Wilhelm Noll (racing driver)

In front Willi Faust / Karl Remmert, behind Noll / Cron at the Dutch TT 1955

Wilhelm Noll (born March 15, 1926 in Kirchhain ; † January 18, 2017 there ) was a German motorcycle racer .

Life

After finishing school, Noll began an apprenticeship as a motor vehicle mechanic in a Mercedes workshop in Marburg in 1940, which he completed in 1943 with a journeyman's examination. Shortly afterwards he suffered poisoning while doing repair work in an armaments factory in what is now Stadtallendorf , but was drafted into the military in the course of 1944. He came to a unit that repaired trucks with wood gasifiers . In 1963 he took over his father's business, a car dealership with a repair shop and car rental. He was also a self-employed driving instructor. In 1964, Noll built a new workshop and exhibition building on Niederrheinische Strasse in Kirchhain. He ran this dealership together with his wife until 1990.

Beginnings as a racing driver

Noll's career as a racing driver began in 1948, when he and his co-driver Fritz Cron , whom he had known since childhood, started for the first time in a race in Cologne and took second place in the sidecar class . The motorcycle was a BMW R 66 , which the two had exchanged for a DKW NZ 350 at a scrap dealer and built for a year until it was ready for use. The R 66, built from 1938 to 1941, had a 600 cc boxer engine with 30 hp as standard. The young racing drivers found support from Noll's father, Emil Noll, through whose business contacts the sidecar for the team, parts to improve the engine and racing clothing could be procured. At the end of 1952, Noll / Cron wanted to end their racing career or at least interrupt it because Wilhelm Noll attended the motor vehicle master class in Bielefeld . But at the end of the year BMW offered the two of them a works contract for the 1953 season. At the Nürburgring in May 1953 they won the Eifel race over 5 laps (114.050 km) in 1: 04: 05.6 hours with 3.1 seconds ahead of the Norton team of Cyril Smith / Les Nutt.

World championships and records with BMW

1954 the team Noll / Cron won on a plant - BMW the first of a total of 22 world titles , the German team rider to 1982 ( Werner Schwärzel won). Noll / Cron took the title ahead of the British Eric Oliver / Les Nutt. In the penultimate race of the 1954 season on September 12th in Monza, Noll / Cron won with almost a minute ahead of Smith / Dibben from England. They drove the 16 laps or 100.8 km with their fully faired BMW team in 40: 19.1 minutes, average speed 149.968 km / h. They also achieved the fastest race lap with 153.243 km / h. After this race, Noll / Cron were established as world champions. In the same year Wilhelm Noll set six world records for three-wheeled vehicles up to 1200 cm³ in Montlhéry, but without a co-driver and instead with 60 kg of ballast. The best performance was 184.95 km / h over 50 km, driven with a standing start .

In 1955 Noll-Cron were vice world champions behind Willi Faust / Karl Remmert and in front of Walter Schneider / Hans Strauss and in 1956 they won the world championship for the second time in front of Fritz Hillebrand / Manfred Grunwald on BMW and the British Pip Harris / Ray Campbell on Norton . On October 4, 1955, Wilhelm Noll set the absolute speed record for three-wheeled vehicles over a kilometer and a mile on the autobahn between Munich and Ingolstadt at 280.2 km / h on a fully faired 500 cm³ BMW, with an output of around 75 hp.

Noll / Cron achieved eight Grand Prix victories in their career. They were German champions twice and runner-up in the sidecar class three times. Noll / Cron also won the Feldberg race five times , making them the most successful drivers on this racetrack.

After the active time as a motor sportsman

After the end of the 1956 season, Noll / Cron ended their racing career. Noll remained connected to motorsport. He held high positions at the German motorcycle sport association OMK, the predecessor of the DMSB, he was DMV President and FIM Vice President and long-standing German member of the FIM Road Racing Commission (CCR).

Wilhelm Noll died in January 2017 at the age of 90. A little later, on April 29, 2017, his long-time co-pilot and friend Fritz Cron died at the age of 92.

Long after his active career, Noll was once asked about his economic success as a motorcycle racer, whereupon he said: "It didn't cover costs - but it was fun." a short but happy career in which they were spared serious accidents and injuries.

Awards

After winning the World Cup in 1954, Wilhelm Noll and Fritz Cron received the “ Silver Laurel Leaf ” from Federal President Theodor Heuss , the highest sporting award in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1990 Noll was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic. At the award, District President Alois Rhiel also praised the assumption of entrepreneurial responsibility. In Kirchhain, where he was born, a street is named after Wilhelm Noll.

statistics

title

• 1954 - World team champion in a BMW (with co-driver Fritz Cron)
• 1954 - German team master in a BMW (with co-driver Fritz Cron)
• 1955 - Team Vice World Champion in a BMW (with co-driver Fritz Cron)
• 1956 - World team champion in a BMW (with co-driver Fritz Cron)
• 1956 - German team master in a BMW (with co-driver Fritz Cron)

8 Grand Prix victories

In the motorcycle world championship

(Points in brackets including deletion results )

season	class	machine	Co-driver	Victories	Podiums	Points	Result
1952	Sidecar	BMW	Fritz Cron	-	-	1	11.
1953	Sidecar	BMW	Fritz Cron	-	1	5	6th
1954	Sidecar	BMW	Fritz Cron	3	6th	30 (38)	World Champion
1955	Sidecar	BMW	Fritz Cron	2	4th	28	2.
1956	Sidecar	BMW	Fritz Cron	3	4th	30th	World Champion

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Noll  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Rolf Eggersdorfer: Wilhelm Noll on the 86th birthday. www.eggersdorfer.info, accessed on June 15, 2014 . 
• DMV: Obituary for Wilhelm Noll. www.dmv-motorsport.de, archived from the original on February 4, 2017 ; accessed on April 25, 2020 . 
• Wilhelm Noll (racing driver) on the Isle of Man TT official website .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Kirchhain, Sport . Retrieved April 30, 2021.
2. ↑ Important Kirchhainers . Retrieved April 30, 2021.
3. ↑ Munzinger.de.Retrieved April 30, 2021.
4. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC Eifelrennen . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2009, ISBN 978-3-86852-070-5 .
5. ^ Yearbook of International Motorsport . Edited by ADAC and AvD, Europa-Contact Verlags-GmbH, Döffingen 1954.
6. ↑ Fahrzeugbilder.de. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
7. ↑ Speedweek.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
8. ↑ Günther Wiesinger: Sidecar World Champion Wilhelm Noll is dead. Www.speedweek.com, January 19, 2017, accessed on May 30, 2017 . 
9. ↑ † FRITZ CRON: THE WORLD CHAMPIONS UNITED. (No longer available online.) Www.dmv-motorsport.de, May 3, 2017, formerly in the original ; accessed on May 30, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.