After a six-year break, the NSU management decided in 1960 to turn to motorsport again, as it had become apparent that motorsport successes had a sales-promoting effect on the corresponding production vehicles. For this reason, the company turned to touring car racing, but for financial reasons did not consider factory participation in the sport. It was decided to offer sports driver support for NSU Prinz drivers, who were offered discounted spare parts and success bonuses, and to offer a Grand NSU Winners’ Cup for the most successful NSU sports drivers.

The results of this commitment were impressive: in 1960 and 1961, an NSU Prinz II (30) won its class at the Tour d’Europe, the world’s longest rallye with 10,000 km, and in 1961 won its class for the third time in a row at the Gran Premio Argentino with an average of over 90 km/h over a race duration of almost 50 hours. Karl-Heinz Panowitz surprisingly became German Touring Car Mountain Champion of all classes in 1962 on a Prinz II (30) and Dieter Lambert came second in the German Rallye

Championship behind a Mercedes team in the same year.

In 1963, the German Mountain Championship was won for the second time in a row on NSU Prinz II (30), this time by Siegfried Spiess. In 1964, Günther Irmscher won the ONS Cup on NSU Sportprinz and in the following year, he won the German Rallye Championship on Prinz II (30) with eight class victories and one overall victory. In 1965, Siegfried Spiess became German GT hillclimb champion of all classes on NSU Prinz 1000 against much bigger competitors. In eleven hillclimb races, he won eight times and finished 2nd three times.

With the introduction of the NSU/Wankel Spider, the first production car with a rotary piston engine, the Wankel era also began in touring car racing. Panowitz/Strunz became German GT rallye champions in 1966 on NSU/Wankel Spider and thus the first automobile champions in the world with a rotary piston engine based on the Wankel principle. Siegfried Spiess in the same year on an NSU Wankel/Spider finished second in the

mountain championship for GT and sports cars behind a Porsche at the first attempt. One year later and also in 1968, Spiess became German hillclimb champion of all classes on the same car.

In 1967, the NSU TT or NSU TTS started its international success spurt until 1976. The TT was built in series from 1967 to 1972 and produced 65 hp with a displacement of 1,200 cc. Although visually almost identical, the standard TTS produced from 1967 to 1971 produced 70 hp from its 1,000 cc engine. Of course, the four-cylinder engine was mounted in the rear and was fan-cooled – as was customary at NSU. Tuning measures such as increased displacement, 1300 Weber carburettor with intake manifold, dual ignition, enlarged intake and exhaust ducts made the vehicle suitable for private motorsport.

Günther Irmscher became the overall winner of the world’s longest rallye, the Tour d’Europe, in 1967 with an NSU TT. In 1967, 35 overall victories, 84 first, 72 second and 63 third

places were achieved with NSU vehicles. In the following season, NSU drivers took 93 first, 68 second and 58 third places in national races. Thus, from 1961 to 1968, seven German championships were won on NSU automobiles. Another notable achievement in 1968 was winning the Belgian King’s Cup at the 24-hour race at Spa-Franconchamps, where four NSU cars were the only team to cross the finish line together after 24 hours.

In addition to numerous hillclimb and circuit titles in Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, North and South America, the German hillclimb championships of 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1976 again went to NSU drivers on their tuned TT or TTS.

In addition to the NSU TT, two special designs based on NSU also made a name for themselves in the 1970s, named after their respective manufacturers, Kurt Brixner and Rudolf Thurner. The NSU Brixner from Stuttgart consisted of a reworked NSU TT base assembly, an NSU engine tuned by Spiess on request and a plastic body developed by the company itself and was delivered

as a kit to the motor sport enthusiastic clientele. The Brixner was particularly successful in the endurance races at the Nürburgring between 1969 and 1979.

The NSU Thurner RS was produced in the Allgäu region between 1970 and 1973. Rudolf Thurner used the engine and a shortened chassis of the NSU 1200 C, on which he placed his distinctive plastic body with gullwing doors. In addition to the “standard version” of the NSU Thurner, there was also a racing version with a 135 hp injection engine, which was tuned by the Kempten-based company Abt.