Between 1935 and 1937 Auto Union cars won 25 races, driven by Ernst von Delius, Tazio Nuvolari, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi. Much has been written about the difficult handling characteristics of this car, but its tremendous power and acceleration were undeniable - a driver could induce wheelspin at over 100 mph (160 km/h).
The cars throughout their production history were the main Grand Prix protagonists with Mercedes-Benz, particularly dominant in 1936. The dominance of the Silver Arrows of both brands was only stopped by the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Background
[edit] P-Wagen project
Having been made redundant from Steyr Automobile, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche founded Porsche in Stuttgart, with engineering colleagues including Karl Rabe, and financial backing from Adolf Rosenberger. Unfortunately, car commissions were low in the depressed economic climate, so Porsche founded a subsidiary company Hochleistungs Motor GmbH (High Efficiency Engines Ltd.) in 1932 to develop a racing car, for which he had no customer.[1]In 1933, Grand Prix racing was dominated by French and Italian marques Bugatti, Alfa Romeo and Maserati. In early 1933, governing body AIACR announced a new formula, with the main regulation meant that the weight of the car without driver, fuel, oil, water and tyre was not allowed to exceed 750 kg (1,700 lb). This was created to restrict the size of engine that could be used, with the authority estimating that this weight limit would allow around 2.5 litre engines.[2]
Based on Max Wagner's mid-engined 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen, or "Teardrop" aerodynamic design, also built in part by Rumpler engineers,[3] the experimental P-Wagen project racing car (P stood for Porsche) was designed according to the regulations of the 750 kg formula. On November 15 chief engineer Rabe submitted the first draft to the planning office of a racing car for the new formula, with Josef Kales responsible for the V16 engine, while Rabe also held responsibility for the chassis.[1]
Auto Union
In 1932 Auto Union Gmbh was formed, comprising struggling auto manufacturers Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. The Chairman of the Board of Directors, Baron Klaus von Oertzen wanted a show piece project, so at fellow director's Adolf Rosenberger insistence, von Oertzen met with Porsche, who had done work for him before.[1]At the 1933 Berlin Motor Show, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler announced two new programs:[1]
- The people's car: a project that would eventually become the KdF-wagen
- A state-sponsored motor racing programme: to develop a "high speed German automotive industry," the foundation of which would be an annual sum of 500,000 Reichmarks to Mercedes-Benz
Having garnered state funds, Auto Union bought Hochleistungs Motor GmbH and hence the P-Wagen Project for 75,000 Reichsmarks, relocating the company to Chemnitz.[1]
Design
The problem with mid-engined design at the time was the stiffness of the contemporary ladder chassis and suspension, which resulted in a pronounced change in turning angle as the momentum of the centrally mounted engined changed on the chassis, and resulted in the car oversteering. The suspension was all-independent, using parallel trailing arms and torsion bars at the front, while at the rear Porsche tried to counter the natural oversteer tendency with the use of a then advanced swing half-axle rear suspension. It was only on the later Type D that the rear suspension would be replaced with a de Dion system, following the lead of Mercedes-Benz, but by then it was too late to do anything about the poor handling reputation the cars had gained.
The cars used supercharged engines that eventually produced almost 550 horsepower (which also contributed toward the handling difficulties, as it promoted oversteer which the cars already had in abundance). The engine was originally the V16 engine that Porsche had started designing earlier; when, starting in 1938, the maximum engine displacement for Grand Prix cars was limited to 3 litres for blown engines, it became a V12. It was originally designed to 6 litre specifications, but would start at 4,360 cc and 295 bhp (220 kW). It had two cylinder blocks, inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, with a single overhead camshaft to operate all 32 valves. The cylinder heads were hemispherical, with the intake valves on the inside, directly connected to the camshaft through rocker arms. The rocker arms of the exhaust valves were connected to the camshaft by pushrods that passed through tubes situated above the spark plugs; thus the engine had three valve covers. The engine was designed to provide optimum torque at low engine speeds, with Bernd Rosemeyer later driving a car around the Nürburgring in a single gear, to prove the engine was flexible enough to do it.
The body was subjected to strenuous testing in the wind tunnel of the German Institute for Aerodynamics, a scientific organization that still exists. The fuel tank was located in the centre of the car, directly behind the driver, so that the car's front-rear weight distribution would remain unchanged as the fuel was used: exactly the same location used in modern open-wheel racing cars, and for the same reason. The chassis tubes were initially used as water carriers from the radiator to the engine, but this was eventually abandoned after they often sprung small leaks.
The list of drivers for the initial 1934 season was headed by Hans Stuck; he won the German, Swiss and Czechoslovakian Grand Prix races (as well as finishing second in the Italian and Eifel Grands Prix), along with wins in a number of hill-climb races, becoming European Mountain Champion. (There was no European Championship for the circuit races that year, or he would have won that too). August Momberger placed second in the Swiss Grand Prix.
In 1935, the engine had been enlarged to five litres displacement, producing 370 bhp (280 kW). Achille Varzi joined the team and won the Tunis Grand Prix and the Coppa Acerbo (along with placing second in the Tripoli Grand Prix). Stuck won the Italian Grand Prix (along with second at the German Grand Prix), plus his usual collection of hill-climb wins, again taking the European Mountain Championship. The new sensation, Bernd Rosemeyer, won the Czech Grand Prix (and managed a second at the Eifel Grand Prix and Coppa Acerbo).
