Tag Archives: Salzburg

ISDT 1939: the movie

23 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Austria, Enduro, Europe, Gelände Sport, Germany, International Six Day Trial, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, ISDT, Mezinárodní Šestidenní Soutěž, Międzynarodowa Motocyklowa Sześciodniówka, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Regolarità, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux, Video

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Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, come inside come inside.

The ‘Great Escape’ as it was known amongst UK ISDT fans, possibly the ‘Great Escape 2’ to those who are most familiar also with the events around the ISDT 1914, is one of the iconic events in the international off-road motorcycle reliability series dedicated to testing motorcyclist and motorcycle endurance where they did not expect machines to excel for a mere continuous 24 hours but a full 6 days to test their mechanical stamina and that of the riders mounted on them. You will find an embedded copy of the video down underneath the below photo of a British Norton.

Norton ISDT 1939

image- frame clipped from the NSU promotional movie of a British team Norton ISDT 1939

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ISDT 1939: event report in ‘the Motor Cycle’ 31st August 1939

24 Saturday May 2014

Posted by in Austria, Enduro, Europe, Gelände Sport, Germany, International Six Day Trial, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, ISDT, Magazine, Media, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Photography, Regolarità, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux

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The 31 August issue of ‘the Motor Cycle’ carried a 12 page article on the ISDT that never was. Possibly heralded as being the best ISDT of all time, on paper the potential obsessive stage management by the German Nazi regime looking to impress foreign powers of its greatness could well have put on the best event ever. The grant finale of the event rather than a speed test was to be a scramble and surviving vide owe have seen shows it to be a quite remarkable event in its severity of technicl difficulty for the tie. However from arrival at the venue the event was beset with problems, firstly to all it appeared the Germans had been expecting the event not to happen at all, so preparations had been rushed and not complete. Despite a lot of man power being committed there were at times fuel shortages and the German officials tried modifying the traditional rules as the event progressed. The going on the other hand was not far off the most extreme the riders had ever seen, not just because of the Alpine setting in North Austria but also the extensive use of unmade tracks across pine forests that had in cases been cleared just for the event. The event withered for many competitors to a dead stop before the final day after Germany declared a pact with Russia that resulted in the division of Poland and was going to lead to the beginning of the second world war. Even though the Germans finished the six days it was a result devoid of competition and so after the end of the war the FIM annulled the results so the Trophies were never awarded.

photo - top left Miss Marjorie Cottle (249 Triumph) follows K Pogner (248 Puch) through a village typical of the area. Bottom left- Fuscher Törl, a check amid the summer snows high up the Grossglockner pass. Right - A loose narrow winding track where time is easily lost: Sgt JT Dalby (490 Norton) kust behind Forstner (490 BMW) ISDT 1939 ( Speedtracktales Archive)

photo – top left Miss Marjorie Cottle (249 Triumph) follows K Pogner (248 Puch) through a village typical of the area. Bottom left- Fuscher Törl, a check amid the summer snows high up the Grossglockner pass. Right – A loose narrow winding track where time is easily lost: Sgt JT Dalby (490 Norton) kust behind Forstner (490 BMW) ISDT 1939 ( Speedtracktales Archive)

read the full event report in ‘the Motor Cycle’ at our issuu.com library here

The greatest of all International Six Days Trials, that held in Germany last week, was virtually brought to an end last Friday. The cause, needless to state, was the European situation. In Salzburg information as to what was really happening was scrappy in the extreme. The German papers revealed little; those British papers available were two days old; wireless reception of the English news bulletins was next to hopeless.

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ISDT 1939: Closing report and the final sprint for the Border

21 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by in Austria, Enduro, Europe, Gelände Sport, Germany, International Six Day Trial, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, ISDT, Magazine, Motorcycling, Photography, Regolarità, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux

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In the 7th September 1939 issue of the Motor Cycle, the editor of the magazine A. B. Bourne who had been in Germany covering the ISDT 1939 event published an article titles ‘My Week in Germany’ giving his impressions of the events that occurred shaping the history of this notorious sporting occaision.

See the original article in our issuu.com library here

My Week in Germany – A.B. Bourne – Editor the Motor Cycle

To review the International Six Days after all that was written in last Thursday’s issue would be superfluous. Everyone knows what happened and how on Friday, the fifth day, the British contingent withdrew from the trial, left Salzburg and hurried to the Swiss frontier and home.

Photo - Miss Marjorie Cottle (249 Triumph), chatting with Obergruppenfuhrer Kraus, president of the International Jury, at the check at the top of the Grossglockner. Miss Cottle made a magnificent performance in the trial ISDT 1939 (Speedtracktales Collection)

Photo – Miss Marjorie Cottle (249 Triumph), chatting with Obergruppenfuhrer Kraus, president of the International Jury, at the check at the top of the Grossglockner. Miss Cottle made a magnificent performance in the trial ISDT 1939 (Speedtracktales Collection)

It is probably difficult for anyone not among the party to realise how cut off the British contingent was from knowledge of what was going on between the capitals of Europe. All at Salzburg sensed that there was a crisis, but how grave it was none knew. As we said in our description of the trial, the German papers revealed little, those British papers available were two days old, and wireless reception of the English news bulletins was next to hopeless.

Of course, there were many who started in the trial with little idea of what a modern International means. Somehow or other the impression that these trials are merely high-speed tours in glorious country still seems to exist. The facts are, as we have tried to convey in describing the event, that the modern trial as held in Germany is an Alpine Grand Prix with sections just about as bad as any included in British sporting trials.

