Ernst Jakob Henne

Ernst Jakob Henne ( – ) was a German motorcycle racer and racecar driver.

Henne was born in the village of Weiler, near Wangen im Allgäu. His father was a saddlemaker. In 1919 Henne was apprenticed to a become a motor vehicle mechanic. He started racing in 1923 in Mühldorf, In 1925 he competed in the Monza Grand Prix, his first major international event, where he placed sixth in the 350cc class.

Career Henne soon became one of the most successful German motorcycle racers. After joining the BMW works team, on a supercharged 750 cc BMW, He then moved into sports cars, winning the two-litre class of the 1936 Eifelrennen in the first appearance of the BMW 328. He missed out on a place with the BMW team at the 1937 24 Hours of Le Mans after being injured in that year's Eifelrennen.

World War II Having earned his pilot's licence in 1932, Henne was conscripted by the Luftwaffe during World War II, but was declared unfit due to the skull fractures and concussions he had suffered during his racing career. After the war, he developed a contract workshop with Mercedes-Benz. In 1991 he founded the Ernst-Jakob-Henne Foundation to help innocent victims of misfortune.

Later life and death From 1996 until his death in 2005 at the age of 101, Henne lived in retirement with his wife on the Canary Islands.