Konig History

[Smokin' Joe]

Just came across this thread and it brought back some nostalgia from the early 60's.
I used to smuggle parts from Dieter for W.S.Holland, who tonked drums for Johnny Cash,in those days you had to run the Russian controlled corridor and the searches by the border guards.
Dieter and GEORGE KRAAGE used to run in the European E Class with a 65hp twin, George would run a v bottom and Dieter a hydro. Remember when George sank the rig in Malaga in '68, Dieter made him dive for it , dry it out, race in the last heat.
It was an offshore course and it was rougher than a witches tit, I got beat into second spot by a guy that weighed in at 220 pounds.
Dieter always wanted to be first round in the Berlin 6 hours, usually held on the Wannasee
I got to know Kim Newcome and his girlfriend pretty well, Paddy Rolfe introduced us.
Sorry to poke my nose in, but it is an interesting site and Dieter was always a main player in outboard history.

Interesting post!

[jackie wilson]

Interesting post!

Read the first ten pages in bed, and got told go to sleep by Jilly my wife, saw it was 3am and realized she may have a point.
The distributer in England in the early days was ARTHUR BRAY of Poole, they were also the Mercury distributors. They were taken over by SOUTH WESTERN MARINE FACTORS.
PADDY ROLFE of P&R hydraulics took over as distributor (Dieter and Paddy were close friends and raced hydro's).
I managed to get the Konig dealership for the south of England and raced the 65 hp for a season.
Course it walked all over the 50hp Merc ( when I could start it ) and I sold a fair few motors.
I was a Merc dealer at the time, was told if I would drop Konig and go sole Mercury I would get a30% discount! the offer meant a great deal of extra money in those days, (I was selling over 200 units a year ).
The last bit is "off piste" but thought the Arthur Bray bit was relevant.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I agree with Joe. It is some very interesting posts. Correct me if I'm wrong Jackie, but I'm assuming that the George Kraage you wrote about is actually Hans George Krage. About medium height, stout, fierce on the race course and just as fierce with his laughing and drinking on the banks.

[jackie wilson]

I agree with Joe. It is some very interesting posts. Correct me if I'm wrong Jackie, but I'm assuming that the George Kraage you wrote about is actually Hans George Krage. About medium height, stout, fierce on the race course and just as fierce with his laughing and drinking on the banks.

That's the one, he used to build cranks with a club hammer and an eagle eye.
In the Malaga race ( when it was just a fishing town) in the early 60/ s he was vying for the lead, when he hit a huge roller, the boat took off, came down stern first and simply sank. We used to race in the Med all over Europe and weather conditions ranged from mirror calm to storm conditions, there was usually an offshore race as a supporting event ( joke).
Paramount in all these events was the wonderful comerarderie between competitors off all nations, there was never a language problem and food and drink in tiny restaurants after the events are treasured memories.
Still friends with the few that are still alive.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Before, and after the events Jackie.

Hans was also good with a hammer and backup on cars. Sandpaper, bondo, custom fittings and paint. He had a custom paint and body shop in West Berlin that specialized in Porsche's. As far as I know, that's all he worked on except for special projects of his own such as BMW motorcycle frames fitted with Konig motors. It was a small shop, but highly prized for the work he put out.

One early morning about one a.m. I was riding in what might be considered the backseat of a highly modified Porsche Carrera from Hans's shop when he swapped driver's seat with a girl in the passenger seat that wanted to see what it felt like to punch the throttle on a highly tuned machine. We were on the main drag of West Berlin. Kurfurstendamm, or Ku'damm, and right in the middle of town. Traffic was light. After switching places and settling in, she stomped the accelerator and worked competently through the gears. We were doing about 90 mph in three blocks, getting very light especially in the second intersection before she shut it down. She and Hans busted out laughing, and I was glad we weren't picked up by the politzei.

[jackie wilson]

Before, and after the events Jackie.

Hans was also good with a hammer and backup on cars. Sandpaper, bondo, custom fittings and paint. He had a custom paint and body shop in West Berlin that specialized in Porsche's. As far as I know, that's all he worked on except for special projects of his own such as BMW motorcycle frames fitted with Konig motors. It was a small shop, but highly prized for the work he put out.

One early morning about one a.m. I was riding in what might be considered the backseat of a highly modified Porsche Carrera from Hans's shop when he swapped driver's seat with a girl in the passenger seat that wanted to see what it felt like to punch the throttle on a highly tuned machine. We were on the main drag of West Berlin. Kurfurstendamm, or Ku'damm, and right in the middle of town. Traffic was light. After switching places and settling in, she stomped the accelerator and worked competently through the gears. We were doing about 90 mph in three blocks, getting very light especially in the second intersection before she shut it down. She and Hans busted out laughing, and I was glad we weren't picked up by the politzei.

What was it Perry Como used to croon,---------"MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS"-------or was it mamories, I forget.

[Lars Strom]

I think it is Dieter to the left in this picture.

[Steve Litzell]

Yes it is, Looks like Manfred Loth behind him And the brother of Hans son in law at the rope as it looks like Ronald to me. Steve

[Donald]

Yes it is, Looks like Manfred Loth behind him And the brother of Hans son in law at the rope as it looks like Ronald to me. Steve

You are right Steve, and that is Wolfgang Klein in the white jacket.

[smittythewelder]

I hope this is a new question. I tried the Search function, but saw nothing.

In the dim fog of my senior memory, it seems to me that I heard that Konig had built a few four-cylinder 250cc engines around 1970. I think these were the B/C/D/F rotary-valve four-cylinder, just sleeved down some more. That engine surely originated as a 500cc design, since that size had a "square" bore-stroke ratio of 54mmX54mm, which was considered ideal or nearly so at that time. Since all of this series of B/C/D/F engines retained the same 54mm stroke (correct me if that's wrong), a "VA" 250cc version would have had a bore-stroke of about 38mmX54mm. This sort of heavily "under-square" bore-stroke ratio had been fairly common in earlier days of racing 2-strokes, but was not favored by 1970. Yet maybe an under-square engine is not so bad as current fashion would have it. The VB 350cc engines were also quite under-square by the standards of their time and now (45mmX54mm, right?), but I hear that Dan Kirts was running his old VB with the best of the new Italian equipment, or very close, at a recent Nationals..

Anyway, do I remember correctly that there was a 4-cylinder A Konig, and if so, did anyone here have one or run against one, and how well did they work?