Drive module DKW F7

With the F1, DKW presented the first German production car with front-wheel drive in 1931. As well as the established benefits for driving dynamics of this type of drive, through the front wheels the drive offered a weight advantage of 90 kg compared to standard rear-wheel drive because the propeller shaft, rear axle differential and the previously customary rigid axle were all no longer required.

Up until the DKW F8, the drive unit used was a water-cooled 2-cylinder two-stroke engine in which, in contrast to the four-stroke engine, a heavy valve control system was dispensed with. The engine was blocked together with the gearbox to form one unit in which both the crankcase and the gearbox housing were made from aluminium. The Dynastart module, which was flanged directly onto the crankshaft, was both an alternator and starter. The complete DKW drive unit thus had a total weight of just 47 kg. With a power output of 14.7 kW, this meant a power/weight ratio of 3.1 kg per kW. This performance is more than respectable compared to Audi's eight-cylinder inline engine with 4.8 kg per kW and Wanderer's six-cylinder inline engine with 4.4 kg per kW.

Technical data