Who is Walter Kaaden? (Dirtbike Documentary)

[@charlieadjey5791]

This film is brilliant, I met and talked to Walter at the Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod in the early sixties and learned a great deal from him. He was a real gentleman. .At that time I was racing Villiers engine scramblers then Bultaco karts

[@Youchoob1]

Nice video. Just a small point but an important one. You mention he was the 1st person to achieve 200bhp from 1 litre of fuel, that is not actually the case. The correct statement would have been 200bhp per litre of engine capacity as a measure of the effectiveness of the designs output. I believe he did this in 1961 with a 125 cc 2-stroke. Only now 50 years later are production motorcycles touching at those levels of output. Both examples are incredible!

[@garymartin557]

one of the finest engineers ever. he also proved the schule scavanging system was effective.

[@JETZcorp]

This is a great history lesson, very informative. If you want to get ridiculously in-depth on this kind of thing, you should read the "Two Stroke Tuner's Handbook" by Gordon Jennings. It actually gets into the maths of porting, bore x stroke relationships, compression ratios, expansion chamber design, etc. It's from 1973, but still quite relevant, simply because the maths don't change.

[@tduic]

At 2:16 it says 200 BHP from a liter of fuel, which is incorrect, it should be 200 BHP per liter of engine displacement (1000 cm3).

[@Maicowerk]

Did this video a long time ago, I probably did accidentally add "fuel" to the end of that statement.

[@mxa1axm]

I think the main point is it deflects the fuel charge back into the cylinder ,2 strokes have tendency to lose fuel charge out of the exhaust port when charging the cylinder,and greatly increase the intensity and effiency of the fuel charge.Wikepedia has a very good illustration of this under 2 stroke engines.

[@pete7kcu]

Thanks for the video. I can't comment on technical details, although I think some may be distorted in translation perhaps. I thought the gas expansion chamber principle was used in V2. But is is good to see recognition given to this ground-breaking engineer and sad he was not honoured more in his lifetime. The story of Kaaden, Degner, Suzuki and other manufacturers as well as the personal details of how Degner's family defected surely deserve to be a feature film (Ewan McGregor where are you?) as it has enough scope and drama to succeed outside of just the engineering field. Best of luck.

[@MegaBoilermaker]

The gas expansion chamber principle was used in the V1 not the V2.

[@anthacdc]

very good history lesson, great vid. gotta bloody love those ole two strokes.

[@AuMechanic]

3:34 says it uses the previous cycles exhaust gas, not possible. To calculate tuned length we multiply the exhaust port opening in crank degrees X the localised speed of sound (sonic velocity) in the pipe determined by temperature, and divide the result by the RPM. Which shows you that the secondary sonic wave reflects and acts on the primary gas slug that propagated the sonic wave at the moment the exhaust port opened.

[@Maicowerk]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_chamber

[@AuMechanic]

That explanation also defies the tuned length formula and also lack citations. It states it acts upon the second or even third ensuing gas slug.

[@AuMechanic]

You may have confused this part of the wiki article that says "The actual gas leaving the pipe during a particular cycle was created two or three cycles earlier. " this is referring to the outlet or bleed off pipe at the end that is bleeding accumulated exhaust gas slugs in the chamber, it does not refer to sonic wave propagated at the port that creates a negative pressure wave at the diffuser cone and a positive reflected wave from the baffle cone at the rear that are both creating the power..

[@Maicowerk]

This: " The exhaust gas pushes its way into the pipe which is already occupied by gas from previous cycles, pushing that gas ahead and causing a wave front."

[@Maicowerk]

I did this video 8 years ago, I don't remember where I found that or put it in. It's possible it's inaccurate I would have to look again or I got it from a source that was also inaccurate as that has happened. That's the closest thing I can see in the wiki article that may have been related.

[@P3t3rG1]

I used to have an MZ ETS 250/G bike, but my personal favorite is the CR500.

[@crobulari2328]

I am not sure he worked with Von Braun or on V2 rockets . Please check and I will do the same. He worked at Peenemunde though.

[@Maicowerk]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Kaaden www.motorcycle-usa.com/2013/07/article/backmarker-ernst-degner-and-mz-secrets/

[@Maicowerk]

Motorcycle USA: "Kaaden was literally a rocket scientist, who worked on the Nazi V-2 rocket program. Many of the Nazi’s rocket guys were spirited away to U.S. missile programs at the end of the war, and in a slightly different world, Kaaden may have ended up here alongside Werner Von Braun." Wikipedia: "Despite many reports to the contrary, Kaaden did not work on the V-1 flying bomb (the Vergeltungswaffe 1, Fieseler Fi 103) nor under Wernher von Braun on the V-2 German rocket program during the Second World War" Another one: www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2012/december/de1712-the-ernst-degner-story/ "During World War Two Kaaden worked at Hitler’s secret weapons base in Peenemunde where the so-called Vengeance Weapons - the V-1 and V-2 - were developed. After the war he turned down an offer to work with chief Nazi rocketeer Werner von Braun on the USA’s NASA programme." I put this video together in 2009, so I don't know the source I used at the time but seems you can find both he did and he didn't in various degrees.

[@Maicowerk]

Here's another source in a book books.google.com/books?id=hORPJ3l5cSMC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=Von+Braun+walter+kaaden&source=bl&ots=ltL5BasSon&sig=4m9gBHYfuHaKQSzMTRTn8-9S0yI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibsqCpx_HMAhUH4YMKHY7RAHYQ6AEIYDAM#v=onepage&q=Von%20Braun%20walter%20kaaden&f=false Live to ride: the rubmling, roaring world of speed, escape and adventure. "Walter Kaaden who had worked under the engineer Wernher von braun in his V-Series program during WWII"

[@Maicowerk]

So, Wikipedia says no looks like, but doesn't give a citation. Of course, it's hard to give a citation for a negative.

[@MegaBoilermaker]

@@Maicowerk V1 Pulse jet flying bomb, not V2 rocket.

[@clivedavies5618]

God awful soundtrack ("music"???) Kaaden worked on the V1 Doodlebug flying bomb pulse engine which relied on the length & shape of the chamber for efficiency. lt was this development work that helped Kaaden with his racing exhaust designs. Mat Oxley's book "Stealing Speed" tells the story of Degner's defection from East Germany with the assistance of Suzuki, taking with him engine parts and technical data to copy. Alan Shepherd a World class rider who rode for MZ inthe early '60s was contemptuous of Degner.

[@MegaBoilermaker]

Correct Clive, not on a rocket bomb as the narrative states.

[@peterg2yt]

RayBattersby is correct that there are significant errors in your video. Big thanks though for giving credit to the father of the modern high performance 2-stroke engine. I take issue with your claim that his engines took 13 GP victories and 105 podiums. It is easy to argue that 'his' engines took many, many more because the Suzuki and later Japanese engines used his technology stolen by Ernst Degner. You didn't mention his adoption of a 'boost port' also increasing power. Horrible music!

[@ducatista695]

Stealing Speed by Matt Oxley. Good book.