Susanne Schartel

In her early twenties, the Stuttgart native left her hometown to study business administration and life in California and Paris for six years. In 1993, she accepted a job offer from BMG Ariola and settled in Munich to find her first calling in the music industry. After twelve turbulent years in marketing international artists in Germany, she became curious about what else life had to offer and, from her forties onward, pursued various other activities. Today, she commutes between Lake Starnberg and Stuttgart as a freelance author, copywriter, and translator. "I often heard during my childhood that my great-grandfather had been the director of the famous Neckarsulm vehicle factory NSU at the beginning of the 20th century, and that my grandmother had grown up with a nanny and a chauffeur. Grandma longingly recounted that time, and also repeatedly talked about the incredible (love) story of her little sister Hilde with the dashing Englishman Tommy, who had raced motorcycles for NSU. My mother called them Aunt Hilde and Uncle Tommy, and that was the only way I knew them. When they came to visit from England, it was always a highlight – the family and my grandmother's house at the Bismarck Tower in Stuttgart were buzzing with excitement. After my grandmother passed away at an advanced age at the beginning of this century, it was up to me to clear out the house, which had served as the family home since 1935. Countless photographs, documents, letters, and other memorabilia fell into my hands. Uncle Tommy's personal notes about his racing years with NSU particularly captured my interest. As I continued to study the documents, my Aunt Hilde became the charismatic, pretty, and courageous youngest daughter of the NSU director, and my Uncle Tommy became the handsome, immensely talented, and universally beloved Yorkshire motorcycle racer Tom Bullus, who, as the number one rider in the NSU works team from 1930 to 1932, rode from victory to victory and could only be stopped by the love of his life. I simply had to write this story down."