Book Louis Christen Rennfahrer & Konstrukteur

The "world champion" designer

The small company LCR Engineering has designed and manufactured over 800 2, 3 and 4 wheel vehicles in 45 years. The greatest sporting successes were 2 world championship titles in the 80cc motorcycle class, several GP victories in the 125ccm category and over 30 world championship titles in the sidecar motorcycle class, with riders such as Stefan Dörflinger, Biland-Waltisperg, Webster-Hewitt, Streuer -Schnieders. The TT sidecar races on the Isle of Man have been dominated by the specially designed LCR vehicles for over 10 years. LCR racing cars in the Formula V, Super V, Formula Ford classes have won many races and national championships. As a racing driver, Louis achieved his greatest success in the Super Vau class by winning an EM race at the Norisring in the racing car he had designed himself. Since 1985, Louis Christen has been involved as a designer and manufacturer in various electromobility projects.

Louis Christen, 1947

describes himself as one of the lucky people who found a way to make a living with his hobby. Initially, it was not clear whether he would be able to achieve this goal as a racing driver or as a designer, because he was already able to win races with his first self-designed and built racing car. But he quickly realized that racing is mainly associated with looking for sponsors and that winning a race is far from a livelihood, so he concentrated on the design and manufacture of racing vehicles. He was also lucky that he joined motorsport at exactly the right moment. There will probably never be a comparable time in motorsport where you can lead independent constructions to the world championship title as a small SME.