A Brief History of the Marque
Founded in Berlin in 1927, the firm specialised in marine engines. In the 1950s these were adapted to speedboat racing in the USA and did very well. A motorcycle racing engine was developed for sidecar racing, and the four-cylinder boxer two-stroke engines powered many machines to victory during the 1970s.
Development of the horizontally-opposed rotary-valved engine began in the late 1960s and appeared on the track in solo form in 1971 ridden by John Dodds of Australia, and then with New Zealander Kim Newcombe in 1972 who was joined during the season by his Australian friend Rod Tingate as mechanic. Newcombe did exceptionally well on the machine and in 1973 was leading the 500cc world championship, with Agostini's MV hard on his heels, when he was was killed at Silverstone.
Tim Hanna, author of a book on the Konig, writes:
Sources: GTU Oldtimerservice, Phil Aynsley.
Further reading: koniggrandprixracers.com, odd-bike.com
