Helmut Fath at home
The excellent piece about Helmut Fath in November’s TCM brought memories flooding back to me, of meeting him at his home in Ursenbach. It was during my first ever trip across the Channel, riding a borrowed Speed Twin and with my friend Chris Norton on his Dommie.
It was in October 1967 and, with his extensive connections in the racing world at that time,
Chris had pre-arranged a visit to the Fath home and workshop in Ursenbach. I was just lucky enough to share it.
We had a good look at a four-cylinder URS motor of course and I was unwise enough, in my naivety and ignorance, to say I thought it looked a bit like a Gilera – but Chris quickly shut me up in case Helmut thought this was unflattering to his own original work! I also remember that there was a BMW boxer engined outfit in the workshop too. Perhaps this was a remnant of the earlier part of his racing career.
But it was really the household bit of the visit that I remember best. We were entertained to a meal upstairs from the workshop, in the Fath’s elegant home. Imagine it. Two scruffy British bikers, still wearing our well-worn wax jackets and our boots, sitting at Frau Fath’s dining table and making dirty marks on her white linen tablecloth. I was ashamed! Ah well, we were young and the Faths were gracious enough to make us welcome none-the-less. And these remain great memories of a great man. David Quainton, Weardale.