A superb and rare photo of the famous supercharged BMW 500 Kompressor.

In the 1920s and 1930s BMW was very active in world record braking and Ernst Henne was their number one racing ace to do it for them. Henne, who began his illustrious BMW racing career in 1926, would go on to be named the "Fastest Man on Two Wheels," and for good reason. Starting in 1929 he broke the world land-speed record an incredible eight times. Beginning with a swift 134 mph (215,65 km/h) in 1929 he would increase his speed on a BMW 750cc machine to 159 mph (255,89 km/h) by 1935. At this time he will had also broken a world land-speed record on a sidecar-equipped 750cc motorcycle clocking in at 118 mph (189,90 km/h). In the late 30's, Henne turned to 500cc racers setting records again in 1936 and 1937 at 169 mph (271,98 km/h) and 173 mph (278,42 km/h) respectively (see photo!). This final record would hold for fourteen years. He was one of the most talented riders of his era, being a very fast and very precise rider. At the end of the 1920s, Henne developed a passion for off road riding. What followed was an impressive career in that motorcycle sport discipline as well!

This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of BMW ‘s rich motorcycle history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 9" (ca. 20 x 22 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing!