W

Abbreviation for "with", as in "black w/white top".

German engineer who developed, by 1956, the rotary engine that bears his name. He would, later be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Technical University of Munich, recognising his contributions to engineering science in 1969.

Dr. Felix Wankel was born in Lahr, a small town in the Swabia district (Germany), in August 13, 1902. Not far from Wankel's village is the town of Stuttgart, home to names like Daimler, Otto and Benz, known for their refinement of the conventional reciprocating engine and of course the revolutionary diesel engine.

During the 1930s, Wankel carried out a systematic investigation of internal-combustion engines, particularly rotary engines. The German motor firm NSU sponsored the development of his engine with a view to its possible use in motorcycles. Eventually he rearranged his early designs and produced a successful prototype of a practical engine in 1956.

Wankel engines are easily connected together in pairs. They have few moving parts compared with an ordinary motorcar engine; there are no piston rods or camshafts. The saving in engine weight means that slightly less power is required from engines of this type when they are used in cars. Companies throughout the world have bought the rights to manufacture and use the Wankel engine.

Wankel lived out his later years quietly, still turning in long hours of research and testing in his private facility, the Institute, at his home, in Swabia, and as always maintained his reclusive nature. Up until the early seventies he had always been satisfied with an old Borgward saloon as his car when he was given a Rotary engined NSU Ro80. He died on 9 October 1988 in Lindau, West Germany.

Thinking on tangents rather than laterally, Wankel has been called legendary, brilliant, a master engineer and even egotistical, amateurish, eccentric, fanatical and futile. He was, to this day, one of the few engineering minds of the modern era who did not believe the more conventional, but infinitely more complex, reciprocating engine was the ultimate answer.

An automobile manufactured in East Germany and equiped with a two stroke engine. The mark goes back as early as 1885. The automobile was produced to 1989 and was halted due to the lack of rentability in production. The two stroke engine were substituted by a 4 stroke VW motor in the last year of production, but the time and technology had pased and the car couldn't live up to modern standards. The name "Wartburg" derives from the Wartburg Castle on one of the hills overlooking the town of Eisenach where the cars were manufactured.

A pump that circulates coolant within the engine block and cylinder head. The water pump is driven by the engine crankshaft.