Walter Schneider (15 January 1927 – 27 March 2010) was a German

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

and car racer. In 1958 and 1959 he became Sidecar World Champion with Hans Strauß. Beginning his racing as a sidecar passenger in 1949 with Kurt Bäch before switching to the driver's seat the following year with Hans Wahl in the sidecar in the junior category. Moving to senior in 1951, by 1953 he finished fourth in the German Sidecar Championship on a privately prepared machine. With a works BMW ride for 1954, the team soon were on the pace finishing fourth in their first race, the

Sidecar TT The Sidecar TT is a motorcycle-with-sidecar road race competition held over two legs which takes place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event at the end of May and beginning of June. Between 1954 and 1976 this race was part of the Gr ...

on the

Clypse Course The Clypse Course describes a motor-cycle racing course used for the Isle of Man TT Races between 1954 and 1959. The course is long and is in the parish of Onchan in the Isle of Man. The course uses two short sections of the Snaefell Mountai ...

. With every GP a top five finish including a second in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, they ended the title in fourth position. In

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Schneider and Strauß managed their first win, in the Sidecar TT, again on the Clypse Course. With two third places and a second they finished the season in third. The

season was not so good, with only two points finishes ending up in tenth overall.

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

was much better for the team, with two seconds and a first, at the

Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix The Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix is a motorcycling event that was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season from 1949 to 1990. History The first official Belgian grand prix was held in 1949, but non-championship races were held as far back ...

, finishing second in the title race. 1958 was their greatest season so far with wins at the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and

and second at The

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, it was enough to win them the world championship. The

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

season saw almost as dominant a performance as the previous year, with two wins and two seconds enough to net another championship. After winning his second world title, Schneider decided to retire from sidecar competition, only to take up car racing. After a massive crash in a BMW car in 1964 where he plunged several hundred metres down a slope, he decided to retire from competition. In 1958 Schneider had opened a motor garage, later expanding to car repairs and finally a new car dealership selling

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

and

Skoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...

References

External links

* http://www.eggersdorfer.info/schneider_sidecar/walter_schneider.htm * https://archive.today/20140616095404/http://www.imageselect.nl/search/walter%20schneider%20and%20helmut%20fath%20competing%20in%20a%20sidecar%20race.html Isle of Man TT riders German motorcycle racers 2010 deaths 1927 births Sidecar racers Sportspeople from Siegen {{Germany-motorcycle-racing-bio-stub