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This post is a serialisation of an article that originally appeared over 75 years ago in ‘Das Motorrad’, the popular Motorcycling magazine in the German Language as it covered the proceedings of the 1939 ISDT, an event to finish in controversy and the results eventually annulled by the FIM.
We have recently started mapping the course of the event which can be found on the blog ‘Mapping the 1939 ISDT‘
The first part sets the scene of the first day and here we move to the second day.
ISDT 1939 – Report from ‘Das Motorrad‘: The 2nd Day
report by Von Gustav Mueller
If only the riders had seen more of the wonderful route we travelled the second day! This route perhaps is the most beautiful one could pack into 373 kilometres. The days route was named “Salzkammergutstrecke”[1] but it could have been named “Five Lakes Day”, too.
The first lake was the ‘Mondsee’[2], which everyone will know. From the Mondsee, the route led to the ‘Attersee’. Unfortunately, the route went only a short section along the lakes shore, and then turned off to the side. Whoever comes to this place once, of course must take the wonderful road, running directly along the lakes shore. It is very pretty, but also very narrow. And if you drive along there, think about the Six Days riders and how they had to “conjure” to be fast. From the Attersee, the route took a big loop over to Gmunden, to the maybe most beautiful lake of the Salzkammergut, the ‘Traunsee’, which we renamed “Traumsee”[3] due to its beauty. From the Traunsee, the road went over to the ‘Wolfgangsee’, you know about the “Weiße Röß’l”[4], and then along the valley of the river Traun to Bad Ischl and Bad Aussee.
Here they had chosen a stunning terrain, and here many did earn points. The roads, on which one eventually might have been able to win some time, were so narrow, that there was no progressing. Additionally, there were large buses, which, although perfectly driven by their drivers, in the end could not be made less wider than they are. And many stupid private drivers, who thought they were absolved from their duty to ride on the right hand side of the road, when hooting loudly.
![Photo – Here #34 Harold Taylor BSA [EZY 928?] still had been happy and was full of hope, his machine was o.k., and he, as a careful rider and great expert, had nothing to fear from his side. Second man behind him is the Italian #43 Ranieri on a 500cc Sertum, behind him Feldwebel [Sergeant] Grimm from the Kraftfahrtschule der Luftwaffe [Air Force motoring school], a man who took part at such a big event for the first time, and he made it quite good. On the first day, he had been outwitted by so many tyre punctures, that he did earn 35 points, all the other days he remained without points. ISDT 1939 (das Motorrad)](https://speedtracktales.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/motorradimages-2-19391.png)
Photo – Here #34 Harold Taylor BSA [EZY 928?] still had been happy and was full of hope, his machine was o.k., and he, as a careful rider and great expert, had nothing to fear from his side. Second man behind him is the Italian #43 Ranieri on a 500cc Sertum, behind him Feldwebel [Sergeant] Grimm from the Kraftfahrtschule der Luftwaffe [Air Force motoring school], a man who took part at such a big event for the first time, and he made it quite good. On the first day, he had been outwitted by so many tyre punctures, that he did earn 35 points, all the other days he remained without points. ISDT 1939 (das Motorrad)
![Photo - Dusty fume and stony boulder give a clear image of the arduousness of this six days trial. The moves of the people reflect the stress, which the riders have all day long. The two with #239 led by F Weber BMW 593 from the Kraftfahrtschule der Luftwaffe [Air Force motoring school], in the foreground of the picture, have won some time [in advance of the schedule], which they now use for some smaller work. ISDT 1939 (das Motorrad)](https://speedtracktales.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/motorradimages-1-19391.png)
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