Thread: Konig History

  1. #91
    Burgess/Evinrude F1 V8 Lars Strom's Avatar
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    I wrote this on a different thread here att BRF..
    http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...t=6727&page=21


    "Dieter Koning was a first class person and I became a close friend of him.
    He open up a new door in my Racing life.

    By racing a Konig I was accepted in a very nice way in Germany and
    spent many weeks at the Konig factory in West Berlin.

    Dieter invited me to many different places in West Berlin, even his home.

    When I was riding in his big brand new Mercedes S 280 I said to Dieter,
    this car is pretty strong to be a small 6 cyl. engine?

    Dieter was laughing and said, Lars it is a S 600 with a S 280 sticker on
    the trunk!!!!

    Dieter was a low profile person and I enjoyed every minute around him.

    Well, I become a good friend of Hans Georg Krage to and he was way
    different than Dieter.
    Hans was racing OE with a hydro and to watch him testing props
    at the very narrow canal outside Dieters factory was unbelievable.
    His boat was not touching the water and in an angle like it was ready
    to fly every second.

    Well, there is more about my Konig experience to come"..
    Lars Strom

    Life is good





    Check my own racing history at BRF...http://www.boatracingfacts.com/forum...ead.php?t=6727

    My racing web site SVERA.se....http://svera.se/blogg/paris-6-hours/
    Thanks Ron Hill thanked for this post
    Likes Ron Hill liked this post

  2. #92
    Team Member Master Oil Racing Team's Avatar
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    Dieter and Hans were indeed two different personalities Lars. Were you able to go by that dance pavillion before it was torn down? I was built in the twenties or thirties I think. I went there twice. First with Dieter, then on my honeymoon with friends we stayed with. It had a big dance floor, then all the tables that surrounded it had telephones, pnuematic tubes, and pencils and papers to write notes and make phone calls to a table with a number posted on a stalk. There was a stage for an orchestra, behind which was a series of waterfalls, and fountains which would pump up, spray and sway to the music and change colors. I wasn't there when the orchestra played, but the water maestro always matched the fountains and colors to the music. Dieter was always on the move, but always being a perfect host.

    Hans on the other hand was always living like there was no tommorrow. Just like you say....he always had his hydro flying. I have written about some of Hans' stories and experiences I heard about, that he told me, and that I have had with him personally, on several threads. There is not another guy like Hans and I am so thankful that I was briefly in the circle of his life.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Lars, and look forward to more.



  3. #93
    Sam Cullis Mark75H's Avatar
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    I just read on another source that the 3 cylinder Crescent was designed by Konig. This is not correct. The Crescent was completely designed in house in Sweden in direct competition with Konig.

    The later Volvo F3 engine was a collaboration with much of it from Konig.
    Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.


  4. #94
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    Default Konig Restorations in UK

    Hi All

    I am only now in my 30's so remember the 80's and early 90's of 500cc Hyroplane racing in the UK and Europe and during that time the Konig was the engine to have.

    Fantastic read about the history so thanks for this.

    My father has been involved with powerboat racing in the UK since the late 1960's as a mechanic for teams that competed with Crescent and Konig engines.

    After retiring form the sport briefly one of the team (www.area31racing.com) returned during 2006 restoring old hydroplane outfits they used to compete with.

    Feel free to have a look at the website www.area31racing.com to see not only the two restoration projects to date, but also some images and video footage in the multimedia section of hydroplane racing during the late 1970's and early 1980's along with footage of the restoration projects back on the water.

    Hope you enjoy and that it brings back memories for a few!!

  5. #95
    Sam Cullis Mark75H's Avatar
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    Very nice!
    Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.


  6. #96
    Team Member smittythewelder's Avatar
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    Wonderful thread, fascinating contributions. Here are a couple of very minor 2-cent additions:

    Many pages back, there was speculation about the first slider pipes on A Konigs. Ron Anderson, Chuck Walters, and I drove back to the NOA National at Forest Lake, MN, in 1968 and had a blast even though none of us finished. "Our" (all I did was lift the back of the boat) big contribution to the weekend was the "D" Anzani, two B powerheads on a gearbox, that Walters tried to run; I've told this story elsewhere on the site. Anyway, A Hydro was won by Armand Hebert, running one of the new aluminum-block A Konig motors. This short-lived version got a new crankcase and 34mm carbs that were used on the later and much better-selling and more successful iron-block, single pipe A Konigs. And it had slider pipes. Whether this engine was entirely new for '68, I can't say. Sometimes, I think, Konig sold the latest version of a motor to European racers for a year before we got them in the States; at least that seemed to be true in the case of the 4-cylinder rotary valve C and D engines, which we heard rumors at about the same time guys in Seattle were taking delivery of new, but previous generation, piston-port fours.

