1936 NSU 350 SSR
1936 NSU 350 SSR Works Racer - Heiner Fleischmann
German champion
Before the appearance of the new NSU 350 supercharged twin, the famed Neckarsulm factory successfully raced single-over-head cam singles between 1930 and 1938.
Like a Norton
The first of these, designed by Briton William Walter Moore, recruited from Norton in 1929, were similar to the Norton CS1 he had created in 1927. Available in 500 and 600cc capacities, the new NSUs soon became known as “Bullus” after the British rider Tom Bullus, signed by NSU at the same time as Moore.
Successful Riders
Bullus was the most successful rider of the NSU works team, which also included Giggenbach, Ruttchen and Ulmen in 1930, then the Viennese Rudi Runtsch and the German Hans Soenius in 1931. In 1933, NSU developed a 350 version of the Bullus, which was only available to works riders for its first two seasons and was then sold as a “straight-from-the-crate” racer in 1935. That year, the most promising NSU works riders were Oskar Steinbach (350 and 500cc German Champion in 1935) and Heiner Fleischmann, who took the German national 350 title in 1936 and 1937 and continued to race this bike between 1947 and 1949, when NSU returned to racing, with its 350cc (and subsequently 500cc) supercharged twins. Fleischmann’s old 350 racer was recently acquired by collector Reinhardt Scholz in exchange for a military NSU Kettenkrad, and the Hockenheim museum displays an ex-Fleischmann SSR 500.
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine: 33&c (70×88mm) air-cooled single cylinder four-stroke
Power Rating: 23 hp @ 6800 rpm
Valves: shaft-and-bevel-driven over-head cam shaft
Fuel System: Amal IT 28.5mm carburetor
Transmission: 4-speed foot-shift, chain drive
Suspension: girder forks (front); rigid (rear) (Jurisch adjustable plunger springing fitted postwar)
Brakes: offset drum (front & rear)
Wheels: 3.00×21 inch (front); 3.25×20 inch (rear)
Weight: 320 lb
Maximum Speed: 100 mph (on 90 octane gasoline)
Formerly ridden by Heiner Fleischmann, twice Champion of Germany, this NSU 350 SSR has an impressive history.
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