|
Kreidler 50 1975
In 1970 Aalt Toersen left the Van Veen team to join the Dutch
Jamathi team, and the resulting vacancy on the Van Veen team was filled by Jan
De Vries and Rudolph Kunz. The two new drivers not only had the same problem
that Toersen did—namely, defeating Spanish driver Angel Nieto with his fast,
streamlined official Derbi—but they also had to compete with Toersen.
Kunz's 1970 third-place finish was the best the Kreidler-Van Veen team could do.
The following year De Vries rose from his 1970 fifth place to win the
championship, with a substantial margin over Nieto.
A heated rivalry developed between the Dutchman and the
Spaniard, both on and off the track. In
1972 Nieto won the championship, with De Vries right behind him. In
1973 the championship went back to De Vries, but that year Derbi did not
compete. And in 1974 De Vries retired from racing. During that same year the
first six motorcycles in the world championship classification were all Kreidler
50s, with the Dutch racer Van Kessel in first place. Van Veen then contacted
Nieto and gave him the best Kreidler available. Nieto won the world championship
in 1975, but the following season he returned to Spain and took the title away
from Kreidler, bringing its three-year winning streak to an end.
Motorcycle: Kreidler 50
Manufacturer: Kreidler Werke GmbH,
Kornwestheim Type: Racing Year: 1975
Engine: Kreidler-Van Veen single-cylinder, horizontal, two-stroke, with
rotat-ing-disk distribution. Displacement 49.8 cc. (40 mm. x 39.7 mm.)
Transmission: Six-speed block
Cooling: Water
Power: About 17 h.p. at 14,000 r.p.m.
Maximum speed: Over 110 m.p.h.
Chassis: Tubular cradle above with engine suspended. Front and rear, telescopic
suspension
Brakes: Front wheel, central drum with four cam-operated shoes; rear wheel,
central drum
|
