AN AUDI THAT WAS DESIGNED IN THE 1930s, BUT BUILT IN 2024❗ AUDI UNION TYPE 52 | Goodwood FoS 2024

Imagined over 90 years ago, now brought to life: Audi Tradition presents the Auto Union Type 52


Everyone knows the Auto Union Silver Arrows, the legendary 1930s Grand Prix race cars. But hardly anyone knows that a street-legal sports car version with a 16-cylinder engine was also planned for these pioneering racing cars: the Auto Union Type 52. Now Audi has built this car, the Schnellsportwagen, and will present it to the public for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England in mid-July.

Back to the time when the Auto Union Type 52 was imagined: Auto Union AG, formed in 1932 from the merger of Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer, became a motorsports contender from early on to make its new logo, the four rings, a household name around the world. The same year, the rules were published for the new 750 kg formula used in the Grand Prix held from 1934 to 1936. In 1933, Auto Union AG commissioned the Stuttgart design office of Ferdinand Porsche to develop a race car based on the 750 kg formula. Work on the Auto Union Type A (internally, Porsche called it the Type 22) began in March of 1933. Just one year later, Hans Stuck set a world record driving the car on the AVUS circuit in Berlin. When the innovative Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz race cars burst onto the international racing scene, the legend of the Silver Arrows was born.

Swift as an arrow, these legendary powerhouses captivated audiences with their futuristic design and revolutionary technology. While Mercedes-Benz favored front-mounted engines, Auto Union was the first to place the engine behind the driver. This mid-engine layout remains the standard in Formula One today. In the years that followed, Auto Union set several world records, winning numerous hill climbs, three German championships, and the European championship in 1936 with the advanced Auto Union Type C. And the rest is history...

Or maybe not quite, as one part of the story has yet to be told. Few people know that while the Grand Prix race cars were being developed, Auto Union AG and the Ferdinand Porsche design office also planned a street-legal sports sedan. The concept papers called the vehicle “Schnellsportwagen”, apparently its intended marketing name. Today, with its distinctive characteristics, the car most closely resembles a classic Gran Turismo.

The Auto Union Type 52, as the project came to be known, was intended to be sold to customers for driving in long-distance races such as the Mille Miglia or in sports car competitions such as the endurance races at Spa-Francorchamps or Le Mans. There was also talk of the car being a factory race car.



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