Max Klankermeier

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Max Klankermeier (born July 9, 1909 in Munich ; † June 26, 1996 at Tegernsee ) - nickname "the Klankermaxe" - was a German motorcycle and automobile racing driver .

Career

Born in Munich, Max Klankermeier worked for 50 years as an engineer and mechanical engineer at BMW from 1923 to 1973 . There he played a key role in setting up the BMW sports department. It was the time in which BMW - teams a total of 20 world championship titles have won and Walter Zeller in 1956 in half-liter class behind John Surtees ( MV Agusta was) solo runner-up.

Klankermeier's hobby was sport. It is said that he could have been successful as a ski racer , soccer player or athlete , but he remained active in motorcycling and especially in the sidecar class . At the age of 19 he got his driver's license. Hermann Wolz was Klankermeier's constant partner in the sidecar. Wolz had another brother, Max, who drove solo races. The Wolz brothers were also born in Munich.

Max Klankermeier was an active off-road driver as early as 1934 , but only got a driver's license in 1947 because of the Second World War and also got his first title: he was junior sidecar champion. In 1948 Klankermeier and Wolz won with the 600 cc BMW team at the Bavariaring in Munich and the Rund um Schotten race, and again in 1949 at the Schottenring , the Hockenheimring , the Nürburgring , the Solitude near Stuttgart , the Donauring and the Norisring . There were also three double victories (sidecar classes up to 600 and up to 1200 cm³) at the Karlsruhe triangle race , the Schauinsland hill climb and the Hamburg city park race . With this they won the German championship title for teams up to 600 cm³ after they were runner-up behind Hermann Böhm and Karl Fuchs ( NSU ) in 1948 . Their successful year 1949 in particular brought the Klankermeier-Wolz duo a total of thirteen wins and four second places. As a bonus, third place in the sidecar DM up to 1200 cm³.

In 1950, Klankermeier and Wolz were runner-up in the 600 class with victories at the Donauring , the Schauinsland hill climb , the Norisring and “Rund um Schotten”. Only the NSU team Böhm and Fuchs were ahead of them in the final ranking . At the end of the 1950 season, Klankermeier and his partner said goodbye to road racing.

However, Klankermeier did not retire entirely from racing. In 1952 he won a gold medal with the BMW team at the international six-day race in Bad Aussee in Austria and was also an off-road driver with Hermann Wolz until 1954. From 1957 to 1961 he drove the BMW Isetta to victory five times in the International Austrian Alpine Tour. 24 more victories as a car racing driver went to Klankermeier's account, always with BMW.

In 1974 Klankermeier received by German President Walter Scheel , the Medal of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . In the last years of his life he lived in Graefelfing . Max Klankermeier died on June 26, 1996 at the age of 87.

statistics

title

  • 1947 - German junior 600 cm³ team master in a BMW (with co-driver Hermann Wolz)
  • 1949 - German 600 cm³ team master in a BMW (with co-driver Hermann Wolz)

Race wins

year class machine Co-driver run route
1939 Carriages (600 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz Hamburg city park race Hamburg city park
Carriages (1200 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz Hamburg city park race Hamburg city park
1948 Carriages (1200 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz All about bulkheads Schottenring
1949 Carriages (600 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz Eifel Cup race Nürburgring - Nordschleife
Carriages (600 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz All about bulkheads Schottenring
Carriages (600 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz Hamburg city park race Hamburg city park
Carriages (1200 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz Hamburg city park race Hamburg city park
Carriages (1200 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz International Solitude Race Solitude
1950 Carriages (600 cm³) BMW Hermann Wolz All about bulkheads Schottenring

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Klankermeier, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klankermaxe (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle and automobile racer
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 1996