First Dutch Sprintspecial


Foekema-Kreidler 50cc-Racing
Latest update November 28, 2004
Who realy had the first Dutch Sprintspecial?

In several literature about the Dutch sprint history, the honor of the first Dutch sprinter was given to the wrong person.
Why ? ..... I don't know, may be 50cc doesn't count. They sure did not read the weekly magazine MOTOR. Because this only motor magazine at that time, was very clear in this matter. In September 1967 an English group sprintracers came to Zanvoort to show the Dutches what sprinting on two wheel means. I was very impressed by many of them and still see the spectaculair runs of Alf Hagon on his two cylinder Jap, who shows a big smokecurtain of over 100 metre in a staight line on the 1/4 mile in 9,6 seconds. He was at that time the fastest and the world record holder.
It seems that there was no Dutchman at all, with a sprintspecial. In reality I was there with my new build 50cc sprintspecial. But I only could made some trails in the pitlane, because of the stearing problems. Guus van der Beek a journalists of magazine MOTOR had seen this and he came for an interview after a week.
The only mistake in the interview below is that I should have build also the racers of my brother Ricus, which only counts for the frame. My brother allready was in 1967 an engine tuning expert. He is one of the first who builts privatly rotating valve Kreidler engines. In his first year of racing 1967, he did win the last event on his own developped engine. Here follows the mentioned interview, translated in English and the original one in Dutch.

First Dutch sprintspecial

You take a fast 50cc engine, a mopedwheel, a bicycle wheel, and make a connection with steel rohrs between this parts, and see, a sprinter has born. This is what our 50cc roadrace champion Luc Foekema thought, and because he is not a man to think very long about these things, he was very motivated and built in a few days the sprinter which you see on this page. That was a short time before the international sprints on the Zandvoort circuit, and if you think now: "H�, I don't see him sprinting", then you were right, because there happens exact what you are thinking: the machine was insteerable!
Why the machine was insteerable, you can see easy on the photo, if you look to the hartline through the steering head to the ground, than you see that it hits the ground behind that were the wheel hits the ground. The machine has no ... bud ..... . The frontwheel wants to turn around, and so Luc only did drive behind the pit till the second gear, after which he stepped of the machine in order not to drive it. Althought not for a long time because he will be present in the first next event. The whole goal was to make a machine with a very small front surface, and so it became a "kneeler". Extremely low and extremely light, starting ready about 35 kg!. Wat could left behind, was not there, so you don't see a seat and a frontbrake (Recordmacines in which category this sprinter belong, need to have only one break). Most parts of the sprinter Luc had someware, because he build several 50cc racers in the past years, unless he did not ride last year, because VanVeen Kreidler supported him with a real production engine. In the same category his brother Ricus drove on one build by Luc with great succes, the most at the end of the season! Only the rohrs he had to buy. He had chosen for rohrs 30x20x1,5 his roadrace frames are round rohrs. For front supension he used strong modified Puch forks, on which two little armes are welded in order to make the whole sprinter lower. These arms causes the steering problems. The frontwheel including the tire came from a childness bicycle, what is strong enough for a sprinter. The rearwheel and the engine comes from the racingmachine of his brother. That was easy because the racingseason has yet ended.
For the first next sprintevent the machine will be developped futher. The frontwheel will be replaced a little behind, the kneerests will be made of polyesther and besides there will be made a very low and very thin streamline. The combination of low weight, small frontsurface, enough power (between 9 and 10 hp) will result in an resonable 400 meter time, a time which will not be far from the worldrecord (18.805 sec. by 10hp, 47kk F.B.Minarelli), and pure theoraticle should be defeated by Luc Foekema and his Kreidler homemade machine.
G. v.d. B.

He will not put much rubber on the track, but it would be mad if there will not be times, on which much heavier machines would not be ashamed off. On the photo Luc Foekema shows that is realy possible to kneel on the machine.



If the English version is not ready, you will be automaticle passed to the Dutch version
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