Auto Union: Difference between revisions

Auto Union
Industry	Automotive industry, Motor racing
Founded	1932
Defunct	1964
Fate	purchased by Volkswagen,; evolved into present day Audi
Successor	Audi AG
Headquarters	Chemnitz, Germany
Products	Automobiles

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 14:27, 21 June 2009

Auto Union was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, established in 1932 in Chemnitz, Saxony, during the Great Depression. The company has evolved into present day Audi, as a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group.

The trademark symbol of Auto Union was four overlapping rings, symbolizing the four member companies. The four ring logo of Auto Union is still a trademark, and now used by present-day Audi. Auto Union continued to market the two-stroke engined DKW brand until 1964.

Auto Union is best known for its racing team (Auto Union Rennabteilung, based in Zwickau). The Silver Arrows of these two German teams dominated not only GP car racing from 1934 onwards,^{[citation needed]} but set records that would take decades to beat. For example, the power levels of the unlimited 1937 models were only equalled in the early 1980s by turbocharged Formula One Grand Prix cars.

Formation

Auto Union was formed in 1932, the merger of:

Horch - founded by August Horch, it built luxury V8 engined cars
Audi - having fallen out with family member, August Horch founded Audi, which built V4 and V6 engined cars
DKW - steam equipment company founded by Dutch engineer Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen in 1916, it branched out into motorcycles, and then front-drive two-stroke cars.
Wanderer - founded in 1911, with small four-cylinder cars and later a more luxurious V6

In 1928, Rasmussen bought Audi, and in 1932 Audi, DKW and Wanderer were brought together with Horch under the umbrella of communal shareholder company Auto Union, although all four brands continued to build cars under their own names.

In 1932, with all companies still loss making, the four ring logo came to the fore. It was purposefully designed with all four rings in a line, in an attempt to avoid confusion with the five Olympic rings.

The Auto Union racing cars

1939 Auto Union Type C/D V16 Bergrennwagen Hillclimb car; note the dual rear wheels on each side. This car used a nose similar to a Type D but with a cockpit and rear side panels similar to a Type C. It also had a much smaller capacity fuel tank than the Grand Prix cars.

The Auto Union racing cars types A to D, were built as Grand Prix racing cars, between 1934 and 1939. Designed by the famous engineer Ferdinand Porsche, the cars throughout their production history were the main Grand Prix protagonists with Mercedes-Benz, particularly dominant in 1936. Between 1935 and 1937 Auto Union cars car won 25 races, driven by Ernst von Delius, Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck and Achille Varzi. Much has been written about the difficult handling characteristics of this car, but its tremendous power and acceleration were undeniable - a driver could induce wheelspin at over 100 mph (160 km/h).

The cars used supercharged engines that eventually produced almost 550 horsepower. Designed to provide optimum torque at low engine speeds, Bernd Rosemeyer later drove one around the Nürburgring in a single gear, to prove the engine was flexible enough to do it. The fuel tank was located in the center of the car, directly behind the driver (who would be placed well towards the front), so that the car's front-rear weight distribution would remain unchanged as the fuel was used - the exact same location used in modern open-wheel racing cars, and for the same reason. The chassis tubes were initially used as water carriers from the radiator to the engine, but this was eventually abandoned after they often sprung small leaks.

Racing results

This section only includes results of second or better. The list of drivers for the initial 1934 season was headed by Hans Stuck; he won the German, Swiss and Czechoslovakian Grand Prix races (as well as finishing second in the Italian and Eifel Grands Prix), along with wins in a number of hill-climb races, becoming European Mountain Champion. (There was no European Championship for the circuit races that year, or he would have won that too). August Momberger placed second in the Swiss Grand Prix.

