Karl Bodmer (racing driver)

Karl Bodmer (born November 3, 1911 in Ebingen ; † November 7, 1955 there ), also widely known under the name Karl Bodmer Ebingen , was a German motorcycle racer .

As a car mechanic , Bodmer passed his master's examination in Reutlingen in 1942 . He was interested in two-wheeled sport from a very early age, but at first he was interested in cycling and cycling in the Ebingen cycling club.

Racing career

After Bodmer bought a 500 cc racing machine from Victoria with a Sturmey-Archer engine in 1930 , he drove his first race on the Solitude and was the first to cross the finish line right away. Employed by Victoria from 1930/31 to 1933, he drove a special Victoria KR 35 with an overhead JAP engine to victory in the Teterow hill climb ahead of Toni Fleischmann on Norton . Other races in 1933 in which Bodmer took part were the Eilenriederennen with third place on a 350 cm³ Imperia , third place at the Hockenheimring on an Imperia 350 cm³, second place in the Kesselberg race on Victoria 350 cm³, third place in the fork hill climb on 500 -cm³-Victoria, second in the Würgauer mountain test drive, fourth place in the Ratisbona hill climb and victory in the Lückendorfer hill climb on a 350-cm³ Victoria.

In the years that followed, Karl Bodmer drove races on Norton, Triumph and Universal racing machines . Some successes on the Norton in 1934 were victories at the Dreifaltigkeitsberg race (500 cm³) and twice in the Wartberg race (500 cm³ and 1000 cm³).

In between 1934 and 1937 was Karl Bodmer very successful works drivers at Auto Union, reaching a 500-cm³- cargo pump - DKW in Schleiz and the Feldberg second places, the International Solitude race in 1937 third place. In 1937 Karl Bodmer won the German Grand Prix for motorcycles on a DKW and in 1938 on an NSU-350. In other races in 1937, such as the Eilenriederennen, the Solitude-race, the AVUS-race , the Eifelrennen , the Grand Prix of Europe , the Grand Mountain Prize of Germany , the Schleizer Dreieckrennen , the Hockenheimer motorcycle race and the German Mountain Championship up to 500 cm³ on DKW-Auto Union, he won or reached top positions.

From 1938, Karl Bodmer was successful as a works driver at NSU . In the first year he won the Hamburg city park race in front of 80,000 spectators and the Rund um Schotten race on NSU 350 cm³. Karl Bodmer started successfully in many races, including a. at the Sachsenring in Hohenstein-Ernstthal , in Bern , at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man , in Sweden , Spain , Belgium , in Austria , etc. Over the years, Karl Bodmer was not only given the unfortunate task of immature machines to use, such as the compressor NSU, ​​which of course led to failures due to technical defects.

During the Second World War , Bodmer worked as a driving instructor from 1940 to 1943 and then as a tank commander in the Russian campaign until 1945 and was wounded shortly before the end of the war.

As early as 1946, Karl Bodmer began to organize the first races again, such as the Karlsruhe triangle race as well as races in Neuwied , Munich and on the Ruhestein . In 1947 he was German champion at the Schauinsland race on his Königswellen -NSU, which he drove before the war . In the following years he drove a few insignificant races and was then forced to give up motorsport for health reasons.

From then on, Bodmer devoted himself to his family with his wife Klara and their four children, as well as building up his quickly well-known motorcycle business, which sells motorcycles from the brands NSU, BMW , Horex , Victoria, DKW, Vespa and the small cars from the brands that were increasingly popular in the 1950s BMW, Gutbrod and Lloyd could buy. Karl Bodmer died after a long illness at the age of only 44 years.

Race wins

year	class	machine	run	route
1938	350 cc	NSU	Hamburg city park race	Hamburg city park

References

swell

• Hans-Jürgen Bodmer, Albstadt (son of Karl Bodmer)

literature

• Ernst Hornickel: These are our racing drivers . A look over the sporty path of 24 German automobile and motorcycle racing drivers with their own reports. 2nd Edition. Karl and Alfred Walcker, Stuttgart 1941, p. 82-84 .
• Eugen K. Schwarz: Solitude 1903–1965 - The motorcycle races . Factor Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-925860-12-6 .
• Steffen Ottinger: DKW motorcycle sport 1920–1939 . From the first victories of the Zschopau two-stroke model at track races to the European championship successes. 1st edition. HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028611-7 , p. 62-63, 68, 72, 78-79, 83-98, 105-106, 113-114 .

Web links

• Master thing from Nuremberg: the racing driver
• Karl Bodmer
• Karl Bodmer on the official Isle of Man TT website.