page_title: Auto Union racing car
section_title: Cars today
hierarchical_section_title: Auto Union racing car / Cars today
caption_attribution_description: 1938 Auto-Union V16 type C/D replica. This original car was purpose-bult for hillclimbing competitions. The construction was headed by Dr. Ing. Robert Eberan von Eberhorst. The car was built on a type D chassis and powered by a 520 hp supercharged 6005 cc V16 engine designed by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. Fuel consumption was 6 litres/10 km. In 1939 Hans. Struck drove the car to victory at La Turbie in France and came second at the Grosslockner track in Austria. H. P. Müller was successful both at Grosslockner and on mountain roads in Kohlensberg aoutside Vienna. In 1945 the car was taken from Auto-Union in Zwickau to Moscow, to study it's technology. In 1976 it was at the ZIL factory in Moscow, and scheduled to be cut up for scrap metal, when Victors Kulbergs, president of the Antique Automobile Club of Latvia, acquired it as the first exhibit for the Riga Motor Museum. Audi later bought the car in exchange for money and an exact replica. In England in 1997 Crosthwhaite &amp; Gardiner started work on restoring the original and creating the replica. The completed replica was unveiled in 2007 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
context_page_description: The Auto Union Grand Prix racing cars types A to D were developed and built by a specialist racing department of Auto Union's Horch works in Zwickau, Germany, between 1933 and 1939.
  Of the 4 Auto Union racing cars, the Types A, B and C, used from 1934 to 1937 had supercharged V16 engines, and the final car, the Type D used in 1938 and 1939 had a supercharged 3L V12 that developed almost 550 horsepower. Wheelspin could be induced at over 100 mph, and the marked oversteer that persisted throughout the cars' development thanks to the uneven weight distribution and the large amount of weight in the rear of the car made all the Auto Unions difficult to handle, although the smaller engined Type D was a bit easier to drive because of the smaller engine and the half as much space it took up in comparison to the 6L V16 in the previous Type C.
  Between 1935 and 1937 Auto Unions won 25 races, driven by Ernst von Delius, Tazio Nuvolari, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi. Their main competition came from the Mercedes Benz team, with Auto Union proving particularly successful in the 1936 and 1937 seasons.
context_section_description: Very rarely were racing cars of the period kept, as components of early cars if required were scavenged for later models and repairs. Secondly, what did remain was often scrapped to provide funds for additional development.
  During the latter part of World War II, an estimated eighteen Auto Union team cars were hidden in a colliery outside Zwickau, Saxony, where the Auto Union race shop was based. In 1945 the invading Russian Army discovered the cars, and they were retained as war possessions. As Zwickau post-war was located in Soviet controlled Communist East Germany, what little of the Auto Union racing cars existed were shipped back to the Soviet Union, distributed to scientific institutes and motor manufacturers including NAMI for research.  The Auto Union company itself was forced to relocate to West Germany, where it was re-incorporated in Ingolstadt in 1949, ultimately evolving into Audi as it is known today.
  Today, it is believed that most of the cars were probably reduced to scrap, and that no Type A or Type B cars exist today. Presently it is believed that only one Type C and three Type D cars, and a Type C/D hill climbing car remain.
  The sole remaining Type C was originally left to a German museum by Auto Union, after the death of Bernd Rosemeyer resulted in only two or three of these historic cars running. Damaged by bombing during the war, its body today still shows these marks. In 1979/80, Audi commissioned restoration of the car, undertaking a preservation-level overhaul to the body, engine and transmission.
  Another car was taken to Moscow to study its technology. In 1976, it was at the ZIL factory in Moscow and scheduled to be cut up for scrap metal when Viktors Kulbergs, president of the Antique Automobile Club of Latvia, brought it for the Riga Motor Museum.
  After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Audi engineers authenticated the car as a 16-cylinder hill-climbing Auto Union that combined types C and D.  Audi acquired it in exchange for a replica on a condition that all non-replaceable parts were kept at original car and replica was built on replaceable parts plus one of made parts that were originally on Audi made replica. Purchase/exchange was done for undisclosed sum of money, and in 1997 commissioned British engineering companies Crostwaite & Gardiner of Buxted and Roach Manufacturing of Ower to restore the original and create the replica. The original, which now resides in the Audi Motor Museum, appears at car shows and is also demonstrated at race meetings by long-time Audi racing driver Hans Stuck Jr., son of the original driver Hans Stuck. The replica, which was unveiled at the 2007 Festival of Speed at Goodwood House, England, with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason as driver, is exhibited in Riga.
  American car enthusiast Paul Karassik tracked down chassis No.19 in Russia, adding an original engine from a separate D-type carcass and handing it over in 1990 to Crosthwaite and Gardiner to restore to its original form. In February 2007, it was due to be auctioned by Christie's in Paris. Although expected to be the most expensive car ever sold at auction at more than $12 million, the car did not find a buyer in the sealed auction. This was because of a discrepancy that was found with the chassis and engine numbers and the fact that they did not correspond with the numbers expected to be found on the car that it was believed to be. The car went on auction in August 2009, with Bonhams estimating a sale price of around £5.5million. During Bonhams 2009 Monterey auction, the bidding stalled at $6 million, and the vehicle was not sold.
caption: 1938 V16 Type C/D replica, Riga Motor Museum
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