Konig History

[tim hanna]

Tim...Dieter told me about Kim and his accident at Silverstone during my first trip to the factory. Dieter was a full throttle...don't look back...forward thinking speed freak back then. In fact, he was like that always. Furiously trying to accomplish something that had either crossed his mind, or either trying to bring the thought to completion. When I showed up at his door unannounced in 1975 he gave me a whirlwind tour. The Following year he knew I was coming and after having spent the whole day and night traveling I arrived at the factory and he handed me a torch to work on the exhaust pipes of a speedway bike

The reason I bring this up is because I think anyone who had ever worked with Dieter knew this about him. I think it was probably the same way with Kim. Dieter Konig was afire with innovations, speed and accomplished drivers. I could tell when I talked with him about Kim that he was terribly sorry. He told me that during the race another driver spilled in the same corner that Kim did, but there were hay bales there this time and the driver walked away.

I have a tape that I did in Dieter's office in 1975. He talked about the exhaust and his first experiments with megaphones. I remember he told me he accidentally discovered the scavenging effects of the pipes when he ran a tube to get the fumes out of his test room. He noticed the horsepower increase. Dieter showed me the page in his journal when he wrote down the note. I made a corressponding note in my journal when I saw what he had recorded. I drew a picture and if I remember correcty wrote "auspoof". I don't know if I have any info that will help you at all, but I will try to put the taped interview back together and see what info I can find.

From what I know of Dieter I would say your accessment of him was totally accurate. I have spent time with his wife and son and a number of people who worked for him and I can appreciate how driven he was. I would be absolutely fascinated to hear your tape.
I have been working on this book off and on for many years and was close to Kim's widow Janeen. In fact the documentary film on Kim was something I intiated. Unfortunately after I organised funding the production company I went to with the project stole it from me. The final film was largely my vision but they overlaid it with a dark, negative aspect I really disliked. I recently settled a lawsuit out of court after several years and now intend to make the film the way I and Janeen wanted it to be.
Your information is like gold to me and I want you to know how much I appreciate your taking the time to help.
I am in touch with Peer. I believe the bike he has is a 500 but it might be a 680. I will know after I have spoken to him in the next few days. The other bike is a 350 and it is still in the factory where I have seen it. Kim and Ulli Collatz, who worked for Dieter, built both of them with BMW guys appearing at night usuing secret knocks to get in etc. Apparently the 500 shredded the tires when put on a rolling road at BMW and they decided not to continue.
The engines used in the race bikes were the basic 500 four with a 'shoe' on the bottom that had water pumped through it as part of the system and which also located the AMC gearbox with various 6 speed clusters. Rod Tingate can produce a bike from a stock 500 as there are still a number of shoes at the factory. In fact a number of other people are working on making new engines for bikes. Their power to weight ratio makes them highly effective as post classic racers.
I belive Kim built about 20 bikes as kits and complete machines. I have personally seen about half a dozen - mostly in Germany. they were nearly all beautifully restored - clearly highly valued.
As you probably know Kim came second in the 500 championship in 73 - beating Agostini who came third. I have spoken with Ago and Phil Reid - who won - and both recall a superb rder who came out of nowhere.
Kim had raced Konig hydros Australia andf it was that racing that inspired him to hook up with Dieter.
I will answer to the other posts as well and hope that is ok. I don't want to clog up the works with my stuff but this is really teriffic.
Perhaps you might consider having a look at the part of my manuscript that relates to hydro racing in the US.
I am currently restoring a 45 foot 1899 steam sailer and will make a little 1930's hydro to hang off the davits. Something about 11 feet long, maybe with a jetski unit.
Once again my thanks
Tim Hanna

[Mark75H]

The 500 is based on the outboard motor, but it has both intake and exhaust on the same side ... which ends up being the top on the bikes.

On the standard Konig VC outboard racer, intake is on one side and exhaust on the other.

