Notes:
Kim Newcombe is remembered as the New Zealander who came second in the 1973 World 500 Grand Prix Championship, riding the bike he had developed together with German manufacturer Dieter König. The König 500 was based on a German water-cooled four cylinder two-stroke boat engine mated to a Manx Norton gearbox and clutch.

Newcombe was born in Nelson, New Zealand on 02 January 1944. He grew up in Auckland, where he served an apprenticeship as a motorcycle mechanic. During these years he started racing in scramble events, riding a Francis-Barnett and later a 250 cm³ Greeves. In 1963 he moved to Australia, first in Brisbane and later in Melbourne, where he competed in speedway and short-circuit racing.

In 1968 Newcombe moved to Europe, living in West Berlin, Germany, where he was hired by Dieter König as development engineer in his outboard engine factory. Kim Newcombe made his debut in European motorcycle races in 1969, riding a machine he had built himself, at the Berlin’s AVUS (Automobil-Verkehrs-und-Übungs-Straße) and winning the 500 cm³ class. This bike was powered by a König engine and it is to be considered a predecessor of the König racing machine.

König and Newcombe worked hard in the development of the 500 cm³ flat-four two-stroke racing motorcycle. A first prototype of a bike officially named König made a sporadic appearance in the Dutch TT in Assen in 1970 and it was ridden by John Dodds. Kim Newcombe was first involved in the project only as an engineer, but when the factory failed to secure a development rider, he became the works test rider. In 1972 he obtained an international license and when the König, after a substantial redevelopment, reappeared in the 1972 West German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, it was Newcombe who was riding it. He finished on the podium alongside the winning MV Agusta works riders Giacomo Agostini, first and Alberto Pagani, second.

The machine proved to be very competitive, obtaining remarkable top speed performances, although it often showed problems related to the gearbox and clutch arrangment. Dieter König and Kim Newcombe spent the Winter working on the bike and by 1973 the König was finally on the way to challenge the Yamahas and MV Agustas for the World Championship. The season started with a remarkable fourth place at the French Grand Prix at Le Castellet and a third in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Salzburgring, then, on 17 June 1973 Kim Newcombe obtained an outright win in the Yugoslavian Grand Prix, held on the terrible Opatija circuit. Later Newcombe scored a second in the Dutch TT at Assen behind Agostini, a fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, a third in the Grand Prix of Sweden at Anderstorp and again a fourth in the Grand Prix of Finland at Imatra which ensured Newcombe the second place after Phil Read's MV Agusta in the World Championship standings, with one race still to go.

Sadly the enthusiasm for the rousing season was abruptly muffled on Saturday, 11 August 1973, when Kim Newcombe crashed during the sixth lap of the British Formula 750 Grand Prix, fifth round of the 1973 PRIX FIM 750 series, at Silverstone. Newcombe was riding a 680 cm³ version of the König and came off at the Stowe corner hitting a concrete wall. Reportedly he failed to decelerate after the long Hanger Straight, due to overheated brakes. Newcombe suffered severe head injuries and died three days later in Northampton General Hospital, on Tuesday, 14 August 1973.

Shortly after Newcombe's death two recipients, one in Birmingham and the other in Ireland, successfully received his kidneys. Kim Newcombe left a widow, Jen and a four-year-old son, Mark. The New Zealand race fraternity was devastated by Kim Newcombe's death which occurred just three weeks after fellow New Zealand rider Geoff Perry was killed in a plane crash off Papeete, Thaiti, French Polynesia, on 23 July 1973.

The accident of Newcombe came at the end of the same tragic season in which Renzo Pasolini and Jarno Saarinen were killed at the Grand Prix des Nations in Monza. Thirty-one years later Newcombe's son, Mark, and Renzo Pasolini Jr. paid homage to their fathers riding side by side on the bikes of Kim and Renzo Sr. at Sachsenring during the Classic Champs meeting. Mark Newcombe was on a König machine.

In recent years a book and a documentary were made in New Zealand on the life of Kim Newcombe and his success on the König machines. Directed by Justin Pemberton, the film titled "Love, Speed and Loss", was presented in 2005.

• Magazine Moto 73, issue 16 of 24 August 1973 [L1].
• Magazine Motor Cycle, issue of 25 August 1973 [L2].
• Newspaper Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, Lancashire, England, UK), issue of Monday, 13 August 1973, page 19, article "Rider 'ill'", retrieved by website https://www.findmypast.com/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000271%2F19730813&page=19 .
• Newspaper ABC (Sevilla, Spain), issue of Wednesday, 15 August 1973.
• Newspaper Daily Mirror (London, England, UK), issue of Thursday, 16 August 1973, page 3, article "Rider's Kidneys Save Two", retrieved by website https://www.findmypast.com/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0004848%2F19730816&page=3 .
• Website The World of Classic Motorcycling, by Murray Barnard, chapter Classic Motorcycling Memorial Tribute, page http://www.ozebook.com/gpwin/gpmem.htm and chapter Top 100 motorcycles of the 20th Century, article "The 1973 Konig and Kim Newcombe" page http://www.ozebook.com/konig.htm .
• Website Motorcycling Australia, article "1973 Konig 500 From west of the wall", page http://www.ma.org.au/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Online_Classics&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10132 .
• Website EggersdorferNet, by Rolf Eggersdorfer, page http://www.eggersdorfernet.de/newcombe-kim.html .
• Website Racing Memory, by Vincent Glon, page http://racingmemo.free.fr/MOTO-GP-1973.htm .
• Website Thunderbike Powersports, article "Love, Speed and Loss" page http://www.thunderbike.co.nz/newsletters/05nov-dec.htm .
• Website Motorcycling New Zealand Inc., chapter Roll of Honour, 1970 - 1979, page http://mnz.co.nz/rollofhonour_1970-1979.aspx .
• Website Telcom 2005 International New Zealand Film Festival, page http://www.nzff.co.nz/filmsynopsis.asp?FilmID=1996&Archive=1&RegionID=0&EventID=0 .
• Website Biker Days, article "Bikers' Classics - Spa-Francorchamps 13-14-15/08 - Renzo Pasolini Jr. and Mark Newcombe pay homage to their fathers", page http://www.bikersdays.com/bikersclassics/en/news10.htm .
• Website Derapate, page http://www.derapate.it/articolo/kim-newcombe-e-la-koenig-500-storia-di-un-eroe-dimenticato/8377/ .
• Website Visor Down, article "The Lost King - Remembering Kim Newcombe" by Jon Bentman, page http://www.visordown.com/features/the-lost-king---remembering-kim-newcombe/14171.html#ixzz10CIWh0tx [C1].
• E-mail by Chris Hall, dated 04 May 2004.
• E-mail by Gavin Hughes, dated 20 March 2006.
• E-mail by Herman Looman, dated 02 June 2007, citing source [L1].
• E-mails by Herman Looman, dated 05 June 2007 (two messages), citing source [L2].
• E-mail by Ron Currie, dated 21 September 2010, citing source [C1].
• E-mail by Ron Currie, dated 09 January 2010.