A week and a half ago, the NSU Club Netherlands surprised with a special stand at CLASSICSNL in Leeuwarden. The fans and owners of the ancient and very sympathetic brand from Neckarsulm used the theme "Sport" for their place at the WTC Expo. They took beautiful two-wheelers and four-wheelers to the capital of Friesland. One of the cars that appealed to us was the Randstad NSU TT by Marco van den Broek, a replica of a historic circuit racer in the smaller classes.
When Marco van den Broek was 16 years old, he bought his first NSU, and that was no coincidence. He got the NSU virus when he came in contact with someone who had driven cars of the brand. The man worked in the garage on Marco's street and the men regularly set out. They regularly visited speedway competitions, in which NSUs participated, and that was something that attracted Marco considerably.
First car of course an NSU
It couldn't have been long: Marco had saved enough for his first car at one point, and that became an NSU. The 1200 TT was his first car, followed by dozens of other cars of this type. So a fan, to say the least. He restored five, and perhaps the most special TT is the NSU, which was transformed into an indistinguishable Randstad replica. Historians know that the Randstad NSU specimens used to compete in official competitions in the smaller classes
Built according to FIA homologation specifications
The owner personally converted his car to the specifications and applicable FIA requirements of the time, and took the Randstad NSU from Henri van Oorschot as a source of inspiration. That car drove from 1972 to 1975 in various races, and the nice thing is that Van Oorschot was the son of the NSU importer of the same name for the Netherlands. The exterior is complete as this car was then, the interior had to meet other requirements. The car is built according to its own insight, taking into account the valid requirements of the homologation. The car has been converted from a narrow standard 1200 TT with 65pk to a widened race NSU with 125pk.
Ingredients for transformation
Among other things, the placement of two double Weber carburettors, a spaghetti exhaust, different intake manifolds, a limited slip differential, sporty shock absorbers, an oil cooler and TTS steering knuckle pieces (including for the camber) made this originally already potent TT a true competitive cyclist. After a while the cylinder capacity was also increased to 1.298 cc, just enough to end up in the Kampf der Zwerge, for example. This is a German historic racing event, which nowadays houses five competition classes of smaller sports enthusiasts (such as the Histo 1300 and the Coppa Mille Abarth 1000). The NSU TT Trophy is one of them. Van den Broek won this TT Trophy in 2006 with the Randstad TT. There is also a total classification and within that each class also has its own competition.
Tribute to the past
He was later also successful in various other competitions with his Randstad TT, which is much more than a replica. It is an ode to the past, which was built up extremely meticulously. It is not for nothing that several visitors in Leeuwarden rightly asked whether this was an original competition copy from the past.
Marco van den Broek wrote an article in 1989 about the conversion of an NSU TT into a fast TT. Interesting, and you read it here.