[tim hanna]

Hi Bill,
You will gather to my other reply just posted that I am aware of Peer and his machine. However I would like to contact Ralf Donald. If you have any idea how I might do so it would be appreciated.
Your comments on the expansion chamber issue are most interesting. Dieter, like most of us was a bit of a mixture. I think priamrily he was interested in making money and if his engines were winning that was sufficient. He changed things only as required.
On the other hand he was a speed freak who had to win.
I think your comments on jet engine development are spot on. It is remarkable to me that the English still promote Whittle as the father of the jet engine when in fact it was German axial flow technology that proved to be the way forward.
If BMW had not struggled as long as they did to find the right alloy for the blades and the 262 become operational just a shade earlier we would have beenin real trouble.
All the best
Tim Hanna

[tim hanna]

Hi Sam,
Yep, you are right.
I will ask Rod what might be involved in changing the arrangement. After all Kim did just that.
All this good oil is overwhelming. I am going to write it all up as a timeline and submit it for your comments.
And thank you Rex for your input. Fantastic.
How did you go at Alexandria with the new system? Did you have to mess around much to get it to work better than the cans?
It would have been quite a new thing and I guess information would not have been freely available with regard to expansion chamber design. I'd be very interested in any further comments you might have.
Tim Hanna

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Tim:

If you will access a thread on BRF called "An Amazing Story" by Wayne Baldwin, you will find photos and more information on the expansion chambers built by Harry Pasturczak for the 4 cyl rotary valve Konigs. As I mentioned, these were in use prior to Dieter sending engines to the US with the sliding expansion chambers you are familiar with. I think your thoughts regards cost versus staying with the competition are right on the money about why he chose this particular time frame to put the chambers with the motors. He had no reason to do it from a competition standpoint, it was extra cost, so he just didn't. He had enjoyed for several years, prior to the other chambers made by ZAK, dominance in most of the classes the Konigs competed in, as the primary competition, Quincy Flatheads had reached a plateau in development a couple of years before, and except for the rare occasion, were not much of a threat to win. That left only the Konigs that were being modified further by folks here in the US like ZAK with pipes, different rotary valve discs, etc., to cause any problem with winning over the "stock" factory Konig. These did not slide (except for the stinger and mid section in later models) and were made so as to accept the exhaust from both top cylinders into one chamber and both bottom cylinders into another as they both fired together, and Harry felt based on information availiable at the time that was the best way to combine the exhaust pulse, instead of two cylinders firing 180 apart into one chamber. This for a year or so, until the sliding chambers put on by Dieter, was far better than the "tin can" type silencer, but sliding them presented a problem because of that type design. Just about the time ZAK figured out how he was going to do that, Dieter changed the spacing on the exhaust ports (closer together on the square block) and that made the casting patterns Harry had for the manifold/collectors obsolete. At that point he took that action by Dieter somewhat personally as it was going to cost a lot of money to make new patterns, and he ceased further development on his pipes. I am sure you will find it interesting if you have not seen it.

In looking at the information/thread that Peer started again, I notice that Carlo Verona has made a post that he is (at that time/2007) building 10 copies of the engines that were used in the GP bikes. I have no information as to whether that project was ever completed. Carlo is the mfr of the VRP racing engines and you could probably contact him by accessing his web site. Probably just "Google" VRP engines.

Ralph Donald is a very good friend of mine and I will forward your request for contact to him so he will know of your interest in contacting him. We have two boat races over the next two weekends here in the US that I know he is planning on attending, so it may be after that before he has an opportunity to contact you, but I will be sure to let him know you wish to visit with him about whatever knowledge he may have regards this.

[tim hanna]

Many thanks Bill for the excellent info and the contact.
Are you able to tell me anything further about Harry Zak?
I have written to Carlo re his project but have yet to hear back. There is a second fellow in the UK pursuing a similar project.
Tim Hanna

[Original Looper 1]

"He had no reason to do it from a competition standpoint, it was extra cost, so he just didn't. He had enjoyed for several years, prior to the other chambers made by ZAK, dominance in most of the classes the Konigs competed in, as the primary competition, Quincy Flatheads had reached a plateau in development a couple of years before, and except for the rare occasion, were not much of a threat to win. "


People's memories fade over time, that's why it's always good to have the written history to document the facts.

