Tribute act
September 1953 saw huge crowds lining the hillsides of the Drevnice Valley in Czechoslovakia, for that year’s International Six Days Trial – six exhausting days and 1200 muscle sapping miles in the event referred to by the period press as the ‘motorcycling Olympics.’
While many of the riders were mounted on lightweight two-strokes, ideal for negotiating the steep, muddy climbs and tight hairpin bends around Gottwaldov, someone obviously forgot to pass on this information to the West German Trophy team as half of their line-up, comprising of George Meier, Hans Roth and Walter Zeller, were competing on huge 600cc BMW flat twins.
They were not just any 600cc BMWs one could buy in the shops, but specially prepared factory R67/2s, with high-level exhaust systems, lightweight trials saddles, quickly detachable wheel spindles, engine protection bars and gas bottles carried on the rear of the machines for rapid tyre inflation.
The German trio were motorcycle ‘superstars’ of their generation and despite losing Zeller on day three, when he retired with
