Motodrom Museum Hockenheim

[René]

Here is an impression of the Motordrom museum in Hockenheim. Not a very big museum but some very nice bikes and cars on display. Enjoy!

[charleselan]

Fantastic René, some terrific photos of some iconic vehicles, both two and four wheeled as well as three. Brilliant and too much to comment on without a further long look.

[Carl]

Rene,

You have left both John Charles and me speechless with wonder.  In his case well-informed, in mine halfway.  What is the motorcycle / sidecar with winged "H" symbol in the first photographs?  Was the antique wooden framed motorcycle ever manufactured or a wealthy eccentric's private estate toy?   

The #3 Norton is gorgeous.  Perfect...

Cheers, Carl

[chrisb]

Rene, a thousand thanks to you and may I join JC and Carl in my speechless wonder - you really do show the most splendid of photos - thank you 

I am making a list of motor racing museums that I wish to visit- this one is definitely joining the list

[charleselan]

Jul 30, 2018 20:54:30 GMT Carl said:

Rene,

You have left both John Charles and me speechless with wonder.  In his case well-informed, in mine halfway.  What is the motorcycle / sidecar with winged "H" symbol in the first photographs?  Was the antique wooden framed motorcycle ever manufactured or a wealthy eccentric's private estate toy?   

The #3 Norton is gorgeous.  Perfect...

Cheers, Carl

Carl,

Some very quick late night research has revealed that the machine is a German manufactured motorcycle called a Horex. To my ultimate shame I have never heard of the marque, and that from a member of a motorcycling family is not good.

The attached link tells a good story about these machines and there is also a photo of a racing combination in action:-

motos-of-war.ru/en/motorcycles/horex-s8/

Incidentally I believe the long low "kneeler" outfit in white is the URS of one Helmut Fath, a great sidecar pilot who after years racing BMW flat twin combinations designed and built his own four cylinder machine, which is the one in René's photo.

JC

[Carl]

Jul 30, 2018 22:26:14 GMT charleselan said:

Jul 30, 2018 20:54:30 GMT Carl said:

Rene,

You have left both John Charles and me speechless with wonder.  In his case well-informed, in mine halfway.  What is the motorcycle / sidecar with winged "H" symbol in the first photographs?  Was the antique wooden framed motorcycle ever manufactured or a wealthy eccentric's private estate toy?   

The #3 Norton is gorgeous.  Perfect...

Cheers, Carl

Carl,

Some very quick late night research has revealed that the machine is a German manufactured motorcycle called a Horex. To my ultimate shame I have never heard of the marque, and that from a member of a motorcycling family is not good.

The attached link tells a good story about these machines and there is also a photo of a racing combination in action:-

motos-of-war.ru/en/motorcycles/horex-s8/

Incidentally I believe the long low "kneeler" outfit in white is the URS of one Helmut Fath, a great sidecar pilot who after years racing BMW flat twin combinations designed and built his own four cylinder machine, which is the one in René's photo.

JC

Thank you John Charles!  The actual story of Horex is as inventive as good screenwriting.

I noticed the very aerodynamic and beautiful "kneeler" of Helmut Fath, apparently twice a world champion, right away.   

                                                              

                                            Cheers, Carl             

 

[charleselan]

A few further comments from your excellent photos René.

The motorcycles are absolutely wonderful and from a wide range of eras, I am sure there is a pre-WW11 DKW in the group shot and the fabulous green Kawasaki France ZXR7's that ran in super bike endurance races, Scotland's brilliant Steve Hislop was part of the winning team one year and maybe one of those machines was the bike he rode.

Another of my favourites is the ATS-BMW of Manfred Winklehock, not the most successful of cars but I really liked the look of that particular car. Back in those days small teams could compete with one car, even with somewhat eccentric team owners.

It really does look like a great little museum, well laid out with lots of interesting material like the Carrera Slot Race sets. Interesting to see that the foremost set had the Jim Clark v's the Brabham's from Zandvoort 1966 as its graphics, even if Carrera decided to do their own colour rendering of cars and drivers.

Brilliant, thank you again.

[René]

Thanks guys! Sharing the pictures is my pleasure and I knew the knowledgeable comments would follow!

The bikes were lovely indeed. I don't know much about them but they do look good.

JC, the ATS is a good looking car. I also liked Winkelhock's F2 car, very neat design. And great to see the Carrera sets displayed here. A childhood memory for many visitors I am sure.

[robmarsh]

Excellent pics René and thank you for sharing them. You do have a way of making your photographs put the viewer right there.

I liked the ATS F1 car as well. It was designed by Gustav Brunner and I think was the first car to have the carbon fibre monocoque open to the air flow without a covering bodywork. Ferrari copied it with the 1983 126 C3. Brunner designed some very pretty cars, the 1987/88 F1 Ferraris and the RIAL that De Cesaris drove.

[Deleted]

Donington Collection museum to close:

www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/world-famous-grand-prix-museum-2094188

For Immediate Release: October 10, 2018

WORLD’S LARGEST GRAND PRIX RACING CAR MUSEUM
TO CLOSE ON NOVEMBER 5

News is released today of the Donington Collection museum’s imminent closure. Its doors will close to the public for the final time on November 5 this year, after 45 years as an absolutely must-see Mecca for motor racing enthusiasts worldwide…

Situated at the Donington Park motor racing circuit on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, the Donington Collection Museum has housed the World’s largest display of purebred Grand Prix racing cars, including many rated as being amongst the most historically and financially valuable of their kind.