All of the records in this 1970 Quincy Welding ad were set with Loopers that had megaphones, none had expansion chambers.

Quincy Welding, like Konig and everyone else, had good and bad days at the races. Konig never "owned" it, so to speak, until after the death of Quincy Welding's famous racer, Jerry (Gerry) Waldman in 1972 at Hot Springs, Arkansas.

By the way, at that event in Arkansas in 1972, Jerry won both C Hydro and F Hydro with Quincy Looper engines, and without expansion chambers.

Harry Zak was a good friend of my father's and mine, and his pipe systems didn't dominate Quincy Welding Loopers prior to Dieter's sliding expansion chambers.


I've got boxes of old racing photos, Rooster Tales, etc that I base a lot of my information off of.


Respectfully,

Paul A Christner

[tim hanna]

Hi Paul,
I appreciate your taking the trouble to keep the record straight. The thing that I find fascinating about the Quincy v Konig competition is the fact that two relatively modest family businesses based on opposite sides of the Atlantic could have such a long and exciting battle at the sharpest edge of two stroke development.
I gather from your website and from other sources that you and Dieter got on pretty well off the water and I would love any anecdotal stories you might have about your relationship.
Are you able to give me a thumbnail on Jerry Waldman. Did he and Dieter race against one another? What happened at Hot Springs in 1970?
I hope you don't consider this pushy - I really want to get this right.
All the best
Tim Hanna

[Original Looper 1]

Hi Tim,

As to your question about Dieter & my relationship, we became friends at the Worlds in Phoenix, AZ in 1976. We spent some quality time together discussing racing engines. He asked me as many questions as I asked him. We had our new Quincy Welding "Z" engine at that race and Dieter was totally fascinated with the concept of it. After that race, we did communicate through back channels, mainly through Scott Smith who was the Konig distributor in the US for many, many years.

We could research the number of times Dieter and Jerry Waldman raced against each other, if they did indeed, but Wayne Baldwin who frequently posts on this web site, is a great source for factual information regarding Dieter and the Konigs. I can't thank Wayne enough for the many contributions he made to the QuincyLooperRacing.us web site.

Another good source is a racing historian who is also a good friend of mine by the name of R.C. Hawie. R.C. has an awesome collection of racing memorabilia and literature, including about konig. R.C. does not have a computer or email address at this time. However, if you email me at QuincyWelding@aol.com I can give you his cell phone number.

As to what happened to Jerry Waldman at Hot Springs in 1972, there is a thread here at BoatRacingFacts about Jerry and the fatal accident. Wayne Baldwin contributed much of the information and photos. After Jerry's death, my brother-in-law Frank Volker, then Gene East and Jim Schoch left Quincy Welding. The loss of those 3 key employees meant that the R&D at Quincy Welding was put on hold from 1972 until 1975 as my father was working in Florida at that time for Mercury Marine at their Lake X facility on a special project.

Regarding Harry Pasturczak, Harry lived in East Moline, IL, which was not that far from Quincy, IL. When we restarted the Quincy R&D work in 1975 with our new project engine, Harry was a helpful contributor. In fact, my father and I decided to call the engine the Quincy Z in honor of Harry "Zak" Pasturczak. It is surprising how few people caught on to the name.

After Quincy Welding closed in 1983, we moved to Florida. Several times we met Dieter at the boat races in Lakeland, FL and had lengthly discussions with him regarding engine designs. It is interesting to note that some of the things we discussed ended up in later Konig engines, and some of those Konig engines with that technology ended up in my personal engine collection.

Regards,

Paul A. Christner


PS: The photo is of Harry Pasturczak and his brother standing in front of Larry Latta's Quincy Z-125 engine that was practically unbeatable in Florida for some time. The photo was posted here originally by Joe Rome.

[F-12]

Gerry was a devout Quincy fan as well as hard worker at testing to get the most out of the engines he was running. There is a chance that the flatheads would have seen many more seasons on the race course had he survived the crash. He, and O. F. were the epitome of, as we say down here, 'Git 'er done'.