Heinz Melkus

Heinz Melkus
Heinz Melkus working on his Melkus Wartburg in the pit at Halle-Saale in 1961
Born	(1928-04-20)April 20, 1928 Dresden, Germany
Died	September 5, 2005(2005-09-05) (aged 77) Dresden, Germany
Nationality	East German
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Heinz Melkus (20 April 1928 – 5 September 2005) was an East German race car driver and constructor of sport cars.

He founded the company Melkus to produce race and sport cars, his Wartburg based Melkus RS 1000 was with 101 build units the most successful one.

His sons, Ulli and Peter Melkus have resumed to build sports cars in 2006.

Racing record

• 1958 East German champion in Formula 3 up to 500 cc
• 1960 East German champion in Formula Junior up to 1000 cc
• 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972 Winner of the Main event of the Friendship of Socialist Countries Cup
• 1967, 1968, 1972 East German champion in Formula 3/Class C 9/Class B 8/ E up to 1300 cc

Literature

• Horst Ihling: BMW (Ost), EMW, Wartburg. Autorennsport in der DDR. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 978-3-7688-5788-8.
• Wolfgang Melenk: Heinz Melkus. Fahrlehrer, Konstrukteur und Rennfahrer. Festschrift zum 75. Geburtstag. Limbacher Druck GmbH, without ISBN.
• Wolfgang Melenk, Frank Rönicke: Meister des Sports. Der Automobilrennsport in der DDR. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-613-02441-1.
• Wolfgang Melenk, Mike Jordan: Rennsportlegende Heinz Melkus. Lebenswerk und Sportkarriere des Dresdner Automobilkonstrukteurs und Autorennfahrers. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-7688-5792-5.