Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

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Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Hecker

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

19th pictures

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Hecker

1/19
“Years later, I drove this legendary route myself – while riding freely in the Bikers ’Classics.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Hoope

2/19
“It was 1977, if I remember correctly, when a friend asked me whether we should go on a little field trip to the military training area in Braunschweig.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

3/19
Gert Thole (56), Head of Test: prefers to drive off-road on veteran crossers like his Husqvarna 500 TC from 1983.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Unger

4/19
“This sworn community that has nothing better to do at Easter than driving 1000 kilometers in a circle!”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Unger

5/19
… and on the team spirit in racing classics like the “1000 kilometers from -Hockenheim”.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

6/19
Georg Jelicic (45), tester at MOTORRAD: He likes the triple sound of his Triumph Daytona 675 …

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Markelo

7/19
“Do you have enough money with you?” That was the question I regularly pestered Mr. Papa with.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

8/19
Peter Mayer (53), test editor at MOTORRAD: Enthusiastic about everything that rolls on studded tires.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Lewicki

9/19
“Weapons of murder: a Ducati 750 SS. Hopelessly underpowered.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Lewicki

10/19
“In the beginning there was the Nordschleife. At the beginning of the nineties.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

11/19
Markus Jahn (45), photographer: discovered trial sport on the Sherco ST 2.9 for the ego on the mountain and for walking with the dog Matti.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Jahn

12/19
“Every time I try to lure our editorial drifter Sven Loll to trial, the Sveni flutters like a doped fighting chicken and knocks out his sayings.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

13/19
Robert Gluck (41), test editor at MOTORRAD’s sister magazine “PS”: Has dedicated himself to rallying in the desert and …

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Jahn

14/19
… now lives out his passion on ex-Dakar motorcycles.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Jahn

15/19
“If you want to get to desert rallies, you have to be tactically clever, navigate well, protect the material and also be able to screw.”

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

16/19
Andreas Bildl (48), test editor at MOTORRAD: Starts with self-tuned bikes at national level in the Supersport B and Pro Bears / Supertwins class.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

17/19
Thomas Schmieder (46), test editor at MOTORRAD: Enters classic endurance races with passion and young timers like the Suzuki Katana 1100.

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
Hecker

18/19
I will never forget the 1997 Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race. How great the drivers did, with almost half of the race still ahead of them at five in the morning, …

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
mps

19/19
… like clockworks and yet were in a violent conflict with the opponents, while most of the visitors had been in a coma for a long time.

Sports & scene

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees
The MOTORRAD editorial team does sports

Motorcycling. That sounds like a full postage and a lot of material wear and tear. Possibly after a bloody nose while working on personal best times and fights with the opponent. But motorcycling is more than just an expensive parts battle on the slopes.

January 31, 2013

Seven MOTORRAD employees confess: Yes, I do sports. Whether on feather-light trial bikes, antiquated cross machines or with self-refined super athletes and legendary superbikes from the heyday of the eighties. What do they all have in common? The fun, the passion and the credo: imitation encouraged!

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Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees

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The MOTORRAD editorial team does sports

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Markus Jahn, photographer

“Trial is unmanly and unsexy!” “Miserable twitching with ugly motorcycles.” Boom. Every time I try to lure our editorial drifter Sven Loll into a trial drive, Sveni flutters like a doped fighting chicken and knocks out his sayings. Motorsport thrills away from Panigale and Co are then rather searched for on the Playstation than just a test finger on the trial lever. You don’t even have to search for enlightenment with a flashlight during trials. My trial trip throws off one-a-starchentaler after just under three years. Last year, for example, I happened upon a three-day trial in Italy. Donkey paths, farmsteads, mountain peaks, all day just up and down. If I then, admittedly, unfortunately still very limited driving technique, heart rate 200 and alpine adrenaline, successfully panting over a scree field – yes then, I could yodel with spastic joy into the grandiose mountain world.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Markus Jahn (45), photographer: discovered trial sport on the Sherco ST 2.9 for the ego on the mountain and for walking with the dog Matti.

Back in the lowlands of everyday trial life, the journey remains the goal. A very rocky road. Regardless of whether you are competing in the paddling classes, when you have to look at the list of results all the way down, or when old men in overalls float past you while training. The mopeds are ultra-light and fascinating, but rough to handle. If it looks playful, balance, coordination and the gentle use of the throttle grip are right. That is the attraction, that is the pleasure. And I put it on record: Yes, at some point I want to casually go up there where others can’t climb. Let’s see, I still have remaining time in the passport, from time to time also patience and can even hone my art on the daily walk with my dog ​​Matti in the fields. Hey, don’t fall asleep out there, I’m gonna stop drooling. Try it for yourself, you heroes!

Robert Gluck, test editor PS

“Yalla yalla, imsch ya walad!” – “Quick, quick boy, get away!” With a scruffy AK 47 in front of his chest, the Egyptian soldier yells at me and drives me off the beach. I frantically try to drive off in the sand with the Suzuki TS 125, but I certainly choke it off a dozen times. I get more and more nervous until I finally manage to get the TS going and escape the Arab screams.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Robert Gluck (41), test editor at the MOTORRAD sister magazine “PS”: Has dedicated himself to rallying in the desert and now lives out his passion on ex-Dakar motorcycles.