The Museum – full title ‘The Donington Collection of Single-Seater Racing Cars’ – was the brainchild of Leicester-based builder Frederick Bernard ‘Tom’ Wheatcroft.

A lifelong motor sports enthusiast he had first visited Donington Park in 1935 to watch motor-cycle racing on the British mainland’s very first true road-racing circuit. He would recall: “From then on I was a confirmed enthusiast. I saw most of the bike and car meetings that followed, and in 1937 and 1938 I was hanging on the fence with the best of them, watching those giant German cars running in the Donington Grand Prix”. Those two sensational races were the pre-war equivalent of today’s British Grand Prix.

After six years of wartime Army service Tom Wheatcroft launched his building business in 1946. It thrived, making him a wealthy man. In 1964 he bought a 13-year-old Formula 1 Ferrari single-seater racing car “just for fun – and I caught the collecting bug”. Over the following six years he acquired more historic Formula 1 machines, observing sagely “There’s nought so cheap as last year’s racing car”.

Initially the cars were housed in a cramped garage building at his Leicester home. But in September, 1971, he bought the circuit section of Donington Park from its long-time owners, the Gillies Shields family. His long-term plan was to restore the old circuit – unused since 1939 - for modern racing, but first he built the museum there to house his fabulous fleet of purebred competition cars.

Tom Wheatcroft opened the Museum on March 16, 1973. Core of the display were three groups of the racing world’s rarest and most valuable treasures; the BRM group preserving ‘British Racing Motor’ team cars including the legendary 1950-55 V16-cylinder design with Rolls-Royce supercharging – the Vanwall group of cars which won Britain’s first Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship title in 1958 – and a stunning group of such truly Historic cars as the Ferrari in which the sport’s first double-World Champion Alberto Ascari scored the majority of his 11 title-qualifying Grand Prix wins through 1952-53, the Lotus 18 which Stirling Moss drove to win both the 1961 Monaco and German GPs against vastly superior opposition – and the very first Formula 1 car built and raced by triple-World Champion Driver, Jack Brabham.

With these core cars backed by many more of the World’s finest designs, including dozens loaned to the Collection by such leading still-active teams as Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Williams and many more, The Donington Collection became an absolute magnet for a global audience. Over its 45 year career more than 2.5-million visitors have viewed its treasures.

Since Tom Wheatcroft passed away in October, 2009, the Museum has been run by his son Kevin. Today Kevin Wheatcroft says: “Closing the Museum after 45 years has been a really difficult decision, but family responsibilities simply make it the right thing to do…”

Further details will be released shortly.

[René]

That is surprising and sad to read. That means I will never get to see the collection in its full glory. It was on my 'must see' list but alas.

I am surprised the closing is on such a short notice. I could imagine had they given it a bit more time, say half a year, that would have attracted a lot of visitors and with that income.

[charleselan]

Speculation would suggest financial.

A great; great shame as the legacy of that is immense and a fitting tribute to all that Tom Wheatcroft did. A pity that JP could not take it under his wing like all of the circuits he has transformed in the UK.

[chrisb]

I have visited it twice and ironically had penciled in to visit later on this year, it really was a great museum and to see these iconic cars up close and personal was pretty impressive, so a very sad day for the Wheatcroft family, there is a lovely tribute to Roger Williamson there, someone who I always felt was the more forgotten of the the three lost stars of that era, and that I am sure will make it even the sadder.

What I don't fully understand is why lottery grants are dished out to many great causes, the Jim Clark museum, The Bluebird restoration etc but nothing seems forthcoming here, maybe Eddie Jordan with all the millions he made out of motorsport can buy it and turn that it a glossy profit- just don't know why it wasn't as successful as it could have been 

[Deleted]

FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE DONINGTON COLLECTION’S CLOSURE

Kevin Wheatcroft's personal statement further to the October 10 press release announcing permanent closure of The Donington Grand Prix Collection as of 5pm, Monday, November 5, 2018

"As the wider motor racing public will know, Motor Sport Vision (MSV), took over operation of Donington Park last year year while I retained the freehold. We have kept the museum open for one more season and there was a possibility that it might have stayed open under the control of MSV. They have considered this option, but it does not fit their business plan - and the decision was then made to close the museum.

“Its exhibits will go into storage until my family and I have considered their future. This applies not only to the Formula 1 cars which have occupied this building for over 45 years, but also 'The Wheatcroft Collection', a unique array of World War 2 armour and military vehicles which has been a stablemate to the Grand Prix Collection for 10 years.

“On a personal note, I have been associated with these historic machines all my adult life, having helped my late father to locate many of them, and it has been a privilege to help create and operate both one of Leicestershire's greatest attractions, and a piece of world motor sport history."

ENDS

The guy collects Nazi memorabilia and allegedly sleeps on Hitler's bed. Looks like a basket case to me:

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/the-man-who-sleeps-in-hitlers-bed

[chrisb]

I do so hope someone will come along and rescue the racing heritage, a permanent museum like the Motorbike one would be a true gift, so I guess a last trip will have to be made to Dony next week....as for the Military stuff, I have visited a number of French museums and they do it so well, something to be learned I guess,