Max Friz

The name Max Friz is probably not a well known one, however, he was a pioneer in the aeronautic, automotive and motorcycle industries!

Born in southern Germany in 1883, he became an apprentice at a steam engine company before enrolling at a trade school in Stuttgart to study engineering. That extra knowledge secured him a job in the design offices of Daimler Motors where he worked on the cars named after Mercedes Jellinek – the original Mercedes Grand Prix car was a design that had Friz input.

Prior to the outbreak of World War 1, Friz moved to a subsidiary – Austro-Daimler based in Weiner-Neustadt in Austria. Gottlieb Daimler’s son Paul was managing the technical department and Friz worked on a number of aircraft engines for the company. Some of these engines may have found themselves fitted to the Zeppelin airships of the time because Austro-Daimler, now under the technical directorship of Ferdinand Porsche, was suppling equipment to the airship company.

Friz developed reliable overhead cam motors for aircraft – reliability is something that is needed when you are up in the air! Through this work, he moved back to the parent company to further his designs, however he was restricted by Daimler who wanted to go down the supercharger path.

It was at this stage that he contacted Karl Rapp, an ex colleague, who had founded Rapp Motorenwerke. Rapp’s business partner employed Friz and gave him the freedom to explore his engineering ideas. Friz was keen to develop an engine that could withstand high altitudes. He came up with a 6 cylinder motor with a butterfly throttle control in the carburettors. The engine actually had three carbs fitted – one was used for take-off and landing (i.e. at very low altitudes) and the other two were progressively opened as the altitude increased. This meant that Friz could have a very high compression motor (needed for fuel delivery at altitude) but be usable through throttle control at sea level.

The Government at the time wanted Rapp to be an assembly plant for Daimler and Benz motors, however when they saw Friz’s design, they promptly ordered 600 units! Two things appear to come out of this decision. It may have started the discussions between Daimler and Benz to merge – having lost a lucrative contract. The merger happened a few years later. The other change was that Rapp Motorenwerke was reconfigured to be the Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) and the motor became the grandfather of all future well balanced and reliable 6 cylinder motors that BMW is now famous for.

After the war, Germany wasn’t allowed to create military equipment and Europe was trying to rebuild through a recession. BMW needed to make a cheap product and Friz and his team came up with the idea of refining an existing engine design. This design, a boxer motor, ultimately became the mainstay of BMW motorcycles and the R series of motorcycles was born. Part of his liking of the boxer motor on a motorcycle was that it could be air cooled cleanly by not putting a vertical motor in the frame away from the passing air! He also found that the valves could be lubricated easier if the heads were positioned horizontally.

With regards to the foundation of the BMW motorcycle engine, there is speculation as to whether the original design came from Douglas, or A.B.C. (both British motorcycles) or even Mercedes via a Porsche design. What is known is that the 500cc motor that Friz and his team designed used ideas and influences that were circling the automotive world at that time. They were able to package those concepts into a hugely success motor.

Another design feature for the BMW motorcycle was the use of a shaft and bevel gears for the final drive. Most motorcycles then (and still today) use a chain, however Friz wanted the motorcycle to have less parts to deal with, thus improving reliability.

During the 1930s, BMW expanded into car production with the purchase of the Farhrzeugfabrik Eisenach company, who had licenced an Austin design for their Dixi car. By now, Friz was the Chief Engineer and Technical Director and moved upwards to be the General Manager during the Second World War when car production stopped and the company concentrated on motorcycles and aircraft engines – military equipment.

Friz retired in 1945 and today we can see that his designs and engineering were at the forefront of technology. His work for Daimler, Rapp and BMW is still seen today in how an internal combustion engine operates efficiently and for BMW he put them on steady ground firstly with the 6 cylinder design and then the boxer motorcycle engine despite the company having a few ups and downs along the way. Both motors were ground breaking in their own ways.

In 1966, Friz died in a small town in Bavaria having been influential in bringing aeronautic technology and ideas to motorcycles and automobiles.