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In the first few years after the war, super-charged motorcycle engines were virtually unbeatable on the racetrack. But when German motorsport regained international recognition in 1950, the days of
super-charged engines were over.
This return to normal-aspriation engines created a new situation: The kind of output BMW was talking about now was 46-48 bhp at 8000 rpm. Two of the great names of this day were Max Klankermeier and
Hermann Wolz, who won the German Sidecar Championship in 1950. For four years, Schorsch Meier brought home the winner's laurels in the half-liter solo class, then to be succeeded by Walter Zeller. In sidecar racing, Wiggerl Kraus and Bernhard
Huser continued BMW's success story in 1951.
Engines weren't the only thing that made BMW successful. 1952 was the year of the first BMW with a rear-wheel swinging arm, further developed just one year later to provide the swinging fork and
spring struts of the RS (which became famous as the R 54). Walter Zeller won the German Championship twice on this machine. Up to 1961, BMW motorcycles and sidecars with 500 cc set 133 world records, mainly in endurance trials.
At the same time BMW machines also proved their merits in off-road racing. From 1954 to 1965, they won not only 13 German off-road championships, but also 145 gold medals in major cross-country
events.
This was the time when BMW became the "permanent" winner of the
World Sidecar Championships. The names of the riders were Noll and Cron, Faust and Remmert, Hillebrand and Grunwald, Schneider and
Strauß, Fath and Wohlgemut, Deubel and Hörner, Scheidegger and Robinson, winning this World Championship on behalf of BMW in an uninterrupted series from 1954 to 1966. Six more World Championships on a BMW sidecar were scored by
Enders and Engelhardt up to 1974.
With the motorcycle losing significance as a means of transport, BMW machines also withdrew a bit from the racing scene. In the '70s, however, BMW motorcycles - and not just the touring machines -
achieved a successful comeback in leisure-time activities and touring. In BMW's very first try, the R 80 G/S off-road machine launched in 1980 won one of the world's toughest rallies: almost 6,210 miles, less than a third of the distance on
roads, nearly 1,240 through the desert and half the way on rock-hard terrain -
the Paris-Dakar Rally. Further victories with three BMW machines in the same rally in 1983, 1984 and 1985 prove that reliability is, and always has been, one of the
strong points of BMW motorcycles. In January 1999, BMW won its fifth victory at Granada-Dahor.
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| RS |
1954
The RS was launched in a small racing series in 1954. Anticipating a concept not implemented until the late '60s, this machine developed up to 60 bhp and, with its fairing, up to 143 mph out of 500 cc. With an output of 55 bhp, the
carburetor version built in a series of 25 machines also achieved 133 mph.
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| RS Sidecar |
1954-74
BMW won the World Sidecar Championship for no less than 20 years, starting in 1954 with this RS capable of 124 mph. With this sidecar BMW then improved the world record for 3-wheelers to 131.9 mph. Another 57 world records followed in
1955 alone.
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| R 69 S |
1960-69
The R 69 S was Germany's fastest production motorcycle in the '60s, with 42 bhp providing a top speed of 105 mph. The ride was improved by hydraulic steering dampers and vibration dampers on the engine. Acceleration to 62 mph was in
6.5 seconds.
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| R 80 G/S |
1981-85
The R 80 G/S quickly became the most successful off-road machine in the early '80s. With only a minor boost in engine power from 50 to 57 bhp and a fuel tank enlarged from 10 to 13.2 gallons, this machine won the gruelling Paris-Dakar
Rally, the world's toughest long-distance race, in January 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
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