In 1935, the engine had been enlarged to five litres displacement, producing 370 bhp (280 kW). Achille Varzi joined the team and won the Tunis Grand Prix and the Coppa Acerbo (along with placing second in the Tripoli Grand Prix). Stuck won the Italian Grand Prix (along with second at the German Grand Prix), plus his usual collection of hill-climb wins, again taking the European Mountain Championship. The new sensation, Bernd Rosemeyer, won the Czech Grand Prix (and managed a second at the Eifel Grand Prix and Coppa Acerbo).

Hans Stuck also managed to break speed records, reaching 199 mph (320 km/h) on an Italian autostrada in a streamlined car with enclosed cockpit.^[1] Lessons learned from this streamlining were later applied to the T80 land speed record car.

For 1936, the engine had grown to the full 6 litres, and was now producing 520 bhp (390 kW); in the hands of Rosemeyer and his team-mates, the Auto Union Type C dominated the racing world. Rosemeyer won the Eifelrennen, German, Swiss and Italian Grands Prix and the Coppa Acerbo (as well as second in the Hungarian Grand Prix). He was crowned European Champion (Auto Union's only win of the driver's championship), and for good measure also took the European Mountain Championship. Varzi won the Tripoli Grand Prix (and took second at the Monaco, Milan and Swiss Grands Prix). Stuck placed second in the Tripoli and German Grands Prix, and Ernst von Delius took second in the Coppa Acerbo.

In 1937, the car was basically unchanged and did surprisingly well against the new Mercedes-Benz W125, winning 5 races to the 7 of Mercedes-Benz. Rosemeyer took the Eifel and Donington Grands Prix, the Coppa Acerbo, and the Vanderbilt Cup (and well as second in the Tripoli Grand Prix). Rudolf Hasse won the Belgian Grand Prix (Stuck placed second). von Delius managed second in the Avus Grand Prix.

In addition to the new 3-litre formula, 1938 brought other challenges, principally the death of Rosemeyer early in the year, in an attempt on the land speed record. The famed Tazio Nuvolari joined the team, and won the Italian and Donington Grands Prix, in what was otherwise a thin year for the team, other than yet another European Mountain Championship for Stuck.

In 1939, as war clouds gathered over Europe, Nuvolari won the Yugoslavia Grand Prix in Belgrade, while Hermann P. Müller won the 1939 French Grand Prix.

Auto Union after World War II

After the war, only the DKW brand was continued initially. In impoverished postwar Germany, there was no place for luxury cars: the Wanderer and Horch brands never returned, but Audi did. All DKW cars had two stroke engines and front wheel drive.

The year 1958 saw the return of the Auto Union brand, represented by the Auto Union 1000, a small saloon. At the same time the Auto Union 1000 Sp, a stylish coupé model, was produced for Auto Union by the Stuttgart coach builders, Baur. Also in 1958, Auto Union's pre-war rival Daimler-Benz acquired the business, and the six years of their ownership saw the creation of a range of cars (the Audi F103 series, the Audi 80, and the Volkswagen Passat) that would provide the basis for a Volkswagen renaissance in the 1970s.

Volkswagen Group purchased Auto Union in 1964: the Auto Union name, the two stroke engines and the DKW brand were all quickly dropped. The last DKW, the F102, received a new four-cylinder four stroke engine. For the F103, the Audi brand was revived. From this point on, the Audi brand was used to denote cars manufactured by the Ingolstadt-based company. For a while, after being merged with Neckarsulm car maker NSU Motorenwerke AG the official name was "Audi NSU Auto-Union AG", which was simply shortened to "Audi AG" in 1985.

References

Leif Snellman, "The Early Auto Unions, From P-Wagen to A-type"
Jeroen Bruintjes, "Auto Union Type E--The Stillborn 1.5-litre car: Why it (Almost) did Exist"

Notes

^ G.E.T. Eyston (1935). Motor Racing and Record Breaking. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

Audi History
AUTO UNION Sales Brochures 1939
AutoUnion: the cars, the drivers and the history

[Eyston-1] G.E.T. Eyston (1935). Motor Racing and Record Breaking. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[1]

