Kreidler pioneer and Suzuki world champion: Hans-Georg Anscheidt is one of the most successful German motorcycle racers – now the MotoGP legend is turning 90
In the history of the Motorcycle World Championship, nine riders from Germany have won world titles in solo classes. One of them is Hans-Georg Anscheidt, who celebrates his 90th birthday on December 23. He is also one of the official MotoGP legends.
Anscheidt was born on December 23, 1935, in Königsberg, East Prussia, now Kaliningrad, and fled to the Federal Republic of Germany with his parents after World War II.
After completing an apprenticeship as a motor vehicle mechanic, he began off-road racing in 1953 and started competing in grass track races in 1957. When Kreidler was looking for riders for its factory team in the newly emerging Moto Cup for 50cc machines at the end of 1959, he applied. Anscheidt not only got the job as a rider, but also a position in the development department. His talent as a rider was immediately apparent. In 1960, he won all four races and the overall Moto Cup championship.
During this time, he and his racing-enthusiast colleagues in the development department secretly worked on a real racing engine, which they called “Anwigeige,” composed of the names Anscheidt, Winterhof, Geiling, and Gegele.
The engine had one rotary valve and one carburetor on each side. Soon the engine was running and producing impressive performance. This also caught the attention of the design department. “There was a bit of a row. Normally, we were only supposed to do what the bosses had put down on paper,” Anscheidt smiles to this day. For 1961, a racing motorcycle with a tubular frame and fairing was built around this engine. Kreidler sent Anscheidt to the 50cc European Championship, which was held for the first time in 1961, and he won it right away. In 1962, the 50cc class was already advertised as a world championship, and for Kreidler, as European champion, it was practically a must to compete there.
But they knew that the Japanese manufacturers would also be coming. So the engine was further developed. “Proper casting molds were made, because the 1961 engine had been milled from solid metal and glued together with Uhu Plus,” recalls Anscheidt.
He won the opening race of the 50cc World Championship in Barcelona’s Montjuic Park, but the Japanese were getting stronger and stronger. Ernst Degner won four races in a row with Suzuki starting with the TT on the Isle of Man and became the first 50cc world champion ahead of Anscheidt and Luigi Taveri on Honda.
Switch to Suzuki brings world championship title
In 1963, Anscheidt was again runner-up in the world championship with Kreidler, behind New Zealander Hugh Anderson on Suzuki. In 1964, Kreidler’s single-cylinder engine was still good enough for third place in the world championship against the new Japanese two-cylinder engines.
It was already clear that Kreidler did not have the resources or capacity to keep up with the arms race. Kreidler withdrew from the World Championship at the end of 1965. In mid-1965, Suzuki asked Anscheidt if he could ride the last race of the season for them in Suzuka. Kreidler gave him permission, he finished third in Suzuka and was awarded a Suzuki contract for 1966.
Anscheidt became world champion in 1966 and 1967, but after the 1967 TT, Suzuki informed its riders that the factory would be withdrawing from the world championship at the end of the year. Anscheidt then asked if he could use the Suzuki for another year on his own.
“They agreed and sent me a state-of-the-art motorcycle, spare engines, and lots of spare parts in the winter,” he recalls. This enabled him to become world champion for the third time in a row before hanging up his helmet at the age of 32. Out of a total of 48 starts in the 50cc class, Anscheidt won 14 Grands Prix. He stood on the podium 34 times. After his racing career, he initially sold investments before joining Recaro in 1972 and becoming their representative for Germany for twenty years. With him, they managed to become the exclusive supplier for several racing series.
His son Achim also entered the automotive industry and rose to become chief designer at Bugatti. Now Hans-Georg Anscheidt, who lives in Olching and was named a MotoGP legend at the Sachsenring two years ago, is turning 90 in excellent physical and mental health.
