Andreas Tittmann

And so their BMX career began: Andreas travelled with his friend Uli Heidkamp to the first BMX races in Bremen-Grohn and to the Avro Fietscross in Waalre in the Netherlands, where they were the first German BMXers ever to compete abroad. After the Dutch BMX organiser and "father" of European BMX sport Gerrit Does saw them at a race in Belgium, he invited them to fly with him to the "Huffy Pro Spectacular" in Detroit. Of course, you can't say no to that and so Uli, Andreas and Hans-Willi Zims flew to the promised land of BMX with a delegation of French and Dutch riders and competed in front of the impressive backdrop of the Pontiac Silverdome.

The first real BMX racing season in Germany was correspondingly successful: Andreas became the first ever official German BMX racing champion in 1982. Andy sees one reason why they were so fast straight away in the tough training regime on the Domplatte: Even before there were BMX bikes, let alone BMX tracks, they were racing daily "Last Man Standing" elimination races with over 20 men on the slippery marble of Cologne's Rocalliplatz. The constant fast accelerations and playful pace were the perfect preparation for what awaited them in the first races.

After these successes, the 1st BMX Club Cologne, founded in 1982 by Helmut Heidkamp, finally managed to obtain a training ground for their club from the city of Cologne and so Andy and Uli began building the BMX track in Cologne-Vogelsang. They concentrated on bending the rules of the BDR so that the track was fun and yet somehow managed to get approval from the very strict and conservative governing body. Andy and Uli's baby, the big jump in the first bend, claimed its victims in the very first races - the German riders were simply not used to such technically challenging obstacles.

But Andy liked a challenge. In addition to racing, which had taken on considerable proportions in Germany in 1983 with over 1,000 licences issued and around 20 tracks, Andy, Uli, Pete Schmidt and Hans-Willi Zims founded the freestyle team "Freestyler Cologne". They received support from the De Beukelaer company, which also sponsored the BMX race series at the time, and toured with their portable quarterpipe to building centres and supermarkets to hand out biscuits and put on shows. They even appeared on ZDF's "Aktuelle Sportstudio" programme and suggested jumping over Ayrton Senna's Formula 1 car, which his entourage vigorously and loudly managed to prevent.

Andreas moved from Cologne to Frankfurt straight after completing his apprenticeship to work in the shop of his long-time sponsor Hartwig Hofherr and dedicate himself fully to the BMX life. With Hartwig and the Redline team, he travelled through Germany, Europe and the world to ride BMX races and bring home trophies and experience. He also started his column "Andy's Corner" in Speed and later BMX Sport, in which he reported on the current German and international racing scene, but also gave practical tips on bikes and racing.

Andreas Tittmann was the first star of the young German BMX scene. He inspired and motivated the next generation of riders with his powerful style and lived the BMX spirit by never mincing his words, even towards officials. We are delighted to induct him into the German BMX Hall of Fame at the same place 40 years after his second German championship title in Weiterstadt.