Auto Union Type D

(from Audi Press Release)  The Audi Tradition programme of events for 2006 is clearly influenced by the Silver Arrows of Auto Union. The historical department of AUDI AG will be celebrating its Silver Arrow treasures at events at home and abroad. The Auto Union racing cars of the thirties will be turning out on several occasions, recalling the European Championship win in 1936 with Bernd Rosemeyer at the wheel, comparable with today's Formula 1 World Championship. A particular highlight in this respect will be the completion of the last Auto Union Type D.

This most elegant of all the Auto Union Silver Arrows is to celebrate its world premiere in England, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed from 7 to 9 July 2006. A genuine work of art is being created: Audi Tradition is having the twin-supercharged Auto Union Type D projectile from 1939 rebuilt by restoration specialists Crosthwaite & Gardiner (England), and running it for the first time in the home country of motor sport. H.P. Müller won the French Grand Prix in 1939 in this legendary 12-cylinder car, and Tazio Nuvolari won the last Grand Prix before the war, in Belgrade. Goodwood will also reverberate to the sound of a second 12-cylinder car, the original Auto Union Type D from 1938, and of the 16-cylinder Auto Union Type C. The Audi 200 quattro will be competing in the TransAm series held at Goodwood: it was with this racing car that Audi achieved a unique string of victories in the hard-fought TransAm Championship in the USA in 1988.

The 16-cylinder Auto Union Type C will be exhibited at the Techno classica veteran car exhibition in Essen at the start of April, and at Heidelberg Historic in Sinsheim and Neckarsulm in mid-June. On the first weekend in July, the Type C will be completing a few laps at the traditional “Corso” at the Silvretta classic in Vandans (Austria), in honour of 95-year-old Paul Pietsch, the only surviving Auto Union Silver Arrow driver. At the same time, the original Auto Union Type D will be putting in an appearance at the Auto Union Veterans Club (AUVC) meet in Brussels. This Type D will drive in Germany at the racetrack for the first time at the start of this year's DTM season at the Hockenheimring on 9 April.