Screaming Deeks
Is there any truth in the claim that when raced at the IoM TT, the supercharged split-single DKW 250 and 350cc two-stroke racers could be heard in Liverpool? Surely far-fetched?
Jim Shaw, email.
As you write, Jim, a far-fetched tale, which improved on telling after three or four beers! Period sources imply they were the loudest motorcycles ever raced on the Isle of Man, with more realistic claims implying they could be heard 10 miles away.
Entering into the history of these well engineered racing motorcycles by DKW, who were then the masters of two-stroke engine development, is a subject for a book rather than a YWA reply. It involved a number of Germany’s leading engineers, including Arnold Zoller, Hermann Weber, who some credit with the initial DKW design of the split-single, which started racing in 1931, and August Prüssing, who oversaw some of the model’s later development. It is worth noting the Austrian maker Puch were already making split-single engines, but their U-shaped conrod design wasn’t suitable for high revving race engines; the DKW concept used separate conrods with slight variation of stroke length.
Although considered a split-single, which it was, with both cylinders having a bore of 47.5mm, one
