Motorenbau AG in Steinauer Straße 12 a in Breslau produced motorcycles that were considered reliable, robust and fast. The first machines had 350 cc single-cylinder engines with overhead camshafts designed by Richard Küchen . From 1927 the Ernst motorcycles were produced with MAG built -in engines with a displacement of up to 1000 cm³ , which is why the name Ernst was given the addition MAG. The 350 single-cylinder and 500 cc V2 machines were particularly successful at racing events with the racing drivers Landolph Rhode, Edgar Kittner and Orlindo Geißler. Ernst left shortly after the production company was founded and concentrated on his AJS sales. The Ernst MAG motorcycles were still sold under his name.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War , Herbert Ernst fled from the advancing Red Army from Breslau to Haag am Hausruck in Upper Austria , the birthplace of his wife Lilli, and thus lost all his belongings. A little later he moved with his family to Mannheim , where he worked for his friend and former racing colleague Ernst Ißlinger 's NSU / VW company . Not much is known about Ernst's later life. He died after 1954 after a serious illness.

statistics

title

Race wins

year class machine run route
1926 350 cc AJS AVUS race AVUS
1927 350 cc AJS Marienberg triangle race Marienberg triangle
350 cc AJS Kolberger bath race Kolberg

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wroclaw II registry office : birth register . No. 137/1893.
  2. ^ Opole registry office : marriage register . No. 2/1917.
personal data
SURNAME Ernst, Herbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ernst, Herbert Carl Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH after 1954