DKW & Auto Union
Racing History

1938 Auto Union D-Type



We express our sincere thanks to Gregor Schulz who's
photographs, taken at the 1999 Goodwood Festival of Speed,
have substantially contributed to the content of this page!



Few people realise today, how successful
Auto Union was in dominating Grand
Prix racing during the thirties and how
many World Records, with speeds of up
to 440km/h they held, and how Audi is
continuing this racing tradition

Auto Union developed a revolutionary new Grand Prix car, under the
direction of Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, with 12- and 16-cylinder engines
installed behind the driver, with independent suspension and
aerodynamic bodies. These cars dominated car racing and set a host
of world records during the late thirties.



Click thumbprint pictures below for a larger view!

Hans Stuck raced the new car to victories at the German, Swiss
and Czech Grand Prix Rosemeyer won his first race in the Masaryk
G.P. in Czechoslovakia finishing six minutes ahead of his next rival.
Rosemeyer would go on to win the German, Pescara, Swiss and
Italian G.P.s, and was crowned the European Champion.

Then Auto Union raced in Britain at the Donington Grand Prix in front
of 50,000 shocked British fans, shocked, because they had never seen
a foreign car humiliate their local heroes like that. Apparently the car
was not easy to handle, because the engine was so powerful, that it
was quite easy to induce wheelspin at speeds in excess of 200km/h.



In 1937 these cars were also racing
in South Africa
Extracts from the newspaper reports read as follows: "...on East
London's  Prince George Circuit, they flabbergasted spectators
with lap speeds of 115mph and a fantastic 180 mph top speed."
At the Pollsmoor Circuit in Cape Town the following was said:
"Although the great white cars started more than half an hour
behind half the field and had to make several pit stops to change
their synthetic rubber tyres, they took the first two places...." 

The streamlined version of the GP Auto Union, was able to reach
speeds of up to 440km/h. The car held numerous World Records
as from 1937, such as the fastest racing lap of 276Km/h recorded,
the Flying Kilometre of 406Km/h plus many more World Records.
None of the original streamlined Auto Union racing cars survived,
so Audi asked Crosthwait & Gardiner in England to meticulously
re-create an exact replica of this legendary car.

At the 1999 Goodwood Festival of speed, Audi showed off this exact
copy of the famous streamlined Auto Union V16 Silver Racing legend.
After successful tests the racing circuit by Audi racing driver Emanuele
Pirro the car is now on display at the DKW/Audi Car Museum
in Ingoldstadt, Germany.