That was in the spring of 1985 outside of Hurghada. Four hours earlier, my father had taught his 14-year-old son how to ride a motorcycle. At the time I would not have thought that I would have to endure this stressful situation and my baptism of fire so quickly. Back then it was forbidden to spend the night on the beach, which is why the soldiers scared us away. Father couldn’t help me, he had to drive the motor home. And mother could drive even less moped than I could. After surviving the jump into the cold water, many kilometers followed on Egyptian slopes and in the desert sand. A seed was sown in me that would not begin to sprout until many years later. In 1998 I began to deal with the subject of offroading again. Road book tours and enduro training followed, followed by the first trip to the Moroccan desert in March 2009. With Norbert Schilcher, multiple Dakar participant, who talked a lot about the freedom and complexity of rallying. The stories turned on, something awakened in me. One year later at Easter I was allowed to test the works motorcycle of 2010 Dakar winner Cyril Despres for two days at Baja Saxonia – and it was all over to me. The hidden seed sprout suddenly. The rally virus took over me completely. Since then, I’ve been drawn out into the desert every year and into a sport that requires much more than a fast, courageous driver.

If you want to get to desert rallies, you have to be tactically clever, navigate well, protect the material and also be able to screw. Of course, you also have to pull the cable at rallies, but the great art and attraction is knowing what works when and, above all, feeling when what doesn’t work. It is the complexity emphasized by Norbert Schilcher, the entirety of the rally raid that makes the appeal. Shooting through the area far away from civilization is something different than getting it on your home cross-country track. Regardless of how hectic the rally routine is, there is always some time for the exotic and the new. And for me that is the salt in the soup.

Andreas Bildl, MOTORRAD test editor

In the beginning there was the Nordschleife. At the beginning of the nineties. Weapons of murder: a Ducati 750 SS. Hopelessly underpowered. But it had to be. And it was wonderful, like a release. No longer heating through the Black Forest on Sunday mornings – with one leg in the hospital or worse. No, a closed-off route, the noblest goal: drive as fast and diagonally as possible, inner curb – outer curb – inner curb, looking for the ideal line. That was it! It had to be a racetrack.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Andreas Bildl (48), test editor at MOTORRAD: Starts with self-tuned bikes at national level in the Supersport B and Pro Bears / Supertwins class.

The entry came in 2000, Suzuki SV 650-Cup, for two years, then two years of the MZ-Cup. Once even as part of the supporting program of the World Championships at the Sachsenring, it was awesome during the reign! The ranks jam-packed, the fangs of the hammer. Two years of Supersport IDM followed, first on a five-year-old R6 Cup carrot. The budget is minimal, the ambitions are all the greater. But just being there was inspiring. The excitement at the start, when the red flag moves to the side and the traffic light goes on. In the race, the opponent’s rear wheel at a lean of almost 50 degrees directly in front of my nose, choosing lines to accelerate, the pounding heartbeat when braking – that never lets me go. Like the competition over a season – with failures and successes.

This was followed by double starts in the Supersport-B and Pro Thunder, double title in 2007 and SSP title in 2008, then endurance world championship. And always fair sport and great acquaintances with similarly lunatic people. Like now, by chance in Most, Peter Ronnberg, the “R” in BMR – single-cylinder fans will remember. Share my passion for Duc two-valve engines and build crazy things. So an aluminum tank is currently being built for my current project: a lightweight 2V racer. Because that’s also what fascinates me about racing: building the motorcycle according to my own ideas!

Peter Mayer, MOTORRAD test editor

“Do you have enough money with you?” That was the question I regularly pestered Mr. Papa with. Whenever we went as a spectator to a local motocross race on Sunday morning. Money to buy a used motocross machine. An opportunity might arise.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Peter Mayer (53), test editor at MOTORRAD: Enthusiastic about everything that rolls on studded tires.

Strangely enough, it never surrendered. The parental wallet remained closed like the Fort Knox safe – and Mayer Junior without a cross bike. Until your 18th birthday. The money from three years of summer jobs was enough for a Maico MC 250. The first race: 34th place out of 164 starters. The mechanic team, the best buddy and the 15 year old sister were happy. Not me. Only when we were occasionally allowed to stay for the awards ceremony. Junior Cup, DM, later also World Cup. Quit the job at the bank. Professional crosser. Two hearty departures ended his career earlier than planned.

The bones were broken, but not the enthusiasm for motorcycles. And now? When the comparison test has been written, the top test run, the enduro weekends organized or the Dakar-Husqvarna ridden, there is time to switch off. Leisure time to devote yourself to the hobby and to scare the Yamaha YZ 450 F around the motocross track or to heave the trial beta up on boulders. The work-life balance advisor recently said that doing completely different things in your free time is important. Or have I misunderstood something?

