It's Saturday evening and the MotoGP news is light, although currently dominated by the negotiations around Suzuki...
We therefore take this opportunity to take a little look back at this Japanese brand in order to remember, or learn about, the incredible story that allowed Suzuki to acquire its first world crown in 50cc!
Are you well settled? So let's go…
At the beginning of the 50s, only Walter Kaaden, a former Reich engineer taken over by the communists (he was part of Werner von Braun's team which worked on the V1, V2 and V4) had figured out how to make the two-strokes work. He worked for MZ, but the factory could not afford the top drivers of the world's elite at the time.
The MZ racing department, in the 50s, consisted of 5 people, including the drivers! The pilots were also mechanics, engineers, turners…
Kaaden quickly found power, but then the gearbox no longer kept up, neither did the connecting rods, the telescopic forks twisted when braking, because good materials were rare and expensive.
To make his first rotating discs, Kaaden had to cut them out of saw blades he had left over, a souvenir from the workshop furniture that he had to make himself! They made their own machine tools!
Running to the west was a challenge, if only to obtain the right to go out, rarely more than 3 people at a time, and to have the means to survive in the west.
Kaaden's secret, it was to have found the mathematical formulas making it possible to precisely determine the shape and volume of the exhaust expansion chambers, undoubtedly from the work necessitated by the development of the V1 pulso-reactor, a system original and inexpensive based on successive explosions of masses of gas in a pipe, where precisely the questions of resonance and waves are essential.
Throughout the 50s, in the hands of East German pilots, the MZs will perform exploits but without ever really being able to beat, over an entire season, the Italian factories FB Mondial, MV Agusta or Morini.
In 1960, Gary Hocking, a young Rhodesian, saw that these motorcycles were going strong, and he agreed to ride for MZ for free. He won the first two GP250s of the year and MV Agusta immediately made him sign a contract with immediate effect!
Thanks to Count Agusta's money, MZ was deprived of its best rider and MV was able to retain the 250 title.
At each GP in the West, Kaaden was systematically accompanied by a member of the East German CP responsible for verifying that Kaaden was keeping his word, instead of saying that he had no means.
And then came Ernst Degner ; a sort of spiritual son for Kaaden. He was a driver, but with solid technical knowledge which made him a real second to Kaaden within the racing department.
In 1961, while Gary Hocking reaped the rewards of his bluff by winning the 350 and 500 titles, while Mike Hailwood won his first title on a private 250 Honda-4 against the drivers paid by the factory, Ernst Degner battled courageously in 125 against the Honda armada (Tom Phillis, Luigi Taveri, Mike Hailwood, Jim Redman plus a few Japanese!!!).
Arriving at the Swedish GP, Degner can hope to win the title if he wins the race, after which there will only be one GP left, in Argentina. All of East Germany is behind its hero.
Only, the hero has other plans... He will say that he planned to win the race, bring the title to MZ, and desert to the west.
That same weekend, friends of his brought his family to the west, to the German countryside.
Degner will break during this Swedish GP, won by the Swiss Taveri on Honda.
He can no longer go back, and goes west, getting into a car waiting for him at the end of the straight., and will take it by road to West Germany. He immediately took out a West German license and confirmed his registration for the Argentine GP.
We later learned that everything was arranged by contract with Suzuki. MZ will accuse Degner of having sabotaged his bike on purpose at the Swedish GP and causing him the worst trouble.
Degner tries everything for everything to still participate in the Argentine GP, is loaned by Joe Ehrlich an English EMC, on which he works hard to make it more competitive, but the bike will be blocked in customs for obscure reasons and Degner will only attend as a spectator this GP won by Tom Phillis, who also wins the title.
Degner is hired by Suzuki, and brings to the Japanese brand the precious secrets of Walter Kaaden...
The latter was collapsed by the betrayal of Degner, who also took away a lot of equipment.
Degner will be World 50 champion on Suzuki in 1962, the first in a long series of consecrations due almost entirely to Degner, while MZ would never win the title again. Surveillance will be increased on Kaaden and his men.
Many drivers agreed to drive the MZ 125 and 250 for free, notably Alan Shepherd or Mike Hailwood, and we would still see MZs racing until the 75s, notably the 250 with the Finn Tapio Virtanen; it remained competitive against the Yamaha TZ.
Text: Jérôme Henry
Photo: Defector Ernst Degner at Suzuki (DR)
