50 cc

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1963 50cc Kreidler Renn-Florett

The 50 cc class was the ultra-lightweight class in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, and formed part of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) World Championships from 1962 until 1983; when the class was replaced by 80 cc.

1 History and development of the class
2 50cc GP World Champions
- 2.1 References

[edit] History and development of the class

The relative low cost and increasing availability of 50cc motorcycles in the post-war period, spawned a number of club road racing events for this size of machine in the early 1950s. With the earliest events being held in Italy^[1] and in the UK.^[2] The potential of this class for providing entertaining but affordable racing was soon recognised with several national championships and in 1961 the FIM introduced The Coupe d' Europe, a series of international events for 50cc machines, each with a minimum duration and run to established Grand Prix rules and regulations.^[3] The series attracted a variety of entries, but the dominating force were the work’s Kreidler team bikes. Based on a standard Kreidler Florett road bike, their single cylinder Kreidler Renn-Florett’s featured lightweight frames, a special cylinder head and barrel, twin 16mm Bing carburettors feeding the engine through rotary valves and improved suspension and brakes. By the end of the season, with the addition of rudimentary streamlining and the increase of carburettor size to 17mm, the 9hp four-speed two-stroke bikes could top over 85mph.^[4]

[edit] The 1961 Coupe d’ Europe

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Date	30th April	7th May	14th May	4th June	9th July	20th August	16th September	15th October
Location	Circuit de Mouscron	St Wendel Saarland	Hockenheimring	Zolder	Opatija	Zandvoort	Circuit Du Heysel Brussels	Zaragosa
Event	3me Prix De Mouscron		West German Grand Prix	3 me Prijs Zolder-Centrum				X Premio Internacional Fiestas del Pilar
Winner	Pierrot Vervroegen	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Miro Zelnik	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Wolfgang Gedlich	Cesar Gracia
Machine	Itom	Kreidler	Tomos D5	Kreidler	Kreidler	Kreidler	Kreidler	Ducson

[edit] World Championship Status

See 1962 Season, 1963 Season, 1964 Season, 1965 Season, 1966 Season, 1967 Season

In 1962, the FIM followed up the success of the Coupe d’ Europe by giving the 50cc class World Championship status. As well as the works entries of existing European manufacturers like Kreidler and Tomos, this development also attracted entries from Japanese manufacturers with both Honda and Suzuki entering full work’s teams. The Spanish Derbi factory also entered a single work’s bike for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Kreidlers were now fitted with three speed overdrives controlled from the twistgrip, which coupled to the standard four-speed gearbox gave twelve gears to help keep the engines at maximum power. Engine development also increased power to 10hp at 11,000rpm. The Kreidlers development would be hampered however by the factories insistence that the race bikes remained fundamentally based upon their standard road machines.^[5] Suzuki and Honda knew no such limitations.

Honda’s commitment to four-stroke engines dated back to 1951 with the launch of it’s Dream E-Type^[6] prior to this all Honda’s bikes were two-strokes. The change and long-term commitment to the more sophisticated four-stroke technology came either directly from founder Soichiro Honda^[6] or indirectly due to pressure from managing director Takeo Fujisawa, who was said to be appalled by the noise and smoke that two-stroke engines produced and the additional hassle that Honda customers faced by having to mix oil with their fuel.^[7] Honda began their first 50cc GP season with the RC110, announced at the Japanese Motor Show in 1961. Powered by a single cylinder, four-valve engine, and with gear driven double overhead cams, giving about 9hp at 14,000rpm. It was introduced with a five-speed gearbox, but by the time of the opening GP in Spain, the bikes were upgraded to six gears. Even so they were badly outperformed. Rider Tommy Robb suggested that more gears might be the answer and was amazed to find a week later at the French GP that the gearbox had been expanded to eight speeds. This still wasn’t enough to compensate for the machines relative lack of power and three weeks later at the Isle of Man TT, nine gears were fitted and the rev limit increased to 17,000 with output now up to around 10hp.^[8] Sometime during the season, the machines designation was changed to RC111, but Honda’s records are unclear as to what precise change in the development this signified or when it was used.^[9]

In contrast, the Suzuki team were committed to two-stroke technology and their single cylinder RM62 machine featured rotary valve induction and an 8-speed transmission and produced about 10hp at 12,000rpm. Ernst Degner who had defected from the East German MZ team to Suzuki the previous year, bought with him the secrets of MZ’s two-stroke tuning success which undoubtedly helped him and the Suzuki team to secure the inaugural 50cc World Championship.

UPDATE; COMING SOON 1963 to 1983

[edit] The Japanese withdraw

After the withdrawal of Japanese firms from the 50cc category at the end of 1968, cost-saving technological restrictions were introduced, the Spanish rider Angel Nieto came to the fore, and between 1969 and 1976, won the championship six times. His season long battle for the 1972 championship with Dutchman Jan de Vries, being perhaps the closest fought championship in any form of motor racing. By the end of the season both riders were tied with equal points, an equal number of wins and an equal number of second place finishes and the championship winner was determined by adding together and comparing the times for the six races in which the pair had been placed. Nieto was calculated to have won the title by 21½ seconds from his rival.

[edit] 50cc GP World Champions

Year	Champion	Country	Motorcycle
1962	Ernst Degner	Germany	Suzuki
1963	Hugh Anderson	New Zealand	Suzuki
1964	Hugh Anderson	New Zealand	Suzuki
1965	Ralph Bryans	United Kingdom	Honda
1966	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Germany	Suzuki
1967	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Germany	Suzuki
1968	Hans-Georg Anscheidt	Germany	Suzuki
1969	Angel Nieto	Spain	Derbi
1970	Angel Nieto	Spain	Derbi
1971	Jan de Vries	Netherlands	Kreidler
1972	Angel Nieto	Spain	Kreidler
1973	Jan de Vries	Netherlands	Kreidler
1974	Henk van Kessel	Netherlands	Kreidler
1975	Angel Nieto	Spain	Kreidler
1976	Angel Nieto	Spain	Bultaco
1977	Angel Nieto	Spain	Bultaco
1978	Ricardo Tormo	Spain	Bultaco
1979	Eugenio Lazzarini	Italy	Kreidler
1980	Eugenio Lazzarini	Italy	Kreidler
1981	Ricardo Tormo	Spain	Bultaco
1982	Stefan Dörflinger	Switzerland	Kreidler
1983	Stefan Dörflinger	Switzerland	Kreidler

[edit] References

^ Dobson, Peter (Spring 1987). "Moped Racer". Classic Racer 1 (17): 51.
^ Woolley, Brian (Summer 1986). "Early 50cc racing". Classic Racer 1 (14): 30-32.
^ Walker, Mick (March 1987). "Classic Archives - racing 25 years ago". Motorcycle Enthusiast: 36-37.
^ Kreidler Racers 1959-65. zweitakte.de (German language). Retrieved on February 9, 2007.
^ Dobson, Peter (Summer 1990). "GP Kreidler". Classic Racer 1 (30): 39.
^ ^a ^b E-Type, The early days of the Honda four-stroke (1951). world.Honda.com. Retrieved on February 11, 2007.
^ Oxley, Matt (2001): The Challenge & Dream of Honda 500 Grand Prix Motor Cycle Wins. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p.38
^ Oxley, Matt (2001): The Challenge & Dream of Honda 500 Grand Prix Motor Cycle Wins. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p.39
^ Oxley, Matt (2001): The Challenge & Dream of Honda 500 Grand Prix Motor Cycle Wins. Hazleton Publishing Ltd. p.146