Volker Rauch Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Photo Gallery Part 3

[Hugh Janus]

This is Walter Zeller at the German GP in 1957 at Hockenheim, where he finished third behind the two Gilera 500/4s of Libero Liberati and Bob McIntyre. Although the photographer identifies him in this year as a “<em>privat-fahrer,</em>” the year before on a factory BMW Zeller was second in the 500 championship behind John Surtees. That was the first 500 title for MV Agusta, made somewhat easier by the reduced participation of Gilera that year. This was the last year for full streamlining as rules with effect from 1958 would require the present form of fairing that completely exposes the front wheel. Today’s fairings impose aero drag similar to that produced as an airliner extends its undercarriage for landing. Evident are the long slow-taper megaphones preferred by the German builders (and soon adopted by Honda) for the wider powerbands they fostered. See also the finned under-engine oil sump, and possibly the use of fuel injection. This bike’s intakes are very different from those seen a year later on carbureted engines ridden by the late Geoff Duke. (Volker Rauch/)

Volker Rauch photographed Grand Prix racing. His pictures showed the sport and its practitioners as it, and they, never before had been seen. Working mostly in black and white, using his beloved 35mm Leicas, Rauch made photographs that smack the viewer in the eye with their rightness of composition, exposure, and sharpness, with their sheer artfulness.

For a time, Rauch was like the fictional Roy Hobbs in Bernard Malamud’s classic novel of baseball and life, The Natural. He simply was the best there ever was. Respected and rewarded, he lived racing’s high life, wearing the finest clothes, driving the fastest cars, chasing the most beautiful and expensive women. He revolutionized racing photography and set professional standards that still are being recognized and reached for.

And then, two years ago, he killed himself. He left a widow, a daughter, a cadre of baffled and brokenhearted friends, and an estimated 100,000 photographic images of roadracing’s giants, made during racing’s golden age on the great and classic racetracks in the world.” —Jon F. Thompson, Cycle World, May 1995

Here is Geoff Duke himself in conversation with 1939 Senior Isle of Man TT winner Georg Meier. The venue is the 1958 Rhein Cup event in Germany. This engine is clearly carbureted and the long leading-link fork of that time is fitted. Note the chin pad affixed to the fuel tank: Tracks were seldom smooth and no one likes to take it on the chin. (Volker Rauch/)
Detail of 1950s BMW front end with long leading-link fork and the hefty steering damper required to calm its motions when the rider has only the narrow clip-on bars pictured. Note also the substantial rear anchorage of that damper. (Volker Rauch/)

RELATED: More classic Volker Rauch photographs in Part 1

MV Agusta factory riders confer. Is that Count Agusta himself with hands on hips? Nobody looks pleased. On the bike is Carlo Bandirola (many top placings but no GP wins), while the spare-looking fellow beside him is Umberto Masetti (500cc world champion in 1950 and ’52). This is the Nürburgring, June 1955, and Bandirola and Masetti would finish third and fourth respectively, behind Geoff Duke’s Gilera and Walter Zeller’s BMW. Why are these powerful four-cylinder bikes behind Zeller’s significantly less powerful twin? Because MV had not yet been exposed to the heat of John Surtees’ ambition, and his determination to “anglicize” the not-so-hot chassis of the MV. (Volker Rauch/)
April 24, 1955, Dieburger Dreiecksrennen: This is the Horex 350 DOHC twin, which seldom appeared in races outside Germany. It is a feast for the eyes with its very extensive finning, exposed hairpin valve springs, external oil pump with a multitude of braided-steel lines (borrowed from aircraft practice), and its Indian-like ignition distributor. The carburetors are all but invisible, pushed rearward as they are by intake extensions. You can see several small chassis tubes heading for their points of attachment to the cylinder head. This feature and the shape of the Horex production bike’s cylinder head became prominent features of Honda’s Hawk and Super Hawk 250 and 305 twins of the early 1960s, later revived for the CBX 1,047cc six-cylinder. At bottom right can be seen the aft loop of this bike’s leading-link suspension, so trendy in this period. The engine was said to give 36 hp at 10,000 rpm. (Volker Rauch/)
A rider in leathers and flat cap enjoys a smoke as he warms up this NSU Sportmax on its stand, hidden in a masterpiece of the panel-beater’s art. Bikes with such metal fairings were extremely noisy as their lack of damping set them drumming, acting as loudspeakers. The large opening cools the engine and the blisters are for handlebar clearance inside the fairing. This same casual “I do this really cool stuff all the time” look can be seen in race paddocks to this day. The fairing has probably been crashed and then only roughly unwrinkled. (Volker Rauch/)
Here are the NSU record team and their six streamliners, headed for the US in 1956. They are shoehorned into what may be a KLM Constellation, powered by four huge supercharged piston radial powerplants. The NSUs set a total of 64 records with a variety of engines. With a 500cc engine in the Delphin III, rider Wilhelm Herz set 12 records (four each in 500, 750, and 1,000cc) over 200 mph, including 1 mile at 211 mph. In the iconoclastic feet-first Baumm II streamliner, H.P. Müller set 36 records ranging from 121.7 mph with 50cc engine, to 150 mph with 250cc engine over 1 mile. (Volker Rauch/)
NSU techs use a Vernier depth gage and degree wheel to set piston compression height on one of the record engines. More compression can be used on the salt because of the reduced atmospheric density at Bonneville’s 4,237-foot altitude. Note the very large gearbox sprocket, made possible by the high rear wheel speed of a streamliner. (Volker Rauch/)

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On the right is NSU’s Delphin III streamliner used with the 350 and 500cc engines, and on the left the Baumm II feet-first bike powered by engines from 50 to 250cc. (Volker Rauch/)
NSU record-setter Wilhelm Herz (left) looks considerably less at ease than the unnamed Utah sheriff with ammo belt and sidearm as they enjoy drinks after hours. (Volker Rauch/)
How’s the salt? Wilhelm Herz touches the white stuff at 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The hat protects his head from burning and peeling but his forearms will become “welder’s pink” if he doesn’t seek cover soon. The mountains look just as lunar today. (Volker Rauch/)
How smooth do you want it? What looks to be a length of rail is about to groom the course at Bonneville. (Volker Rauch/)
This is the well-attended Hockenheim German GP of 1967. The crowd density indicates that motorcycle sport at that time was mainstream indeed. Today we have YouTube so we don’t need to go anywhere. (Volker Rauch/)

RELATED: More classic Volker Rauch photographs in Part 2

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@Rogelio Fernandez-Rojo

[Catteeclan]

We had a NSU moped as kids, can't remember where we got it but it died the same death over the cornfields as most of the crap we had.