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ISDT 1939: the event report ‘Motor Cycling’ 30 Aug 1939

05 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Austria, Enduro, Europe, Gelände Sport, Germany, International Six Day Trial, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, ISDT, Magazine, Media, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Photography, Regolarità, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux

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Prior to the handing–in we gained a very definite impression that the organizers themselves were surprised that the event was actually to take place

Many readers of this blog contact me with their thanks for providing what is the non existent ISDT reading room in the National Motorcycle Museum or even the Auto Cycle Union Six Days Archives. Such praise is often only due to the work and help of many readers who are ex riders or the family of ex riders who are willing to share, at no charge, their family material so as to help others who may not be so lucky to be able to recall past exploits of favourite relatives so easily to supplement my otherwise meagre budget to purchase important relics which may appear on eBay from time to time..

No more so are these gifts welcome than a recent contact from Susan Coates now based in the USA but from a British Motorcycling family who she found a collection of old magazines on a recent visit. Amongst this collection was an original copy of the 30th August 1939 edition of ‘Motor Cycling‘ with a full report of the ISDT 1939 which she rapidly sent me a scanned copy to be able to share with others through the site.

Let us hope that peace will prevail and that the 1940 event will take place under happier auspices.

Here is the Editorial article which started each issue of ‘Motor Cycling‘ and provided a useful summary and opinion on the events of 1939. In a forthcoming blog I will be reproducing the latter part of the report ‘The Great Retreat’ which is the story of the riders evacuation from the festering world war about to commence in mainland Europe. I have included in the article the images from the actual report and you can read a copy of the original report at our issuu.com library here

Editorial

An Unhappy Coming-of-Age

WHATEVER the future may hold in store for the International Six Days’ Trial, the 21st event of the series will go down in history – so far as Great Britain is concerned – as the trial which never finished. In the early hours of Friday morning it was decided to withdraw the entire British entry, and it is fitting, therefore, that the facts underlying that decision should be recorded before they become distorted with the passage of time.

 

image - main report illustration 'Motor Cycling' 30th August 1939 ISDT 1939 (Speedtracktales Collection)

image – main report illustration ‘Motor Cycling‘ 30th August 1939 ISDT 1939 (Speedtracktales Collection)

Image left – A wonderful view of the Grossglockner Pass .The leading rider is L/Cpl A.C. Doyle BSA of the War Office ‘A’ Team, centre – This picture gives a good idea of the interest villagers took in the trial, the rider is again L/Cpl A.C. Doyle (348cc BSA), right – A group of NSKK officials operating a time check at the top of the Grossglockner Pass during Wednesday’s run . The riders are  #165 E Eisenmann (346 NSU) and #166 Colin Edge (347 Matchless) who, despite carrying on against doctors orders, did not lose a single point up to the time he withdrew with the other British Riders.

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ISDT 1939: Day five & six reports as published in ‘Das Motorrad’ magazine

04 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by in Austria, Enduro, Europe, Gelände Sport, Germany, International Six Day Trial, Internationale Sechs Tagefahrt, ISDT, Magazine, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Photography, Regolarità, Sei Giorni Motociclistica Internazionale, Six Jours Internationaux

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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‘

After Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 we get to Days 5 & 6

ISDT 1939 – Report from ‘Das Motorrad‘: The 4th Day

report by Von Gustav Mueller

The 5th Day

The Bavarian Forest leg lead far into the Bavarian Forest[1], to the noon time check at Viechtach. There were no special terrain difficulties, but the ordinary bad minor roads of the Bavarian Forest. Only a short 15 kilometre distance before the time check at noon had been full of terrain difficulties. The approach to the Bavarian Forest did pass through the hometown of the Führer, Braunau am Inn, where also a time check had been erected.

Photo - Here you can see for yourself, whether there was much space for the sidecar outfits! The outfit is the 600cc NSU of #234 NSKK Oberscharführer [comparable to Sergeant] Oettinger. The NSU Team, otherwise belonging to the outmost reliable teams we know in the off road motorcycling, had a lot of trouble with their machines blowing out at the cylinder heads, By the way, only Dunz had been excluded from these damages, as he repeatedly had retightened his cylinder head at the beginning of the event,,,The second man shown is NSKK-Oberscharführer [comparable to Sergeant] Boden from Motorgruppe Sachsen [NSKK Motor Group Saxonia] on DKW 248 cc. ISDT 1939 (das Motorrad)

Photo – Here you can see for yourself, whether there was much space for the sidecar outfits! The outfit is the 600cc NSU of #234 NSKK Oberscharführer [comparable to Sergeant] Oettinger. The NSU Team, otherwise belonging to the outmost reliable teams we know in the off road motorcycling, had a lot of trouble with their machines blowing out at the cylinder heads, By the way, only Dunz had been excluded from these damages, as he repeatedly had retightened his cylinder head at the beginning of the event,,,The second man shown is NSKK-Oberscharführer [comparable to Sergeant] Boden from Motorgruppe Sachsen [NSKK Motor Group Saxonia] on DKW 248 cc. ISDT 1939 (das Motorrad)

In the morning, a number of the English participants didn’t show up at the start, as they had been advised by their team leader to go back home. Some of them didn’t follow this procedure, and did start despite all rumors. Amongst those with good nerves, of course, our old friend “Miss Kottelet”[2] had been; also Lieutenant Colonel Bennett, team leader of the English army teams, did let his Army teams start.

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