A blast from the past

Even the most ardent automotive fans at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed would have been forgiven if they were unable to identify one of Audi’s exhibits. An impressive, silver skinned monster with an undeniable family resemblance to the Auto Unions of the 1930s, the vehicle was not restoration, but rather a brand new creation.

The Auto Union Type 52 as it is known, was in fact making its debut at Goodwood, some 90 years after it was originally conceived but never built. It is, or was, a car born out of the fantastic racing endeavours of the Auto Union cars of the 1930s when the then newly formed Auto Union brand (the 1932 merger of Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) sought to promote its new four-ringed logo through motorsport.

In 1933, Auto Union commissioned the Stuttgart design office of Ferdinand Porsche to develop a race car for them to run in the new 750kg formula and work on the Auto Union Type A got underway. Just a year later, Hans Stuck set a world record driving the car on the AVUS circuit in Berlin.

Racing against arch rivals Mercedes-Benz was fierce and the era of what is now known as the Silver Arrows was born – producing exciting racing that had audiences in thrall.

The Auto Union’s rear-mounted engine layout was new at the time, though Formula 1 cars even today favour this positioning of the engine behind the driver. During this halcyon time for motorsport, Auto Union set numerous world speed records and along the way won three German Championships as well as the European Championship in 1936 with the Auto Union Type C.

While these daring days are well documented, what is not well known is the fact that there were also plans to build road-going versions of these cars, which would be called ‘Schnellsportswagen’.

The plan at the time was for the car to be sold to customers as a long-distance tourer and also one that could be used for motorsport competition in events like the Mille Miglia or even endurance races like Le Mans.

Design of the vehicle, like the race cars of the time, fell to the Porsche design office which produced design sketches as early as 1933. 

Although there were plans in 1934 to build a test car, that car was never produced and the project was abandoned in 1935. All that remained were the documents that described a vehicle using a ladder frame chassis with a mid-mounted engine from the Auto Union Type 22, but the compression of the 16-cylinder engine was reduced to allow the car to run on regular fuel. With its displacement of 4.4-litres it produced around 149kW and 436Nm of torque at 2350rpm, which would have been good for a top speed of 200km/h according to projections.

And that’s where the story would have ended had it not been for the Audi Tradition department all these years later and a desire to see the Schnellsportswagen brought to life at last.

Challenges were many given that there no photos of a finished car to work from and many of the early documents concerning the car went missing during Auto Union’s dissolution in the Russian occupation zone at the end of WW2.

Audi Tradition commissioned English firm Costhwaite & Gardiner to carry out the construction work, the celebrated restoration experts having worked with Audi Tradition on numerous other projects in the past with outstanding results.

Working from archive documents and sketches they began the work, with all components having to be custom made and hand crafted. Many decisions had. To taken thought the building process as to just how the car would have been imagined ‘back in the da’ with Audi Tradition and the experts from Costhwaite & Gardiner having decide how best to proceed as various technical questions arose. With some it was pure guess work as, for example, there was no record of the vehicle’s intended colour – the colour Cellulose Silver ultimately got the nod. 

Then there was the engine, with Audi consciously deciding to deviate from the designer’s original plan and going instead for the 16-cylinder engine from the Audi union Type C race car. The transmission too, a five-speed gearbox, also came from the Grand Prix car, but different suspension were used to the proposed transverse leaf springs and friction dampers as used in the Audi Union Type 22. 

Instead the Type 52 uses longitudinal torsion spring suspension in combination with hydraulic dampers. Drum brakes were employed on all four of the wire wheels and the 110 litre fuel tanks was also relocated under the seats rather than behind the driver as in the Grand Prix car.

Of course seating in the Type 52 has more in common with a race vehicle than a grand tourer, with the driver located in the middle with the two passengers on each side and slightly back. Behind them there is room for two spare tyres and some luggage, and with all three occupants, 70kg of luggage and 150kg of equipment the Type 52 tips the scales at 1750kg, while unladen it is 1450kg, 150kg heavier unladen than the origin design. 

The result is a piece of history – and although never completed, its origins are immediately obvious from the glorious days of Auto Union’s grand prix triumphs. From its size and design to the race car drivetrain and unique configuration it is impressive. That a vehicle of this scope was conceived 90 years ago though is truly extraordinary.