Even before 1900, many national sporting events involving bicycles were held in Ilmenau in beautiful Thuringia, especially as there was even a cycle racing track here at the time. In 1898, a motorcycle was presented to the interested public at the Whitsun race. As motorization progressed, a large number of small businesses emerged that sought entrepreneurial success by building motorcycles. It is therefore not surprising that a "Delphin" motorcycle factory was founded in Ilmenau in 1900.
In 1904, the first motorcycle race started to the Gabelbachhotel, a mountain ridge in the Thuringian Forest near Illmenau, but this first race failed spectacularly. None of the motorcycles managed to conquer the steep ascent to the Berghotel Gabelbach.
The failed motorcyclists had to ride back to Illmenau and adapt their bikes to the circumstances. Out of competition, an NSU managed to complete the course in 6 minutes and 40 seconds, but the first successful race would not take place until 1913.
The motto of the new "Gabelbachrennen 2019" calendar is "115 years of triumph on the mountain". The winners of all classes are presented on twelve monthly pages; 6 motorists and 6 motorcyclists, unfortunately mostly forgotten today. The printed historical pictures are of excellent quality and on the back of each sheet there is a comprehensive explanation of the Gabelbach winner depicted on the front.
Some of the photos shown are previously unpublished and impressively depict the racing action. The black-and-white shots take us back to a time when smartphones and color television were still distant dreams of the future and nobody cared about noise pollution, particulate filters or catalytic converters.
You canorder the beautifully produced calendar with the details on the website.