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 }}
 [[Image:Horch-853-sport-cabriolet.jpg|right|thumb|1938 [[Horch 853]] Sport Cabriolet]]
+[[Image:Autounion-Wanderer1936.jpg|right|thumb|1936 [[Wanderer W25K]]]]
 '''Auto Union''' was an amalgamation of four [[Germany|German]] [[automobile]] manufacturers, established in 1932 in [[Chemnitz]], [[Saxony]], during the [[Great Depression]].  The company has evolved into present day [[Audi]], as a subsidiary of [[Volkswagen Group]].
-The [[trademark]] symbol of Auto Union was four overlapping rings, symbolizing the four member companies (all four in a line, in an attempt to avoid confusion with the five [[Olympic rings]]).  The trademarks and company names of the member companies - '''[[Horch]]''', '''[[Audi]]''', '''[[DKW]]''' and '''[[Wanderer (car)|Wanderer]]''' - were continued, with the four ring logo being integrated with the brand logo.  The four ring logo of Auto Union is still a trademark, and now used by present-day Audi.  Auto Union continued to market the [[two-stroke]] engined DKW brand until 1964.
+The [[trademark]] symbol of Auto Union was four overlapping rings, symbolizing the four member companies. The four ring logo of Auto Union is still a trademark, and now used by present-day Audi.  Auto Union continued to market the [[two-stroke]] engined DKW brand until 1964.
-[[Image:Autounion-Wanderer1936.jpg|right|thumb|1936 [[Wanderer W25K]]]]
 Auto Union is best known for its racing team (''Auto Union Rennabteilung'', based in Zwickau). The [[Silver Arrows]] of these two German teams dominated not only GP car racing from 1934 onwards,{{Fact|date=October 2008}} but set records that would take decades to beat.  For example, the power levels of the unlimited 1937 models were only equalled in the early 1980s by turbocharged [[Formula One]] Grand Prix cars.
+==Formation==
+Auto Union was formed in 1932, the merger of:
+*Horch - founded by [[August Horch]], it built luxury [[V8 engine]]d cars
+*Audi - having fallen out with family member, August Horch founded Audi, which built [[V4 engine|V4]] and [[V6 engine]]d cars
+*DKW - steam equipment company founded by [[Netherlands|Dutch]] engineer [[Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen]] in 1916, it branched out into motorcycles, and then front-drive two-stroke cars.
+*Wanderer - founded in 1911, with small four-cylinder cars and later a more luxurious V6
+In 1928, Rasmussen bought Audi, and in 1932 Audi, DKW and Wanderer were brought together with Horch under the umbrella of communal [[shareholder]] company Auto Union, although all four brands continued to build cars under their own names.
+In 1932, with all companies still loss making, the four ring logo came to the fore. It was purposefully designed with all four rings in a line, in an attempt to avoid confusion with the five [[Olympic rings]].
 ==The Auto Union racing cars==
@@ Line 51: / Line 62: @@
 In addition to the new 3-litre formula, 1938 brought other challenges, principally the death of Rosemeyer early in the year, in an attempt on the [[land speed record]].  The famed [[Tazio Nuvolari]] joined the team, and won the Italian and Donington Grands Prix, in what was otherwise a thin year for the team, other than yet another European Mountain Championship for Stuck.
-In 1939, as war clouds gathered over Europe, Nuvolari won the [[1939 Belgrade City Race|Yugoslavia Grand Prix]] in Belgrade (with a second place in the Eifel). [[Hermann Paul Müller|Hermann P. Müller]] won the [[1939 French Grand Prix]] (and took second in the German Grand Prix). Hasse managed a second place in the [[1939 Belgian Grand Prix]], and [[Georg Meier]] a second in the French.
+In 1939, as war clouds gathered over Europe, Nuvolari won the [[1939 Belgrade City Race|Yugoslavia Grand Prix]] in Belgrade, while [[Hermann Paul Müller|Hermann P. Müller]] won the [[1939 French Grand Prix]].
-{{clear}}
 ==Auto Union after World War II==