The Place

Found out about this Radio 4 programme on facebook earlier.Ernst Degner defected from east germany in 1961, allegedly sold his two-stroke knowledge gained at MZ to his new employers, Suzuki, and became the first World Champion in the 50cc class. OR he escaped, risking the lives of himself and his family to gain a better life and further improve his racing career. Matt Oxley (ex MCN?) wrote a book about it , 'Stealing Speed' 3-4 years back and very much suggested that Ernst was a very naughty boy indeed. The producer of this radio programme wasn't writing a book and so has produced a far more balanced version of this quite amazing story. The programme was 11am this morning but is available on iPlayer for another month - lasts 27-8 minutes. Worth a listen...

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41339

links to the iplayer, and more reading.

Ernst Degner STOLE the ideas of the brilliant East German engineer Walter Kaaden & then sold them to the Japaneese, the rest is history.
Quote-
The MZ two-stroke engines, developed by engineer Walter Kaaden, have influenced motorcycle racing for decades. His 1961 125 cc race engine design was the first to achieve an output of 200 bhp (150 kW) per litre.[1] His revolutionary two-stroke system was copied widely in the 1960s by Japanese manufacturers. Yamaha and Suzuki two-stroke engines became competitive in motor sport only after they gained possession of MZ design secrets. MZs were ridden to 13 GP victories and 105 rostrum places between 1955 and 1976.[

Read Ray Battersby's account Ian. Ernst did steal the ideas to a degree although by a few accounts I've read today he didnt' take any drawings, but were they all Walter's in the first place? He did not invent expansion chambers, that point is lucidly put in Ray's post on cycleworld, the whole technology at the time wasn't new. My personal view so far (open to debate and correction, the whole reason of forumming) was that he just wanted to get out of an oppressive regime, and to do that anything would be worth doing.
It's been shown that he didn't deliberately break the engine.. have a read I think you'll find it interesting.

Read Degners book, a good insight into the depressing East German regime. Degner may have won one 50cc title for Suzuki but he suffered with some horrible injuries after. He was a good development engineer / rider in his own right, although he was Walter Kaadens bue eyed boy at MZ.