Otto Ley

Otto Ley (born September 30, 1903 in Nuremberg ; † October 29, 1977 ) was a German motorcycle racer .

Career

Otto Ley completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker at Triumph and then worked in the run-in department. Ley began motorcycle racing on the cement track at Reichelsdorfer Keller on a Triumph powered by a JAP racing engine. With a regular two-stroke triumph, he won various reliability drives and hill climbs. As a result, Otto Ley bought a racing engine from JAP, the most powerful overhead steering 1000 cm³ engine of that time with an output of over 50  hp .

Then employed as a works driver at Triumph, he and his works driver colleague Toni Fleischmann ( Heiner Fleischmann's older brother ) were successful in many races with Triumph. During 1931 and 1932 Otto Ley used JAP racing engines with 1000 cc and vertical shaft racing engines from MAG with 350 cc. In 1930 he became German track master in the class up to 350 cm³, in 1931 again German track master this time up to 1000 cm³ displacement and additionally German mountain master in the class up to 350 cm³. In 1932 Ley was again German mountain champion and also runner-up in the road championship up to 350 cm³ . Otto Ley won a total of six German championship titles in his career.

Ley finished the flying kilometer from Nuremberg near Altenfurt victorious:

“The highlight of the day was the competition between machines up to 1000 cm³. The Nuremberg Otto Ley (Triumph) demonstrated his superior class with very daring driving, getting the last out of the machine, and achieved the best time of the day with 171.482 klm./hour mean. The Ardie driver Thumshirn was second at 163 kilometers per hour. "

- Nuremberg newspaper

After the Triumph racing team was dissolved in 1932, Otto Ley bought a Norton racing machine and used it very successfully as a private driver before moving to DKW in 1934, and then joining the BMW works team a year later . With BMW he was again very successful and won various races, including a. at the race at the Hockenheimring in 1937. Otto Ley then ended his career as an active racing driver and opened a vehicle shop in Nuremberg.

literature

• Matthias Murko: motorcycle legends . W. Tümmels, Nuremberg 1994, ISBN 3-921590-27-2 .
• 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. 61-94, 114, 118 .

Web links

• The racing driver Otto Ley