Wilhelm Herz (18 January 1912 – 5 January 1998) was a German professional
motorcycle racer
Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...
and
land speed racer. After his motorcycle racing career, he became the manager for the
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...
circuit.
Motorcycle racing career
Herz was born in
Lampertheim
Lampertheim is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany. In 1984, the town hosted the 24th ''Hessentag'' state festival.
Geography
Location
Lampertheim lies in the southwest corner of Hesse in the Rhine rift at the Biedensand Conser ...
,
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
. He started his career in 1932 with
DKW
DKW (''Dampf-Kraft-Wagen'', en, "steam-powered car", also ''Deutsche Kinder-Wagen'' en, "German children's car". ''Das-Kleine-Wunder'', en, "the little wonder" or ''Des-Knaben-Wunsch'', en, "the boy's wish"- from when the company built to ...
and went over to
NSU in 1939. He raced on national and international courses like the
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
AVUS
The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern par ...
, Grenzlandring,
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
,
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...
,
Hohenstein-Ernstthal
Hohenstein-Ernstthal () is a town in the Zwickau rural district, Saxony, Germany. The towns of Hohenstein and Ernstthal were united in 1898, and the town is either known by its hyphenated form, or simply called Hohenstein.
The town grew in the 15 ...
,
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 ...
,
Monza
Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...
,
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, Schleizer Dreieck, Schottenring and
Solitude
Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think, or rest without distu ...
. He gained his international reputation through numerous world records on two and four-wheeled vehicles. He set a motorcycle record in 1951 on the
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
-
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
and repeated it at
Bonneville Speedway
Bonneville Speedway (also known as the Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track) is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats northeast of Wendover, Utah, that is marked out for motor sports. It is particularly noted as the venue for numerous land speed recor ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
in 1956. In this instance, he was the first person to ride a motorbike over 200 mph (320 km/h).
From 1954 until 1992, he was manager of the Hockenheimring which he led to international prominence, especially after the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
was declared too dangerous for international motorsport, as it hosted both the
MotoGP
Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...
and
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
rounds in Germany at the time, and also became Germany's premier drag strip after one was built in the section between the stadium section. Wilhelm Herz was honoured for his merits in the field of motorsports by former German
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His cordial nature – something of a contrast to the stern character of chancellor Ko ...
who presented him the ''Silbernen Lorbeer'' in 1952 and in 1972 he received the
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
by later Chancellor Dr.
Helmut Kohl
Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...
. The city of
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
honoured his merits concerning the Hockenheimring by presenting him with the ''Goldene Verdienstmedaille''.
In 2006 Heinz Herz, son of Wilhelm Herz, was presented by BUB Enterprises (maker of
BUB Seven streamliner
BUB Seven Streamliner is an American-built streamliner motorcycle that held the motorcycle land-speed record from 2006 to 2008 and again from 2009 to 2010. BUB Seven and two other streamliners traded the title of "world's fastest motorcycle" during ...
) with a replica of the
Delphin III, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world record 1956 in the course of the
International Motorcycle Speed Trials, sanctioned by the
FIM
FIM may refer to:
Organizations and companies
* Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation
* Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States
* Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media
* ...
and the
AMA, on the
Bonneville Salt Flats
The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...
.
External links
The Life and Work of Wilhelm Herz (www.wilhelmherz.de)50th anniversary world record Wilhelm Herz, Salt Flats, Utah(Website
BASF
BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
The ...
)
50th anniversary world record of Wilhelm Herz(Website
Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM; en, International Motorcycling Federation) is the global governing/sanctioning body of motorcycle racing. It represents 116 national motorcycle federations that are divided into six regiona ...
)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herz, Wilhelm
1912 births
1998 deaths
People from Lampertheim
Sportspeople from Darmstadt (region)
German motorcycle racers
People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Bonneville 200 MPH Club members
Motorcycle land speed record people
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
World record setters in motorcycling