1956: NSU BREAKS 200MPH BARRIER

In one of those happy coincidences, I was trolling our antiques flea market in Alameda today, and came across a lone water-stained issue of Cycle magazine, from October 1956. A Sportster on the cover wasn't so interesting, but opening the magazine revealed a lengthy article on the NSU effort at Bonneville that year, in which the factory fielded several of their motorcycles in an all-out assault on the record books. "NSU Shatters the 200mph Barrier: Wilhelm Herz, on a blown 500, hits 211--".

I had been speaking with the owner of the Hockenheim Motor Racing Museum just the day before, about his participation in next year's Legend of the Motorcycle event (Saturday May 2, 2009 - at a location to be announced), which features NSU (and Indian).
It's high time some of the incredible NSU racing machines were seen here in the US again, and it sounds like that is a possibility next May... probably not this exact machine, but NSU built an incredible range of technically advanced racers over the decades, and became totally dominant in the 250cc class of GP racing, even after withdrawing official works support for racing in 1954 (in 1955, a Sportmax, based on the roadster Max 250cc, won the World Championship). Consider this the opening salvo in a barrage of NSU posts to come over the next few months.

The story of the record attempt: The NSU team arrived in Utah on July 25th, and began testing the SIX capacity class motorcycles - 50cc, 100cc, 125cc, 250cc, 350cc, and 500cc. The smaller machines wee successfully run during this week, taking many records in short distance and flying mile/kilometer classes. Nothing was left to chance; NSU Chairman Dr. G.S. von Heydenkampf and Technical Director Viktor Frankenberger were on hand to oversee the mechanics, technicians, and officials (including Piet Nortier, from the F.I.M., in charge of timing). A travelling machine shop had been shipped from Germany with enough spares and equipment to deal with any mechanical emergency.

On August 4th, the wind conditions were favorable and at 6am, and Herz hurtled from the starting area under full throttle 'with salt spewing from a wildly spinning rear wheel'. He made 211mph on his first run, breaking the previous record (held since July 2nd 1955 by Russell Wright on a Vincent Black Lightning - 185mph on the Tram Road at Swannanoa, Christchurch, New Zealand) by 26mph! The Vincent connection is truly ironic, as from 1954, Vincents sold NSUs under license to keep the wolf from the door.

Herz didn't have an easy time of his record-breaking, and a few days previously had been pushed off-course by a gust of wind, hammered a timing light, and tore a gash in the nose of the Delphin III (named for the sleek shape of the streamlined body). Also, while testing the 250cc 'hammock slung' streamliner, the motorcycle went out of control at 195mph and flipped over, which ended the 250cc record attempts for this session. Also ironic, as NSU had arguably their greatest technical and racing sucesses in the 250cc class.

Road-racer H.P. Muller (first privateer to win a World Championship title - on a modified roadster 250cc NSU Sportmax, at age 46) piloted the 3 smaller capacity streamliners, and gained 121.7mph from the 50cc machine, 138.0mph in the 100cc class, and 150.3mph with the 125cc, which also overtook the records for 175cc and 250cc categories. Herz was in the saddle for the 350cc category, and made 189.5mph on a 1 mile flying start run.

This 500cc engine, based on the works 'Rennmax' racer (but using a supercharger), is a work of art, and had been used to take the World Record in 1951 on the Munich-Ingolstadt autobahn. For the '56 attempt, a new, longer and lower frame was built, as well as the 'dolphin' enclosed fairing, making the total length 3.7 meters. Girder forks with hydraulic dampers were used up front, and hydraulic plungers at the rear. The unit-construction motor is an inclined vertical twin with shaft-and-bevel driven double overhead cams, with peak revs of 8000rpm. Ignition is by forward-mounted magneto, the supercharger sits atop the gearbox, and is fed by a single very large Amal-Fischer TT carb. The crankcases and covers are all magnesium. This 500cc dohc engine had a disadvantage in GP racing as it's a heavy lump, and while the power was excellent, the much lighter Guzzi singles and Gilera 4's made for a tough time on the circuit. Weight isn't an issue with a speed record though, as it only slows acceleration, not top speed. Thus the Delphin III had a front and rear brake, and lead blocks hung on the front of the frame to keep the front wheel on the salt.

The smaller machines all used the 'flying hammock' seating position, in which the rider sits with legs outstretched, to make an especially low motorcycle with minimal frontal area for the best wind-cheating layout. The Cycle correspondent (Ron Britzke) makes note of the superior handling and aerodynamics of these smaller machines, and reckoned that the 'dolphin' fairing had seen its limit, while the potential of the 'deck chair' design 'has apparently just been tapped'. How right he proved to be.