Auto Union racing cars
Between 1935 and 1937, Auto Unions won 25 races, driven by Ernst von Delius, Tazio Nuvolari, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi.
Known as the Silver Arrows, the cars of the two German teams dominated Grand Prix racing until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
[2] 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 that the weight of the car without driver, fuel, oil, water and tyre was not allowed to exceed 750 kg (1,650 lb).
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.
The layout would return to Grand Prix racing in the late 1950s by British manufacturer Cooper Car Company.
The car's turning angle changed as the momentum of the centrally mounted engine increased on the chassis, causing oversteer.
At the rear, Dr. Porsche tried to counter the tendency to oversteer by using a then-advanced swing axle suspension on the early cars.
On the later Type D, rear suspension was a de Dion system, following the lead of Mercedes-Benz, but the supercharged engines eventually produced almost 550 horsepower, which exacerbated the oversteer.
The chassis tubes originally piped coolant from the radiator to the engine, but this was eventually abandoned owing to leaks.
This was much abated by the use of a Porsche innovation, limited slip differential, manufactured by ZF, which was introduced at the end of the 1935 season.
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.
For 1936, the engine had grown to the full 6 litres, and was now producing 520 bhp (390 kW); and reaching 258 mph (415 km/h) in the hands of Rosemeyer and his teammates, the Auto Union Type C dominated the racing world.
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.
In 1939, as war clouds gathered over Europe, Nuvolari won the Yugoslavia Grand Prix in Belgrade (with a second place in the Eifel).
The Auto Union company itself was forced to relocate to West Germany, where it was re-incorporated in Ingolstadt in 1949, ultimately evolving into Audi as it is known today.
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.
In 1976, it was at the ZIL factory in Moscow and scheduled to be cut up for scrap metal when Viktors Kulbergs, president of the Antique Automobile Club of Latvia, brought it for the Riga Motor Museum.
Purchase/exchange was done for an undisclosed sum of money, and in 1997 British engineering companies Crostwaite & Gardiner of Buxted and Roach Manufacturing of Ower were commissioned to restore the original and create the replica.
The replica, which was unveiled at the 2007 Festival of Speed at Goodwood House, England, with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason as driver,[11] is exhibited in Riga.
As part of the celebration, Audi Tradition commissioned a limited edition 1:43 scale model of the car, bearing the start number 17.
[19] In 1947, Automobiltechnisches Büro (ATB) created the Sokol Typ 650 Formula Two racer in the German Democratic Republic, using the talents of chassis designer Otto Seidan and engine designer Walther Träger (both former Auto Union employees), along with spare Auto Union parts and resembled the Type D. As Awtowelo it was successfully tested but never raced.
It included rear wheel drive electric motor rated 1.5 PS (1 kW; 1 hp) and 40 N⋅m (29.50 lb⋅ft) (maximum 60 N⋅m (44.25 lb⋅ft)), a lithium-ion battery, a reverse gear.
