Werner Haas
Werner Haas (born May 30, 1927 in Augsburg ; † November 13, 1956 near Neuburg an der Donau due to a plane crash) was a German motorcycle racer and three times motorcycle world champion on NSU .
Life
Werner Haas was born the son of a postman and completed an apprenticeship as a motor vehicle mechanic with the fleet of what was then Reichspost . In 1945 he worked temporarily in the American armed forces.
Werner Haas began his racing career on an old NSU 500 SS (NSU Bullus). The Augsburg Ardie dealer J. Wiedemann supported the young racing driver, provided him with his workshop and a 125 cc ardie, and gave him a job at Ardie as a test driver .
In 1952, Haas was successful with a self -made 125 cm³ Puch engine and the NSU race management noticed. When the works drivers Roberto Colombo and Karl Hofmann fell during training at the Solitude race in July 1952 , Werner Haas was offered a Rennfox by NSU the evening before the race. Haas took his chance and won the race, beating strong international competition.
This was a breakthrough for him, he received a contract as a works driver with NSU. In the motorcycle world championship in 1953 Werner Haas was almost unbeatable on the Rennfox in the 125 cm³ class and the Rennmax in the 250 cm³ class and became the superior world champion and German champion in both classes. As a result, he was voted German athlete of the year that year .
In 1954 Werner Haas won the 250 cc World Championship again; the title in the 125cc class was won by his teammate Rupert Hollaus , who, however, had a fatal accident during training before the race in Monza this season . He again won the German championship in both the 125 and 250 cc class. This year, Federal President Theodor Heuss presented him with the Silver Laurel Leaf , the highest state award for an athlete in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Since the FIM no longer awarded a brand world championship from 1955 , several large factories, including NSU and Moto Guzzi , withdrew from road racing with factory racing machines.
In 1955 Werner Haas, like his brother Otto, still rode off-road motorcycle racing at the NSU Geländemax, but then finally retired from two-wheeler racing in 1956. He made a living with a major DEA gas station in his hometown.
He took part in rallying with a self-built Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, and after acquiring his private pilot's license in August 1956, he began flying at the same time.
On November 13, 1956, Werner Haas carried out maintenance work on the engine of his Jodel D9 at the airfield in Neuburg an der Donau . To test it, he flew a traffic pattern, and the machine crashed at dusk from a height of 50 meters on approach. This crash ended the life of one of the most successful German motorcycle racers of the post-war period. Haas was buried in the north cemetery in Augsburg .
In various cities such as Augsburg and Neckarsulm streets were named after Werner Haas.
statistics
title
-
1953
- 125 cm³ world champion on NSU Rennfox R11
- 250 cc world champion on NSU Rennmax R22
- German 125 cm³ champion on NSU
- German 250 cm³ champion on NSU
-
1954
- 250 cc world champion on NSU Rennmax R22
- German 125 cm³ champion on NSU
- German 250 cm³ champion on NSU
- 11 Grand Prix victories
Isle of Man TT victories
| year | class | machine | Average speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Lightweight (250 cm³) | NSU | 90.88 mph (146.26 km / h ) |
References
See also
- Georg Thumshirn , racing driver and supervisor for the Ardie factory drivers
literature
- Steffen Ottinger: Around Zschopau . The story of an off-road motorcycle ride. tape 1 . Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg, Marienberg 2004, ISBN 3-931770-49-4 , p. 19-30 .
- Steffen Ottinger: Around Zschopau . The story of an off-road motorcycle ride. tape 2 . HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-036705-2 , p. 20 .
Web links
- Werner Haas on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
- Werner Haas on the official website of the Isle of Man TT (English).
- Werner Haas at motorsportmemorial.org (English)
- Werner Haas at baumgartner-thomas.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sportsman of the Year ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 93
- ↑ Thomas Reinwald: Race fame records - German motorcycle racing in the 1950s. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-7688-5312-5 . Page 59
- ↑ Werner Haas Automobile ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Robert Deininger: Augsburg: Portrait of a pilot city: a never-ending aviation story . Presse-Druck und Verlag, 1995, p. 136 ( books.google.de ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Haas, Werner |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German motorcycle racer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 30, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | augsburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 13, 1956 |
| Place of death | Neuburg on the Danube |