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• Sport: Kreidler van Veen 50 cc racing machine circular saw
• In detail: KREIDLER VAN VEEN 50 cm³ racing machine

Nakamura

motorcycles

Sport: Kreidler van Veen 50 cc racing machine

Sport: Kreidler van Veen 50 cc racing machine
circular saw

Content of

If you want to make it big on a shot glass GP racer, you have to start very small. We had the chance to experience this for ourselves while riding a Kreidler Van Veen from 1971.

Uli Holzwarth

07/14/2011

Actually, I thought that nothing could shake me anymore, because I’ve already moved pretty much everything that has two wheels. The first kilometers with Kreidler’s 50cc GP racer teach me better: there is no motorcycle that is even nearly as difficult to drive as this shot glass burner.
Neither Honda’s capricious six-cylinder 250cc, which insultedly stops working under 8000 tours. Still the 1989 Derbi from Manuel Herreros, the last 80’s world champion. Although here – as with the Kreidler Van Veen – who can also touch the ground with both knees at the same time, doesn’t catch the hook when clearing her throat. Of course, the Kreidler cannot be compared with one at all “normal” Motorcycle that weighs significantly more than the driver. With this racing toddler, however, exactly the opposite is the case. That’s why I’m very happy to be able to complete my laps with my 50s on the Ardennes circuit at Spa-Francorchamps in untypical sunshine.
I owe this lesson to the two-stroke enthusiast Jean-Marie Compère. While most of the 50 or so Van Veen Production Racers, who dominated the starting fields of the schnapps glass class for 15 years with their typical orange and green, now eke out their existence as valuable exhibits in collectors’ hands, the Belgian has his two GP Kreidler With a lot of feeling and expertise, restored to its original, ready-to-drive condition. One of them is the rare 1971 factory machine from Jan de Vries, the other a Production Racer, also from that time. Although the latter was driven by some Belgian private drivers, most recently by the 50 cubic champ and later sidecar GP driver Chris Baert, it corresponds to the series status. Which is remarkable because most of the production racers normally had to work hard to squeeze the last tenth of the horsepower out of the little engine.
Starting is still the easiest
Kreidler’s GP-Renner requires a driving technique that has nothing to do with normal motorcycling. It starts with the fact that you have to fold yourself over the sensually shaped tank in such a way that every average European gets cramps at the sight of it. But the pilot has no time to think about where it tweaks and tweaks because he has to do so many things at the same time. While larger bikes allow a little relaxation, at least on the straights, you have to concentrate like crazy on the Van Veen to offer the wind as little contact surface as possible. But I’m just too long and awkward to hide behind the arrow-shaped disguise. Even a slight uprighting immediately costs 1500 tours – and of course speed.
At 17 hp, cornering speed is what counts
However, all of this is rather secondary; because the main problem of every shot glass pilot is to keep the engine in the usable speed range. The Krober tachometer only starts at 8000 tours. However, if you run the engine at such low speed, the spark plug will clog in no time. So pull the clutch and catapult the needle into the five-digit range. At 12,000 revolutions, it goes ahead, albeit at a rather leisurely pace. Usable performance can be achieved with clutch support around 2000 tours later, only then are all 17 horses fully assembled. Now comes the trickiest part: The narrow speed range only goes up to just under 16,000 tours. If you turn higher, you risk major engine damage. The driver has to keep trying with the clutch slipping to keep the machine in its comfortable range of 14,000 to 15800 revolutions. Which of course means real work at high speed on such a winding course as Spa, especially since the 50-cubic dwarf hungry for revs is always screaming for the right pair of gears from the six-course menu.
Nothing works without a slipping clutch
It also took a tremendous amount of willpower to be at the forefront of the 50s. After all, all rivals sat on machines that were basically identical, be it in terms of technology or performance. In order to achieve more engine speed and speed, it was necessary to use every opportunity to slipstream. Which gave overtaking maneuvers a drama that we otherwise only knew from the last lap in the Daytona Oval. And all of this with a motorcycle whose minimalist construction is maximally receptive to the smallest of impulses. It is a ride on the razor blade, like a permanent test of skill, during which you have to juggle the clutch, gas and gearshift lever continuously and at the same time hit the best line without rough waves so that you are not catapulted out of the saddle by the tight suspension. Quite stressful at top speeds beyond the 200 mark: At the 1973 Grand Prix of Spa, which was still held on the old 14.1 kilometer circuit, the officials Jan de Vries’ Kreidler stopped at 202 km / h, the average speed was incredible 162.224 km / h.
With every round on the Kreidler Van Veen, my respect for these 50s jockeys grows, whose talent I am only now really aware of. In England they were always called “Tiddler”, the paddlers because they could push their little bikes while sitting. But their skills are in no way inferior to those of the famous heroes of the 500 class and deserve respect and admiration. Anyone who doubts this because they think they have already ridden everything that has two wheels should simply sit down on a 50cc race bumblebee like the Kreidler.

In detail: KREIDLER VAN VEEN 50 cm³ racing machine

history
Kreidler was the most successful brand in the schnapps glass class, winning a total of six drivers ‘and seven constructors’ world championships. The key to success was a resolution by the world association FIM, which from 1969 only allowed single-cylinder engines with a maximum of six gears in the 1950s. As a result, the Japanese, who had dominated until then, withdrew from the smallest class and left the field to the Europeans. Kreidler had already ended his work at the factory four years earlier, but then supported Hendrik van Veen, the Dutch importer, in building the GP racers. A successful German-Dutch community that Jan de Vries crowned with the first world championship title in 1971. The engine developed by the two-stroke guru Jorg Moller also formed the basis for the Van Veen Production Racer, which dominated the starting fields in the 50s World Cup until Kreidler was eliminated in 1982. In the end, the balance sheet shows 68 victories for Kreidler in the 50 GP class. In addition to Jan de Vries (1971 and 1973), Henk van Kessel (1974), Angel Nieto (1975), Eugenio Lazzarini (1979) and Stefan Dorflinger (1982) won their world titles on a Kreidler Van Veen.
technology
For the development of the racing engine in accordance with the 1969 FIM regulations, Hendrik van Veen engaged the German engine specialist Jorg Moller. The missed the 50-cubic engine with
40 millimeter bore and 39.7 millimeter stroke a water-cooled cylinder and rotary valve control. The engine, which was used until the early 1980s, performed in Jan de Vries ?? World champion machine from 1971 around 17 hp, later tuners like Herbert Rittberger elicited up to 22 hp from the ultra-compact motor, which corresponds to a liter output of an incredible 440 hp. Thanks to the horizontal cylinder, the motor could be hung underneath the stable tubular lattice frame. The reward: a very low-profile motorcycle with good aerodynamics, perfect for slipstream duels.
Data
Engine: Liquid-cooled, rotary valve controlled single-cylinder two-stroke engine, bore x stroke 40 x 39.7 mm, 50 cm³, power 17 HP at 14500 / min
Power transmission: six-disc aluminum dry clutch, six-speed gearbox, chain drive
Chassis: Van Veen tubular space frame made of chrome molybdenum tubing, telescopic fork at the front, Ø 30 mm, two-arm swing arm made of tubular steel, two spring struts, spoked wheels with aluminum rims, tires 2.00-18 at the front, 2.25-18 at the rear, double-duplex drum brake at the front, Ø 185 mm, simplex Rear drum brake, Ø 160 mm
Dimensions and weights: wheelbase 1220 mm, dry weight 55 kg, tank capacity 5 l
Performance: Top speed 202 km / h (Spa 1973), depending on the gear ratio

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