Hans Stuck also managed to break speed records, reaching 199 mph (320 km/h) on an Italian autostrada in a streamlined car with enclosed cockpit.[6] Lessons learned from this streamlining were later applied to the T80 land speed record car.
In 1937, the car was basically unchanged and did surprisingly well against the new Mercedes-Benz W125, winning 5 races to the 7 of Mercedes-Benz. Rosemeyer took the Eifel and Donington Grands Prix, the Coppa Acerbo, and the Vanderbilt Cup (and well as second in the Tripoli Grand Prix). Rudolf Hasse won the Belgian Grand Prix (Stuck placed second). von Delius managed second in the Avus Grand Prix.
In addition to the new 3-litre formula, 1938 brought other challenges, principally the death of Rosemeyer early in the year, in an attempt on the land speed record. The famed Tazio Nuvolari joined the team, and won the Italian and Donington Grands Prix, in what was otherwise a thin year for the team, other than yet another European Mountain Championship for Stuck.
In 1939, as war clouds gathered over Europe, Nuvolari won the Yugoslavia Grand Prix in Belgrade (with a second place in the Eifel). Hermann P. Müller won the 1939 French Grand Prix (and took second in the German Grand Prix). Hasse managed a second place in the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix, and Georg Meier a second in the French.
Cars today
Very rarely were racing cars of the period kept, as components of early cars if required were scavenged for later models and repairs. Secondly, what did remain was often scrapped to provide funds for additional development.During the latter part of World War II, an estimated eighteen Auto Union team cars were hidden in a colliery outside Zwickau, Saxony, where the Auto Union race shop was based. In 1945 the invading Russian Army discovered the cars, and they were retained as war possessions. As Zwickau post-war was located in Soviet controlled Communist East Germany, what little of the Auto Union racing cars existed were shipped back to the Soviet Union, distributed to scientific institutes and motor manufacturers including NAMI[disambiguation needed] for research.
Today, it is believed that most of the cars were probably reduced to scrap, and that no Type A or Type B cars exist today. Presently it is believed that only one Type C and three Type D cars, and a Type C/D hill climbing car remain.
The sole remaining Type C was originally left to a German museum by Auto Union, after the death of Bernd Rosemeyer resulted in only two or three of these historic cars running. Damaged by bombing during the war, its body today still shows these marks. In 1979/80, Audi commissioned restoration of the car, undertaking a preservation-level overhaul to the body, engine and transmission.
A Type D car was recovered and taken to Moscow to study its technology. In 1976, the car was at the ZIL factory in Moscow and scheduled to be cut up for scrap metal, but Viktors Kulbergs, president of Antique Automobile Club of Latvia, brought it to Riga Motor Museum.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a 16cylinder hill climbing car - a combination of types C and D - was discovered in Riga by Audi engineers. In exchange for providing Riga Motor Museum with an exact replica, in 1997 Audi commissioned British engineering companies Crostwaite & Gardiner of Buxted and Roach Manufacturing of Ower to undertake the work. The replica car was unveiled at the 2007 Festival of Speed at Goodwood House, England, with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason as driver.[7] The original now resides in the Audi Motor Museum, and tours the major car shows, driven by Hans Stuck Jr., son of the original driver Hans Stuck, a long-time Audi race driver himself; the replica is on display in Riga.[8]
American car enthusiast Paul Karassik tracked down chassis No.19 in Russia, adding an original engine from a separate D-type carcass and handing it over in 1990 to Crosthwaite and Gardiner to restore to its original form. In February 2007, it was due to be auctioned by Christie's in Paris.[9] Although expected to be the most expensive car ever sold at auction at more than $12 million, the car did not find a buyer in the sealed auction. This was because of a discrepancy that was found with the chassis and engine numbers and the fact that they did not correspond with the numbers expected to be found on the car that it was believed to be.[10] The car went on auction in August 2009, with Bonhams estimating a sale price of around £5.5million.[11][12] During Bonhams 2009 Monterey auction, the bidding stalled at $6 million, and the vehicle was not sold.[13]
Replicas
For 2000, Audi commissioned a Type C Streamline, which in May 2000 raced around the banked curve of the famous French circuit at Montlhéry. This was 63 years after its premier at AVUS in May 1937, when Bernd Rosemeyer took a car of this type to a speed of 380 km/h (236 mph) on the straights.[8] Now resident in the Audi Mobile museum in Ingelstadt, the car has appeared at various autoshows around the world, including the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed commemorating Audi's 100th birthday.[8]In 2004, Audi announced the rebuilt of Auto Union Wanderer Streamline Specials. The three cars were built by European car restorer Werner Zinke GmbH. As part of the celebration, Audi Tradition commissioned a limited edition 1:43 scale model of the car, bearing the start number 17.[14] The rebuilt cars also entered the Liège-Rome-Liège long distance run 65 years after their original Liège-Rome-Liège runs.[15] Two of the cars, owned by Audi Tradition, went on display in its Museum in Ingolstadt, while the third car is owned by Belgian Audi importer D’Ieteren.
Type C pedal car
Audi announced the sale of 999 1:2 scale Auto Union Type C pedal cars. The car was designed at Munich design studio. It features hydraulic dual-disc brake and its speed is controlled by the 7-speed hub gear with back-pedalling brake function. The car was made from aluminium space frame and the aluminium body panels. The seats, framing and steering wheel have been upholstered in leather by a bag-maker, as in the Audi TT, while the spoke wheels were custom-made. The steering wheel can be removed to make getting in and out easier, as in the original. The prototype of the pedal car was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 2006.
