Auto-Union History
Source: Audi UKOverviewAuto Union was the result of a merger between four companies. Theyw ere Wanderer, DKW, AUdi and Horch. The emblem represents this amalgamation with its four rings, one representing each company. In 1969, NSU became part of the union and became known as Audi NSU. In 1985, it offically became known as Audi.
History
1932
Auto Union was founded in 1932 with the amalgamation of Audi, DKW, Horch and later Wanderer, a move brought about by the perilous financial situation of the motor industry in Saxony. Each interlinked ring in the Auto Union's new emblem represented one of the four marques. The same four-ring badge is worn by every Audi today.
1934
With a supercharged, 45-degree, V16 engine behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, rear-mounted gearbox, twin-parallel tube chassis and lightweight elektron alloy body (the A-type hand doped fabric side panels) the Auto Union was the first successful mid-engined Grand Prix car.
August Momberger took the new Auto Union to third in it's debut Grand Prix, the 1934 AVUS, while lead driver Stuck won the German, Swiss and Czech Grands Prix in that first season for the Zwickau-based team.
1932
Auto Union was founded in 1932 with the amalgamation of Audi, DKW, Horch and later Wanderer, a move brought about by the perilous financial situation of the motor industry in Saxony. Each interlinked ring in the Auto Union's new emblem represented one of the four marques. The same four-ring badge is worn by every Audi today.
1934
With a supercharged, 45-degree, V16 engine behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, rear-mounted gearbox, twin-parallel tube chassis and lightweight elektron alloy body (the A-type hand doped fabric side panels) the Auto Union was the first successful mid-engined Grand Prix car.
August Momberger took the new Auto Union to third in it's debut Grand Prix, the 1934 AVUS, while lead driver Stuck won the German, Swiss and Czech Grands Prix in that first season for the Zwickau-based team.
1935
Wins for the B-type in the Italian GP (Stuck), the Tunis GP and Coppa Acerbo (Varzi), while the phenomenal German driver Bernd Rosemeyer, with no previous experience of racing on four wheels, stepped into the tricky Auto Union from the DKW motorcycle racing team and rounded off a remarkable first season with victory in the Czech GP.
1936
Rosemeyer swept all before him with the improved C-type, winning the Eifel, German, Swiss and Italian GP's and the Coppa Acerbo to net the European Championship for him and Auto Union, the equivalent of today's Formula One World Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. For good measure, Varzi won the Tripoli GP for the team.
1937
A much tougher and dramatic battle followed against the powerful new Mercedes W125, but Rosemeyer won the Eifel, Pescara and Donington GP's and the Vanderbilt Cup in the USA. Rudolf Hasse won the Belgian GP at Spa, whilst Ernst von Delius made the long haul from Zwickau to Cape Town worthwhile with a win in the Grosvenor GP.
1938
Tragically, Bernd Rosemeyer died in a streamlined Auto Union in January 1938, trying to recapture the speed record taken from him by Caracciola's Mercedes earlier that day. Auto Union had lost its most talented driver, the Michael Schumacher of his day, whose score of 10 wins out of 33 starts for the team remained the best percentage score of any driver in the great battle of the Silver Arrows, arch-rival Rudi Caracciola at Mercedes-Benz included.
Team morale was shattered. Record breaking, in which Auto Union had enjoyed enormous success, was halted. No 1938 Grands Prix were entered until the French GP at Reims in July, from which both Auto Unions retired. Then the little Italian maestro Tazio Nuvolari arrived, lifted spirits and brought victories in the Italian and Donington Grand Prix, the last events of the year.
1939
Auto Union fitted two-stage supercharging, boosting power to 485 PS - and maximum speed on the right gearing to 330 kph (205 mph) - and revised bodywork to its V12 D-type, while H P Mueller added the French Grand Prix at Reims to the team's tally of race successes. But it was the great Tazio Nuvolari who brought the Golden Age to a glorious end for the team by winning the Yugoslav Grand Prix in Belgrade, the last pre-war Grand Prix.
