1964 NSU Wankel Spider
The first designs by Felix Wankel (*1902) supposedly date back to 1934. A long road with a war in between until the first engine from the collaboration with NSU ran on the test bench in 1957.
It was the forerunner of the Wankel engine, because in addition to the rotary piston, the housing also rotated. However, this design did not prove successful, so after evaluating the test, with a fixed housing was developed
further.
This got it running on the test bench in 1959 with a chamber volume of just 250 cm3. Only now the official name 'rotary piston engine' was justified. It ran so well that it was installed in a test vehicle for the first
time, an NSU Prinz.
Because of the apparently consistently positive results, a successor engine with 400 cm3 was created for a Prinz Sport. So it arrived for the first time in the vehicle in which he later celebrated his series debut.
| Due to its particularly high fuel consumption, the engine was not yet noticed at the time. |
Actually, the engine didn't fit that well, because all engines for NSU vehicles were installed transversely. You also had to switch from air to liquid cooling, which limited the front luggage space. However, there was still space
above the flat Wankel engine.
The NSU Prinz Sport only had a two-cylinder twin with 600 cc and 22 kW (30 hp) (picture above). However, it was a good 100 kg lighter than the Wankel Spider. The complete drive with gearbox only weighed 125 kg.
Here you see a Wankel Spider with hardtop for racing purposes with 48 kW (65 HP). After all, according to the tachometer, speeds of up to 7,000 or, in extreme cases, even 8,000 rpm were possible. The location of the tank
filler neck on the Spider was fundamentally unusual. Not exactly fire-preventing in an accident.
Despite high oil consumption, the engine seemed to have convinced a number of manufacturers, as the licensees included such renowned names as General Motors, Daimler-Benz, Porsche, Nissan, Toyota and Toyo
Kogyo, this part was certainly profitable for NSU.
| Rainer Günzler’s test . . . |
| English subtitles possible . . . |
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