Georg Jelicic, MOTORRAD tester

This sworn community that has nothing better to do at Easter than driving 1000 kilometers in a circle! The stamina to cope with the sometimes difficult conditions – up to and including the drifting snow on the route! Passing the endurance test to take part in the sprint!


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Georg Jelicic (45), tester at MOTORRAD: He likes the triple sound of his Triumph Daytona 675 and the team spirit in racing classics like the “1000 kilometers from Hockenheim”.

The 1000 kilometers from Hockenheim have been an absolute must for me since 1989. On the one hand, of course, to manage the race together with your partner. On the other hand, there is also the general challenge of moving a motorcycle to the limit. Go beyond your own limits in order to always go a step further without falling over or even hurting yourself badly! So far I have been fortunate not to have had any serious falls in my entire “racing career”. Even when I competed in the World Championship rounds of the 24-hour races in Oschersleben from 2002 to 2006.

Recently, “my new one”, the Triumph Daytona 675 from MOTORRAD’s 50,000-kilometer endurance test, has also been fascinating. Their superb handling, this three-cylinder engine with its torque output and the sound that is addicting. But even if walking the tightrope at the limit of the motorcycle is always fascinating, I appreciate gaining experience and exchanging ideas with the wonderfully crazy racing scene, but despite all my sporting ambition, I have to confess: Results are not so important to me, getting through is much more crucial! Because everyone who crosses the finish line has won for himself.

Gert Thole, test chief

It was 1977, if I remember correctly, when a friend asked me whether we should go on a little field trip to the military training area in Braunschweig. That was the trip that changed my life. At that time I had a brand new Yamaha XT 500, actually not the best machine for serious earthworks. The first off-road mission ended with a big somersault forwards.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Gert Thole (56), Head of Test: prefers to ride off-road on veteran crossers like his Husqvarna 500 TC from 1983.

But I was infected! The XT was completely overhauled that same year. This was followed by more specialized machines, real crossers and enduros, with which I rode motocross, enduro, and later also supermoto for over 30 years. In total, that adds up to thousands of hours in the saddle of off-road machines, a total of around 400 races – and around 20 broken bones and torn ligaments. But that didn’t stop me from having fun on the cross piste every Saturday.

Admittedly, mostly with up-to-date material. I think it’s just amazing how well the modern four-stroke engines work and what you can do with them. After all, I have always followed the technical development and know exactly how tricky the machines used to be to control – especially in retrospectives. But I also love the old twin shock machines from my early years. I spend endless evenings and nights in the workshop, screwing and tinkering with my oldies, mainly Yamaha HL 500 and Husqvarna 500 TC. And every now and then I move the antique irons too. Then the old times are revived. But whether old or new, I can’t wait until spring comes and the routes are finally open again. I hope this never stops.

Thomas Schmieder, MOTORRAD test editor

I will never forget the 1997 Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race. How the drivers did a great job, had almost half of the race ahead of them at five in the morning, how clockworks went and yet were at odds with their opponents, while most of them Visitors had been in a coma for a long time. Years later, I drove this legendary route myself – while riding freely in the Bikers ’Classics. They weren’t races every year in July, but they were great experiences. First on a borrowed Norton Commando 750, then on a Ducati-Mike-Hailwood replica. Later on my own Honda CB 900 F Bol d’Or and the Kawasaki Z 1000 J from the Baden youngtimer specialist Bike Side. Well, when the Bikers’ Classics advertised a four-hour race for machines from 1960 to 1980, we were all infected: Klaus Dony, team boss and (always cool) head of Bike Side, Gabriel Winter, his ingenious and original mechanic, and Waldemar Schwarz, at that time the brain of MOTORRAD CLASSIC, who made our participation possible.


Motorsport activities by MOTORRAD employees


mps photo studio

Thomas Schmieder (46), test editor at MOTORRAD: Enters classic endurance races with passion and young timers like the Suzuki Katana 1100.

Because that’s what endurance races for classics are all about: They are extreme teamwork! You are nothing without the team. Many more helping hands are needed: Remus and Matthias for screwing, Lukas for shopping and cooking, Arnim, the “team psychologist” when something goes wrong again. We are real friends who overcome problems together. Technical defects are possible at any time on machines over 30 years old. For this reason, the four-hour race in Spa used to be held on two days, each lasting two hours. You could still repair something in between. Today the constant load is harder, we drive four hours straight.

We even had to deal with a major fall and substantial damage to the Katana’s 130 hp engine – months of preparation for the cat. But when you see the checkered flag the following year, it’s an indescribably good feeling for everyone. 2012 as the twentieth, also against former world champions and old endurance foxes! And only then does the atmosphere right in the middle: how your heart beats before the Le Mans start, how you try to get away from the spot with 69 other drivers in the ensuing hustle and bustle, how knowledge of the route and routine are more important than pure attack or palpation on a pitch black night Only bend with the on-board headlights! As with the necessary driver change and refueling or with completely unplanned pit stops and the hustle and bustle everywhere, the spirit of the 24-hour comes back to life. We look forward to moments like this for a year.

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