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| Ernst
Degner was a famous Eastern-German motorcycle Grand Prix racer who rode
for the East German manufacturer MZ/DKW from 1956-61, and also a trained
engineer who had played an important development role for the make. He
had a real chance of winning the 125cc World Championship
for MZ in 1961,
1960 Ultra-Lightweight - Ernst Degner MZ 125cc- Governors Bridge IoM. but instead he committed Landesflucht - he moved to
West-Germany, it is believed he escaped from the East Germany in the
boot of a car - just before the last race of the season, the Argentine
GP and so the title went to Australian Tom Phillis. He was signed by
Suzuki who probably took with him the intimate knowledge and designs of
the competitive bikes developed by MZ/DKW, and went on in his Grand Prix
career, racing for the Japanese team in the World Motorcycle
Championship until 1966. Degner won the 50cc World Motorcycle
Championship in 1962, and in the same year he was the winner of the 50cc
race at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, at his debut in the Mountain
circuit. During all his career, Degner achieved 59 starts with 7 wins in
50cc class, and 8 wins in 125cc class. Degner’s post-racing career was
held in West Germany, where he provided in service technical training to
Suzuki dealership staff. He died on 10 September 1983 at the age of 51. |
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| T.T. Stars of 1962 (3) - Ernst Degner,
who won the 50cc TT. on the Friday of race week. His
“predecessors;” in this series, Chris Vincent and Luigi Taveri, who
won the Sidecar race on the Monday and the “125” on the Wednesday,
reported in previous issues of this paper, complete the series of
“STARS”. So now to round off the trio.
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| Ernst Degner, who comes from Zschopau,
East Germany, was 27 when he first rode in the Lightweight (125) T.T. of
1958, but he had previously been very successful on the Continent and
was “German Champion” in 1957, with seven wins in the 125cc class,
on MZ’s.
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| Entering—on MZ’s, of Course— both
1958 Lightweight TT. races, he was a non-starter in the “250,” but
was fifth in the “125,” riding the first non-Italian machine to
finish the race. Later he was third in the 125cc, class of the German
and Swedish G.P’s, and he finished his season’s racing by winning
the “125cc” East German Grand Prix.
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| He started off well in 1959 by coming
home second in the 250cc class of the Austrian Grand Prix, and third in
the “125.” His luck was out in the T.T. for he retired on the ninth
lap of both Lightweight races, after being well up on the Leader Board
in each. On the Continent, however, he was in good form, winning the
125cc classes of both the Czechoslovakian and Italian G.P’s.
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| Ernst opened the 1960 season by winning the 125cc
races at Imola and in the Austrian and Saar G.P’s, with another first
in the 250cc “Austrian.” He entered for both Lightweight T.T. races,
and on the first practice period put in a lap at 82.44 m.p.h. which made
him second fastest “125” of the day. On the next lap, however, he
came off at the Bungalow and broke a bone in his foot, which put him out
of the races. Recovering later in the season, he won the 125cc class of
the Belgian, Czechoslovakian
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|
Still on MZ’s, he started off well in
the 1961 Championship series by winning the German Grand Prix and
scoring “seconds” in the Spanish and French G.P’s—all in the
125cc class. He had to retire on the second lap of the 125 TT., and was
a non-starter in the 250. Certainly his luck was out in the "Island",
but it returned to him on the Continent where he won the East German and
Italian “125’s”, whilst he was second in the same class of the
Ulster. He finished up the season as runner-up in the 125cc World
Championships.
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| Changes in 1962, as regards both
nationality and machines. First of all, Ernst Degner became a WEST
German, rather than an Eastern one, and he rode Suzuki instead of
MZ’s.
After
the Berlin Wall had been built in August 1961, Degner arranged an escape
for his family from the GDR in the boot (trunk) of a car on the weekend
that he himself was racing in the Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix. In that
race, he could have secured the World Championship, but his engine
failed, and he defected via Denmark to (West) Germany. After this was
discovered, the East Germans accused him of deliberately destroying his
engine. The
Japanese company Suzuki hired him (and his knowledge), and in 1962
Degner won Suzuki's first World Championship in the 50 cc class.
|
Ernst Degner
(on the left) defected from East Germany and joined the Suzuki team in
late 1961. Degner was an excellent rider but also a brilliant engineer.
During the winter 1961—1962 Degner helped Suzuki to develop a new
generation of Suzuki two-stroke racing machines. |
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| The Suzuki Company entered him for
the 50, 125 and 250 T.T. races. His first of these should have been the
“250,” but in common with both the other Suzuki entries he was a
non-starter.
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Then came the 125cc race. In practice Degner had figured on the Leader Board three times, and was always fastest of the Suzuki’s, his best lap being at 83.65 m.p.h. In the race he averaged 84.14 m.p.h. for the three laps, again leading the Suzuki’s and, indeed the only one to finish. This put him in eighth place, with a Silver Replica.
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| It was very different in the “Wasp”
race. Degner was second fastest in the first two practice periods, and fastest
in the third and last one, his lap al 73.72 m.p.h. putting him at
the head of the Leader Board over half-a-minute ahead of Luigi Taveri on
his Honda.
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| The
two-lap race itself started at 11 a.m. on the Friday, and at 16.4
seconds after 12 noon, Degner had won it at 75.12 m.p.h., with a record
lap in under the ˝ hour—29 mins. 58.6 secs. to be precise, at 75.52
m.p.h. Fancy a lap at ‘75
miles an hour on a 50cc machine; forty years previously Walter Handley
raised the 250c.c. lap record to 51 m.p.h.
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| That was Ernst Degner’s first 50cc
Championship race victory, but he went on then to win the “Wasp”
class of the Dutch T. T. and the Belgium and German G.P’s—four in a
row. There was no 50 c.c. class in the next Championship race—the
Ulster of August 11th—but Degner rode in the “125” and
had the bad luck to crash and injure a knee, which put Him out of the
East German and Italian events. This let Hans Anscheidt into the
Championship lead with 35 points against Degner’s 32. But—and it was a big “but”—Degner’s 32 points had
been scored in four races, whilst Anscheidt’s 35 were spread over six
races. There were two more events to come—the Finnish and Argentine
G.P’s—and only the riders’ best six performances of the season
were allowed to count. Any points that Ernst scored would be added to his 32, but if
Hans scored only his best six would count. Ernst had a good chance...
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| And luck was with him. The Finnish Grand Prix was not run until 22nd/23rd
September and by then he was fit enough to compete. He came home forth scoring three points, whilst Anscheidt was
third with four points. This made Ernst’s total 35, with Anscheidt’s
36 out of a total of 39.
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| One more race to come, the Argentine G.P.
of 14th October. Hugh
Anderson won it, on a Suzuki, but Degner was second and Anscheidt third.
This gave Ernst 41 points, whilst Hans. Out of his total of 43, could
count only 36. Degner, in spite of his accident in the Ulster, had won
the first-ever 50 c.c. World Championship...
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| After
surviving horrific burns following a terrifying crash at Suzuka Circuit,
the double-apex right-hand curves past the esses were named for him. Due
to his burns he became dependant on medication, and died from an
overdose. |
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Research: IoM Examiner TT Special 1963 On-Line encyclopedias News Paper Cuttings/ Scrap Books/ Submissions |
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