Ahead of its time

The year was 1935 and Auto Union was locked in something akin to an arms race with fellow German brand, Daimler-Benz. For the preceding couple of years the two had traded blows on the race tracks of Europe, both in racing and in the ongoing fight to become ‘the fastest’ – breaking and then re-breaking speed records looking for supremacy.

The ‘Rennlimousine’ as it was dubbed by the press, represented Audi Union’s ultimate road racer, a vehicle unlike anything else, designed using wind tunnel technology for the first time to be the fastest thing on the road. On February 15, 1935, with legendary driver Hans Stuck at the wheel, it did just that, its historic record attempt achieving an average speed of 320.267km/h for the flying-start mile record in International Class C over two averaged runs. More impressive still, the measuring devices recorded a time of just 11.01 seconds for a section of the return run in ‘Run 3 Stuck II’ which corresponded to an extraordinary speed of 326.975km/h over the kilometre – making the car the ‘fastest road racing car in the world’.

Now, some 91 years later, the Auto Union Lucca or Rennlimousine has been faithfully reproduced by Audi Tradition to join its impressive collection of the brand’s most famous vehicles. It will make its official debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, ready to thrill crowds anew.

While the name Rennlimousine means ‘racing sedan’ the car’s ‘Lucca’ moniker comes from the Italian town of the same name where it made its historic speed record runs. Originally planned to take place in Hungary, deteriorating weather drove the Audi Union team further and further south in search of a suitable stretch of road on which to try and make history. Ultimately they settled on the Florence-Viareggio road between Pescia and Altopascio – near the city of Lucca – which was level and had good grip, the five kilometre stretch of autostrada also arrow-straight and perfect for the ultimately successful attempt.

At almost the same time as the successful record attempt in Lucca took place, a virtually identical version of the record-breaking car was unveiled at the International Motor Show in Berlin (February 14 to 24). The main difference compared with the Lucca model was a larger grille.

A promotional poster created for the show carried a list of all world and class records achieved by Auto Union brands to date and featured the Lucca car as the ‘fastest road racing car in the world’  citing the top speed of 326.975km/h.

The recreated ‘Lucca’ is the result of three years of intensive work carried out for Audi Tradition by British restoration specialists, Crosthwaite & Gardiner in the UK. All of the vehicle’s components were handcrafted especially for this model, using old photographs and technical documents from the time to faithfully reproduce the car. Countless hours of labour were spent on the intricate design with its streamlined bodywork, cockpit and tapered tail, ultimately achieving a ‘slippery’ drag coefficient of 0.43 when tested in the Audi wind tunnel earlier this year.

Overseeing the project was Audi Tradition stalwart, Timo Witt, who has been in charge of the historic vehicle collection at Audi Tradition since 2015 and previously spent more than a decade as a motorsport engineer. Timo was in Australia earlier this year to oversee the transportation of the Audi R8 LMP900 Crocodile car for a special film produced by Audi Australia ahead of the Australian Grand Prix).

“We recreated the car as authentically as possible, but at the same time, issues such as the car’s durability and maximising efficiency in the project’s implementation were also important to us,” says Witt of the Lucca recreation.

To that end the Lucca has been fitted with the 16-cylinder engine from the Auto Union Type C, rather than its original 5.0-litre, because its 6.0-litre engine is visually indistinguishable and makes the engines interchangeable within the Silver Arrow family.

The Auto Union Lucca also features several modifications including the the ventilation system that were implemented for the Berlin Avus race it took part in just after the record attempts.

“We made these changes to the Auto Union Lucca because, otherwise, the vehicle would have been subjected to excessive thermal stress during our upcoming demonstration runs,” he says. So with minor modifications to the radiator or the body panels, the Auto Union Lucca can be converted into the Avus car. 

It makes for a potent combination outputting 382kW @4500rpm, using a fuel mix of 50 percent methanol, 40 percent premium unleaded and 10 percent toluene (methylbenzene) to simulate the fuel mix used back in the day.

Add that power output to a vehicle weighing just 960kg and with such an impressive drag co-efficient and the Lucca’s incredible turn of speed back in 1930 comes into sharp focus.

“The record-breaking car from Lucca is an impressive demonstration of the role of engineering: setting new standards, breaking new ground, and continually pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” says Stefan Trauf, Head of Audi Tradition.

“The car is a testament to the technical innovation of the four rings and shows how ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ was achieved in the 1930s. To me, the Auto Union Lucca is a masterpiece of engineering, tuned for high speeds and maximum performance, yet at the same time a beautiful car – in my view, this combination is unique.”

Initially unveiled in Lucca, Italy, the stunning new addition to the Audi Tradition collection will make its first dynamic appearance as part of the brand’s presence at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed from July 9 to 12.