Notes:
Ulrich Melkus, more commonly known as "Ulli" Melkus, was the son of Heinz and Johanna Melkus. His father Heinz Melkus was the East Germany greatest car builder and driver, which career spanned more than three decades.
Ulli Melkus became an engeneering graduate at the Technical University of Dresden in 1972. Working in his father's company as a car engineer, he became one of the designers of the factory. He was involved already in 1969 in building the successful Melkus RS1000 sportscar. The RS1000 Spyder, created in 1973 was Ulli's first own project. He later designed the sportcar Melkus C9 fitted with a Lada engine, then the Formula Easter MT77 that was updated for many years, until 1989 when Ulli Melkus designed a new model, ML89.
Dresden East Germany, born in 1950, Ulli Melkus had his racing debut in go-kart races at the age of 15. In 1968 he had his first full car racing season, running the Melkus Formula 3 nicknamed "Zigarre" (Cigar), designed by his father. During his career he won six times the Formula Easter class in the Pokal für Frieden und Freundschaft der Sozialistischen Länder (Cup of Peace and Friendship), in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1985. Formula Easter was a Socialist countries specific single-seater category which at the time was considered as the Eastern European equivalent of Formula 1 racing.
In 1984 Ulli Melkus was named as "Meister des Sports", the highest sport honour of the East Germany. In June of 1990 he was invited by BMW for a Motorsport Program in Germany, but unfortunately he lost his life in a tragic road accident which occurred on 18 June 1990, while travelling with his private car near the town of Speyer, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He was 40-year old.
After his death the Melkus racing car company had a provisional end. Ulli Melkus was survived by his wife Maria and their two children, Ronny and Peggy. His memory was perpetuated by the "Ulli-Melkus-Gedächtnispokal", held in his honour.
Ulli's younger brother Peter Melkus, born in 1954, who ran a BMW dealership in Dresden called Autohaus Melkus, also became a successful race car driver, winning the East German championship title once and competing until 2000. A third generation of drivers appeared in the 1990s, formed by Ulli's son Ronny Melkus, born in 1974, and Peter's son Sepp Melkus, born in 1983. |
