BMW 500 'Kompressor'

BMW has started its activity producing airplanes engines.  The company started in 1913 by the join of 2 other companies: the 'Karl Rapp Motorwerke' and the 'Gustav Otto Flugmorenfabriek'.  The new firm firstely took the name of 'Bayerishe Flugzeugwerk' (BFW) but was changed in 1917 by BMW; 'Bayerish MotorWerke'.  The firm had a bigg commercial success, getting more and more work; during the WW1, BMW employed more than 3,500 people.  But after the war, the demand for fighter aircraft's engines drop dramatically because of the surrending conditions of the Germans.  This is why the company had to change its sector of activity.  The first motorcycle was a 150cc thwo strokes called 'Flink' who had little success.
The next step has been the construction of the engine M2B15, called 'Bayerish Kleinmotor' wich was a flat twin of 500cc with lateral valves.  This engine was sold to motorcycle builders like Bison, Scheid, Henninger and SMW.  Those builders used to install the engine lengthwise in their own frames.  Later, it has been mounted on the 'Helios', the first bike build entirely by BMW.  But the then young engineer Max Friz, who will be the 'turning plate' of the BMW development as concepter and later as director, made what will be the first BMW bike; the R32, which made a fortune for the company.  Friz installed the engine transversally on the Helios frame, adapting a shaft final transmission (allways present on BMW until now).  The R32 was presented on the 'Salon de Paris' (Paris's Show) in 1923 was immediately a success.

Suddenly, the sport became a priority for the company's management and BMW prepared a racing model.  In 1923, a R32 modified took part in the races  but with no success.  Then Max Friz developped a racing engine with valves on the cylinder head, named M2B36 which will become later the model R37 with which  BMW had its first win.  Friz Bieber won, in 1924, the German championship.  In 1926, a compressor was dapted to the engine and the first 'Kompressor' was born.  With the official pilots Koppen, Henne, Bauhofer, Stelzer Gall and Soenious, the fast bicylinders often took advantage on the British mono-cylinders, but those were better on difficult tracks because of their maniability.  In 1930, BMW abandonned the races to focus on the world speed record, fighting first with the British Fernihough on Brough Superior JAP and after with the Italian Piero Taruffi on the Gilera Rondine.  The last word was to Henne who, in 1937, with BMW, become the fastestcouple on earth; title which last until 1951 when it was taken by NSU.
The bike that you can see here was born in 1935.  It appears first with Wiggerl Klaus, on the Berlin's track, the 'Avus'.  Conception of the engine was totally different from the previous, with a 'doubled single camshaft'  with a taper drive.  The compressor was disposed in the front of the engine and it was obviousely an engine made exclusively for racing purposes.  To test the reliability of the machine, it was first presented in versin 'regularity' and was engaged to the 'Six jours Internationaux'  (International 6 Days) in 1935.  The results were so good that BMW decided to participate in this exhausting race  for the next three years.

BMW was back 'full throttle' in racing .  In 1936, the German firm won a lot of races.  The year after, she present a new model, with a back suspension and a modernised engine.  In 1938, was engaged in the team the one who became the 'flag carrier' of the Kompressor, Georg Meier, the 'Iron Sergeant'.  Meier was a motorcross racer and as soon as he started racing on the road, he had an impressive success.  He won in Belgium, in Holland, in Italy and in Germany, becoming the European champion in the 500 class.  The next year, 1939, Meier won the TT (Tourist Trophy at the Isle of Man), the most important race at that time.  In the same year, Meier won also in Holland but a fall in Sweden bares him to conclude his duel with Dorino Serafini, on a Gilear Rondine, who took this opportunity to take the European championship that year.  After the war, Meier got back to race, but only in his country, due to the regulations who forbid Germany from any international race.  Germany rules for racing authorize the use of a compressor, which were forbidden from international races.  This is why Meier and his teammate Wigger Kraus ruled every German races on their BMW 'Kompressor'.  In 1959, Germany was again admitted to international races and was obliged to follow international rules.  The BMW 'Kompressor' lost there its...  compressor without which the power fall from 74 to 46 HP.  Despite its diminished capacities, the bike was presented to several races with Meier and a new young pilot who will later become the head of the BMW race team: Walter Zeller.  Meier and Zeller participate to international races until 1951 on the mutilated Kompessor.  In the same year, BMW prepared a new engine with different stroke / bore dimensions which will become the 'Rennsport', or RS.

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