Stealing Speed - The Biggest Spy Scandal In Motorsport History

By: Mat Oxley .

Book Description

This is the remarkable true story of how one of Japan's biggest motorcycle manufacturers stole a Nazi rocket scientist's engine secrets from behind the Iron Curtain to win the motorcycle power race and conquer the world.

The Ernst Degner affair is bike racing's greatest-ever story and had an incalculable effect on the world of speed, transforming the two-stroke motorcycle from cheap runabout to the weapon of choice for grand prix winners and speed- crazed street riders.

Suzuki, then Yamaha and Kawasaki, used Kaaden's know-how to build world-dominating race bikes and create legendary street machines that made Japan the global force in motorcycling. Even avowed four-stroke marques Honda and Harley-Davidson eventually ripped off some of Kaaden's genius to win world championship glory.

Here is the whole extraordinary story, from the death-defying antics of the era's devil-may-care grand prix racers to Degner's battle for world title glory, his James Bond-style escape from the Communists and finally his lonely, mysterious death.

About The Author

Author Mat Oxley is a writer and former motorcycle racer. He won the 1985 Isle of Man 250 production TT and finished third in the 1986 world endurance championship. He has been writing about motorcycle racing for more than 25 years and is author of Haynes' acclaimed biographies of modern-day motorcycling kings Valentino Rossi and Mick Doohan.

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