Another guest image from Toni Theilmeier. Thanks Toni!
http://www.wooljersey.com/
Click on pic for larger image.
Text from Toni:
The picture dates from 1910 and is captioned "Senior World Champion Piet Dickentman being paced by Bretschneider - Steger".
Dutchman Piet Dickentman (Jan 4, 1879 - Oct 13, 1950) was one of the most successful track racers of his day. Starting off as a sprinter, and with being the fifth man on the star Mulder Quint, Dickentman showed remarkable qualities early on in his career which lasted well into the twenties. Dickentman was so successful that he was able to afford tandems rather than solos as pacers until the outbreak of WWI. He considered them safer than solos; however, it was his USP, too, in a way. He together with Bavarian Thaddy Robl, who was even more successful than Dickentman, was the last stayer to use motorized tandems.
In 1909, Robl left the track in order to become an aircraft pilot, which in those days was about as adventurous as being a track rider. Money was earned in much the same way: Spectators paid fees to watch both track races and flying exhibitions. The thing was that Bretschneider (1876, Vienna - 1934, Leipsic) - Steger were the single most successful and experienced tandem pacing crew, both having had experience on the earliest motor pacing tandems a decade previously. They had stayed with Robl during the whole career of the latter and had played a considerable role in his becoming the most successful track rider ever.
The two were out of a job when Robl stopped racing, so Dickentman took them on for a season or two. The three knew each other from as far back as the Robl-Dickentman Australian tour in 1902.
If one looks closely, one can see that Bretschneider is still wearing the garb from Robl´s days, the red, white and black suit with the German Reich Eagle on. Steger of course is wearing a leather jacket plus a helmet covered by a wooly hat. People then believed that rough surfaces improved aerodynamic conditions for the paced racer, so it became fashionable for a time to race in woolen sweaters. The German Racing Authority, as it was then called, forbid those, but obviously forgot wooly hats.
Dickentman is called the "Senior World Champion" in the caption because in 1910 the German Racing Authority had fallen out with the international regulating body and had staged their own World Championships. Dickentman, knowing where his loyalty belonged, i.e. where most money could be made, won these and was dubbed the "Senior World Champion" by the grateful press.
Dickentman´s bicycle is a Model 32 Brennabor. Brennabor were highly engaged in pro track racing at the time, probably also making the huge motorized pacing tandem. Its engine is a Haacke V2 which will make your average Harley rider´s jaws drop with its roughly 3.5 litres thumping out a healthy 25 or 30 brake horse power. Comparable Anzanis would be rated similarly, so I just take those ratings as a guideline. Haacke was a small Berlin engine maker who also supplied early aero engines. AFAIK only one of his engines survives. The big tank between the riders houses the fuel, while the lever sticking out behind it belongs to the manual oil pump.
Aldo Ross
BlueBall, Ohio