Suzuki can trace its two-stroke racing success to one man and a spectacular escape. And he wasn’t Japanese.
German Grand Prix racer Ernst Degner was born Ernst EugenWotzlawek on September 1931 and died September 10 1983.
Degner sensationally defected from East Germany while leading the 1961 125cc World Road Racing Championship with only one race to go, escaping (with his wife and children) from East Germany in the boot of a car.
Importantly he was racing for the East German outfit MZ at the time, and showing the rest of the grand prix world how it should be done.
Pivotal in the timeline of the development of racing two-stroke technology of the time was the 1960 MZ RE125.
This East German road racer was designed by Walter Kaaden, the father of the expansion chamber. Kaaden’s water-cooled, rotary-valve, reverse cylinder design was totally revolutionary and quickly copied by the Japanese subsequent to Degner’s, defection.
You see, Degner had a complete set of Kaaden’s secrets and MZ’s rivals would do anything to get a decent look at his visionary developments.
Suzuki immediately pounced on Degner and signed him to the factory.
Degner arrived at the Suzuki factory in Hamamatsu, Japan, under the pseudonym of Eugene Muller, taking with him some MZ parts (cylinder, piston, crankshaft and rotary-valve) plus some blueprints. Degner reportedly shared most of Kaaden’s ideas with Suzuki.
This paved the way for the Japanese domination of small displacement motorcycle racing in the following decades.
So. If Ernst hadn’t made it out? Well, Japanese two-stroke racing success may well have never happened. Big, huh?
Snag’s career in motoring journalism spans 30 years with stints at major bike mags Australian Road Rider, Motorcycle Trader and AMCN along with contributions to just about every other outlet worth a hill of beans. He was editor of Unique Cars magazine and hosts his legendary podcast ‘Snag Says’ when he gets off his date.
Interesting story. Word is that the Stasi caught up with him. Suzuka has two turns named after him – Degner 1 and Degner 2.
Check an original 1962 map of SUZUKA Circuit and you’ll find Degner 1 and Degner 2 were actually just one long turn. Within a few years, Suzuka had lopped the top off that semicircle of track to produce two 90 degree turns with a very short straight between them.
This area of the circuit is a bit of a wind magnet, drawing the wind in from between the trees on outside of the track which is swept across the track at high speed. No problems for Formula 1 cars or large capacity motorcycle classes, but an ultra-ultra-lightweight 50cc Suzuki racer running on 2 inch tyres in 1962?
This was at Suzuka Circuit’s inaugural race meeting held on 3rd November 1962. 50cc World Champion Ernst Degner led the 50cc race around that long 180 degree turn on his 50cc Suzuki factory racer (an RT62) and that sudden gust of wind across the circuit from left to right lifted the front-end of his machine to the point where he lost steering control and he crashed. This was the very first crash ever recorded at Suzuka Circuit so it seemed only fair that it was named DEGNER’S CURVE wasn’t it?
Although I possess a photo of this crash, it’s clear that Degner’s 50cc crash at the future Degner Curve and his fiery crash one year later when racing his fully-fuelled RZ63 250cc Square-4 Suzuki racer at Turns 1/2 on his first lap are at opposite ends of the Spectacular Crash Spectrum. So naturally, everybody (including race commentators) assumes Degner’s fiery crash occurred at Degner Curve.
W-R-O-N-G !