Karl Otto Stegmann

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Karl Otto Stegmann (born May 28, 1901 in Oelsnitz / Erzgebirge , † May 1930 in Czechoslovakia ) was a German motorcycle racer .

Career

Karl Otto Stegmann, who comes from Oelsnitz in the Ore Mountains , was a prominent motorcycle racer in the late 1920s. He was considered to be extremely talented and had strong nerves and is said to have been handicapped by severe visual impairment that forced him to wear glasses with over 4.5 diopters . Stegmann ran a motorcycle shop in the Neuoelsnitz district of Oelsnitz together with his racing driver colleague Erich Sonntag and was a member of the Oelsnitz motorsport club .

Stegmann started on a standard Mabeco , with which he was able to celebrate a victory in the 750 cm³ category in his hometown in 1924. In 1926 he won the 750 cm³ run of the Schleizer triangle race on a private AJS . 1927 Stegmann was the works team of DKW appointed and represented the Zschopauer manufacturers in all the major races. He achieved his first podium place for DKW in 1927 at the Lückendorf hill climb . A little later he won the Grillenburger Dreieck and celebrated further podium places in Schleiz and at the Schauinsland hill climb near Freiburg im Breisgau .

In 1928 Stegmann won the half-liter classification in Lückendorf and a little later came second in the 500 cc category in the AVUS race behind his brand colleague Ernst Zündorf . At the end of June 1928 he was second behind Toni Bauhofer ( BMW ) in the Marienberger Dreieckrennen in the 500 cc class and had to admit defeat to Arthur Dom ( standard ) by only a few tenths of a second in the half-liter run of the event . A little later he won the Schauinsland hill climb with the fastest time of all motorcycles. In addition, Stegmann won the Buckower triangle race in 1928, beating the German 500 cc champion of the season, Hans Soenius . At the end of the season he achieved podium places in the autumn race at the Berlin AVUS and in the circuit race in Königsbrück .

From 1929 Karl Otto Stegmann started for the works racing department of BMW , for which he set a world speed record in the 750 cc category. In his first season for the Munich team , he won the Zbraslav – Jíloviště hill climb in Czechoslovakia , the Klausen Pass race and with the best time of the day and a new record at the Lückendorf hill climb. He also achieved podium places at the Eilenriederennen , at the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix in Prague - Zbraslav and at the German Grand Prix on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring . Before the last championship run of the season on the Schleizer Dreieck , Stegmann, his BMW team-mate Hans Soenius and DKW driver Josef Klein were tied at the top of the 500 cc overall standings. Stegmann led the race with his supercharged machine, but had to retire due to damage to the rear tire. Soenius finally won and secured his third German championship title in a row in the half-liter category.

In the 1930 season, Stegmann won the over 500 cc class on a BMW at the Eilenriederennen in Hanover and in the half-liter category with the best time of the day at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest .

In May 1930 Karl Otto Stegmann had a fatal accident in a 750 cc BMW while training for the Zbraslav – Jíloviště hill climb near Prague at the age of 28. The accident happened shortly after the start. Stegmann suffered several broken bones  - including a pelvic fracture  - as well as internal injuries to which he succumbed a little later in a hospital without having regained consciousness.

There are different details about the date of death or accident. While some sources state Thursday, May 8, 1930, others speak of May 10 or 11, 1930. Death news in daily newspapers is from Monday, May 12, 1930.

After the accident, the BMW works team withdrew their machines from the race weekend. Stegmann was buried on May 12, 1930 with great sympathy in the cemetery of his hometown Oelsnitz. His tombstone still exists today.

Race wins

year class machine run route
1926 750 cc AJS Schleizer triangle race Schleizer triangle
1927 500 cc DKW Lückendorfer hill climb Gabler Street
500 cc DKW 4th big triangle trip of the DMC 1914 Grillenburger triangle
1928 500 cc DKW Lückendorfer hill climb Gabler Street
DKW Schauinsland hill climb
DKW Buckower triangle race Buckower triangle
1929 BMW Mountain race Zbraslav – Jíloviště
BMW Klausenpass race Klausen Pass
1930 500 cc BMW Eilenriederennen Eilenriede
500 cc BMW Hungarian Grand Prix Budapest

References

literature

  • 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. 121 .
  • Uta Pasler: Tomb of the racing driver back in Oelsnitz . In: Free Press , Stollberger Zeitung . October 8, 2014, p. 11 .
  • Gerhard Herber: The Grillenburger Sachsenring 1927–1933 . The story of a forgotten racetrack. 1st edition. Lotos Druck GmbH, Reichstädt 2005, ISBN 3-00-015943-6 , p. 87 .
  • Woldemar Lange / Jörg Buschmann: The great days of DKW motorcycle racing . 1920 to 1941 (Zschopau). Bildverlag Böttger GbR, Witzschdorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-937496-29-0 , p. 181 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred Jacobs: On the move (part 2) - The 1929 season. Www.motorradonline.de, 2008, accessed on September 27, 2016 .
  2. ↑ cf. Oettinger and bmw-grouparchiv.de
  3. ↑ a b cf. www.motorsportmemorial.org
personal data
SURNAME Stegmann, Karl Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuoelsnitz
DATE OF DEATH May 1930
Place of death Czechoslovakia