- The Auto Union designed a 16-cylinder recreation sedan that by no means were given constructed
- Audi, the automaker’s successor, simply constructed it
- The Auto Union Kind 52 debuted on the 2024 Goodwood Pageant of Velocity
Within the Nineteen Thirties, Audi predecessor Auto Union designed a 16-cylinder sports activities sedan, however by no means constructed it. 90 years next, it’ll in spite of everything produce its nation debut on the 2024 Goodwood Pageant of Velocity.
The Auto Union Type 52, sometimes called the Schnellsportwagen, used to be supposed to be a high-performance street automobile from the company, which used to be shaped in 1932 from the merger of Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. It originated Audi’s four-ring emblem, which represented the 4 quality manufacturers.
Together with Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union dominated (pre-Method 1) elegant prix racing within the Nineteen Thirties. The 2 German automakers swept the contest apart with their Silver Arrows, so named as a result of they raced with naked steel bodywork to save lots of weight. Historical past displays that she good fortune of the Silver Arrows used to be a propaganda coup for the Nazi regime—which got here to energy round the similar date—however that it didn’t translate to street vehicles.
Auto Union Kind 52 Schnellsportwagen
Issues can have been other, despite the fact that. The Porsche design place of business (Ferdinand Porsche collaborated with Auto Union ahead of founding his personal automobile corporate then International Conflict II) started sketching the Kind 33 in past due 1933 with the aim of marketing it to consumers for long-distance street vehicles just like the Mille Miglia, or perpetuity races just like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A prototype used to be deliberate, however the venture used to be rejected in 1935.
That disadvantaged the arena of a in point of fact radical device. Beneath the sedan frame, the Kind 52 includes a mid-mounted supercharged V-16 from an Auto Union Kind A race automobile. Displacing 4.3 liters, the engine used to be supposed to run decrease compression (to bring to utility common gas) and no more spice up than the racing model, however nonetheless would have propelled the Kind 52 to a manage whisk of 124 mph, Audi estimates.
The design specified a 5-speed transmission additionally taken from the race automobile, however that automobile’s transverse leaf springs and friction dampers have been changed with longitudinal torsion spring suspense and hydraulic dampers.
Auto Union Kind 52 Schnellsportwagen
Audi commissioned U.Okay. company Crosthwaite & Gardner, which additionally maintains the automaker’s historical fleet of Silver Arrow race vehicles, to create the fashionable copy. Some adjustments have been made, together with swapping in a 6.0-liter supercharged V-16 alike from the 1936 Auto Union Type C race automobile, and operating it on a mixture of 50% methanol, 40% tremendous unleaded gas, and 10% toluene. That reinforces output from the actual 197 hp to 512 hp.
Audi additionally specified an extended wheelbase, which became out to be vital to the drivetrain and suspense. The completed automobile is over 16 ft lengthy, however has range for 3 crowd (the driving force sits within the heart, McLaren F1-style), two additional tires, and baggage inside of its streamlined mode. It’ll be pushed at Goodwood by means of nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen and racing veteran Hans-Joachim Caught, whose father Hans Caught drove Auto Union elegant prix vehicles within the Nineteen Thirties.