    I have a block from one of these aluminum-block A motors (I'm betting most of them got replaced by the later iron blocks). A rather wierd piece, it has pistons ports with channels to single phenolic reeds, as do the iron blocks, but in this case both the piston ports and the case-reed ports run from each carb to BOTH cylinders! Each cylinder is thus trying to draw its intake charge from BOTH big 34mm carbs. I happened to visit Ron Anderson's shop when he had just sent off one or two of these by-then-obsolete aluminum As he had gone through for Dave Mayer in California, and observed to Ron that the engines had to be massively over-carburated. Ron said, yeah, they seem to make nearly the same power with one carb disconnected (or so I remember, 35 years later).

    Mr. Van Steenwyk (if I go back to check the spelling, this computer will likely delete all I've written; sorry Bill!) mentioned several pages back that Zak thought Konig might have moved the exhaust ports on the fours closer together just to mess with Zak's lovely cast aluminum manifolds. Out here, the thought was that Konig simply wanted to shorten his own siamese exhaust headers to get the sliding section of the single pipes as far forward as possible (something Jim Hallum had already been trying to do with Walin's Konigs).

    Finally, any story on the four-cylinder Konig roadracing motorcycles might want to make mention of Helmut Fath, who built and raced his own basically similar equipment with success.

  7. #97
    David Weaver David Weaver's Avatar
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    Default Original FA's

    Quote Originally Posted by smittythewelder View Post
    Wonderful thread, fascinating contributions. Here are a couple of very minor 2-cent additions:

    Many pages back, there was speculation about the first slider pipes on A Konigs. Anyway, A Hydro was won by Armand Hebert, running one of the new aluminum-block A Konig motors. This short-lived version got a new crankcase and 34mm carbs that were used on the later and much better-selling and more successful iron-block, single pipe A Konigs. And it had slider pipes. Whether this engine was entirely new for '68, I can't say.

    I have a block from one of these aluminum-block A motors (I'm betting most of them got replaced by the later iron blocks). A rather wierd piece, it has pistons ports with channels to single phenolic reeds, as do the iron blocks, but in this case both the piston ports and the case-reed ports run from each carb to BOTH cylinders! Each cylinder is thus trying to draw its intake charge from BOTH big 34mm carbs. I happened to visit Ron Anderson's shop when he had just sent off one or two of these by-then-obsolete aluminum As he had gone through for Dave Mayer in California, and observed to Ron that the engines had to be massively over-carburated. Ron said, yeah, they seem to make nearly the same power with one carb disconnected (or so I remember, 35 years later).
    We still have one of these. I want to say that dad bought it in 1969, his first manufactured alky engine. I am not sure that we still have the pipes (that were also used on the FM Konig engine). The engine generated a lot of power. I wish we had run it on an 11:15 lower unit somtime. The carbs often broke the connecting flange and, yes, the engine would run on one of the two carbs (buit not great). The pipes did not slide far, maybe 2 inches or so. I will post photo's in the next couple of weeks. There is a kool John Shubert photo that has the same engine on the boat.

  8. #98
    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
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    Default 1969 Konig

    Quote Originally Posted by David Weaver View Post
    We still have one of these. I want to say that dad bought it in 1969, his first manufactured alky engine. I am not sure that we still have the pipes (that were also used on the FM Konig engine). The engine generated a lot of power. I wish we had run it on an 11:15 lower unit somtime. The carbs often broke the connecting flange and, yes, the engine would run on one of the two carbs (buit not great). The pipes did not slide far, maybe 2 inches or so. I will post photo's in the next couple of weeks. There is a kool John Shubert photo that has the same engine on the boat.
    Here is the picture while leading 1st heat in Depue nationals in 1969. Was 3rd second heat so lost to Gerry Waldman on points but elapsed time for 1st & 3rd was better then Gerry's 1st & 2nd.
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  9. #99
    Sam Cullis Mark75H's Avatar
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    I have one of the iron blocks like this. I did not know they came from the factory like this.
    Since 1925, about 150 different racing outboards have been made.


  10. #100
    Team Member F-12's Avatar
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    Default Here is evidence..............

    John...........I finally figured out why you had the edge. You just never figured out what the turn fin was for and flew it through the corners. Less drag, right? Good seeing you at Ocoee and hope to see you soon. Take care my friend.
    Charley Bradley


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