Team SS

[Franz repper]

I was looking for info on the Project staff car for Nord when I Found this photo

Eight German drivers took part in the 1940 Mille Miglia. Six of them wore NSKK badges, von Hanstein wore an SS Badge and the eighth - Walter Bäumer, von Hanstein's co-driver, who probably drove 90% of the race - wore neither (pictures showing him with an NSKK badge exist, but they have been doctored).

Here's a photo of SS driver von Manstein who won the Gran Premio di Brescia on 28 April 1940 in his BMW 328

The Photo above is like the car we at Michael Gaißmair now have for a unit staff car .ouers needs work to look like the one above but not bad for a barnFind

[Paulkd]

Stunning car!

can we some more pictures? what is the engine please?

[Steinmetz]

Yes, more pics for us sad mechanics!!! Lovely looking vehicle, there. Almost XK120 styling

Geordie

[Wolfie]

Awesome stuff Franz!

[Franz repper]

One more the car model is 328 Note the white one with runes info below
he designers of the company,Alfred Böning and Fritz Fiedler,assisted by Alex von Falkenhausen and Ernst Loof,prepared the first prototype in the spring of 1936. The first public appearance of the completed car was the Eifelrennen race, on June 14, 1936, winning its class, with an average speed of 101 km/h over the 113 km of the track, driven by Ernst Henne. Although the factory was bombed with orders from enthusiastic amateurs, first production BMW 328 examples could be delivered only from February 1937.

The vehicle was designed for a single purpose: the sports driving. Built on a very light, but also sturdy chassis, it offered only two seats. Unlike the common practice in the 1930s, which demanded strong, heavy chassis, and stiff suspensions, the BMW 328 belonged to the new generation of racers, alongside the Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo and Auto Union, by having relatively soft springs coupled with the very stiff chassis. This system offered outstanding roadholding and driving ease, comparable even to those of the modern automobiles! Another brilliant technical solution was the steering system with rack and pinion, lighter and much more precise than traditional worm gears. But the cream on the cake was the powerplant. The six-cylinder engine, designed earlier for the BMW saloons, had been greatly improved. Fed by three carburettors, it developed, on BMW 328, the power of 80 bhp, more than enough for such a little car. With continuous improvements, by 1940, the highly tuned 328s used by the works teams were giving an impressive 120 bhp, and even 136 bhp at 6000 rpm on the München Spezial racer. The secret was the employment of a special cylinder head and valve gear. While a conventional hemispherical cylinder head demands two camshafts or two rocker arm shafts to drive the valves, the BMW engine had a single camshaft on inlet side which operated intermediate pushrods that crossed the cylinder head to drive the exhaust valves via the same rocker arm shaft as the inlet valves. The arrangement made possible to drive, with a single camshaft, valves inclined to 90 degrees, allowing an almost perfect hemispherical combustion chamber, translating in high efficiency. The noisy and inefficiently lubricated twin-cam engines of the time were no match for it. Compared with its European competitors, the little BMW roadster offered respectable performances, its acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h being quicker than that of a Jaguar SS 100, which had an engine able to develop some 45 bhp more.

The pleasure of ownership and driving of a 328 had its price: RM 7400 for a two-seat Roadster, or RM 5900 for a rolling chassis, which meant that only a small number of examples could be sold.

Many endurance races, as the 1940 Mille Miglia, or the 24-hour race from Nürburgring, were won by the BMW 328 roadsters. Even the famous Romanian racing driver, Petre Cristea, took advantage of the qualities of this model, winning in the Nürburgring competition at the wheel of a 328. The works cars also scored excellent results. A team of three experimental works cars were entered for the 1936 Tourist Trophy(TT) in Ulster where they finished they finished third (A.F.P. Fane), seventh (Prince Bira of Siam) and ninth (J.H. Aldington), giving them the team prize. Apart from the factory teams, numerous privateers would enter their 328's in racing events where, for lack of competition, the starting grids in the two-litre class were almost invariably monopolized by this model. It was a BMW 328 that won the 1937 Grand Prix de Frontieres at Chinay in Belgium, as well as victories at the Finnish Grand Prix and at the ADAC Eifelrennen, with three BMW 328's taking the first three places, to mention only the most significant successes.

The 4th of March 1938 saw a very special triumph in Brescia when three works BMW 328's and a privately entered model all clinched class victories in the world's longest race - the Mille Miglia. Apart from the quartet of BMWs, four other cars in the two-litre class were lined up at the start: a Riley, an Aston Martin, a Fiat and an Alfa Romeo - none of which completed the race. Englishman A.F.P. Fane, who was at the wheel of the winning car, had even dispensed with a relief driver and managed to clock up an average speed of 119.2 km/h (74 mph). When one considers the hazardous nature of the Mille Miglia route at the time, which went along unclosed public roads, across mountains and through numerous towns and villages, the extent of this achievement is all the more astonishing.

Technical specifications:

Engine: front straight-six cylinder, aluminium head & pistons, water-cooled, 1971cc, OHV with cross-pushrod system, 3 Solex carburettors, 80bhp@5000 rpm(street version) and up to 135bhp(racer)

Gearbox: manual 4+1 gears, synchronized 3rd and 4th

Performance: 150 km/h, 10 seconds from 0 to 60 mph(80hp street version)

Chassis: tubular

Suspension: independent withe semi-elliptic springs front, live axle with semi-elliptic springs rear

Brakes: 4-wheel hydraulic-operated drums

Dimensions: 3.9 x 1.55 x 1.4 meters, 2.4m wheelbase, 1.15m/1.22m track ront/rear

Weight: 830 kg
The Black one is the 321 that was made from 1938-41 then 1945-1950 at first as BMW 321, later as EMW: sedan, coupé and cabrio Mine is a BMW I will post some photos later