Before creating the Volkswagen Beetle or 911, Ferdinand Porsche designed and proposed a V16-powered Grand Prix race car for the road. Think of it as a proto-Bugatti. It was called the Auto Union Type 52 or, more romantically, the Schnellsportwagen. It was never built because it was the 1930s and everyone in Germany was about to become busy for… reasons. Almost a century passed before Auto Union, now Audi, decided to recreate the car from drawings.
I had no intention of seeing the reveal for the Schnellsportwagen as I was planning to grab a duck sandwich from a little stand after the unveiling of the new M5. En route to said duck stand I spied none other than racing legend Hans Stuck standing next to a car under an impossibly large cover. What the hell was this?
A press conference was in progress and I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw Type 52 written on the wall and it occurred to me that this could possibly be a Type 52. Of course, every nerd obsessed with this era of German cars knows that WWII basically doomed the vehicle.
The Concept Behind The Type 52
I’m probably going to see a few cars this week that are, conceptually, F1 cars turned into street cars. Red Bull is going to debut its RB17 hypercar tomorrow and there are plenty of cars from Porsche, BMW, and McLaren that carry an F1 spirit if no actual F1 parts. The Type 52 has the heart of an actual pre-F1 Grand Prix racer and the mid/rear-engine layout first popularized by the company.
Auto Union was formed in 1932 as the conglomeration of a bunch of different German automakers and one of the first projects they took on was the building of a then-futuristic series of race cars designed to set speed records and win races. These are the famous “Silver Arrow” cars and they typify the best of 1930s European car design.
By 1934, Auto Union had hired the already well-known engineer Ferdinand Porsche to create a racing team that would see drivers like Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck, and Tazio Nuvolari compete with Mercedes for dominance in their cleaning metallic and slightly phallic machines. One of the more advanced cars they built was the V16-powered Type C.
At some point, Auto Union decided they needed a car to compete in the longer endurance races that were becoming popular in Europe. They turned to Porsche, who penned an extravagant, almost Zeppelin-like Type 52 Schnellsportwagen with a smaller slightly de-tuned version of the Type C’s supercharged V16 motor, this time putting out 200 horsepower.
From Audi:
Unlike its Grand Prix siblings, the car is more suitable for everyday driving, as the designers intended, with an overhead roof, headlights, and room for luggage. There is also space for the two spare tires. But that is where the three-passenger car’s comfort features end. As is typical for a race car, the Auto Union Type 52 driver sits in the middle, with the rear passenger seats slightly offset to the side. With three passengers, 70 kilograms of luggage, and 150 kilograms of equipment, the technical data sheet lists the car’s total weight at 1,750 kilograms, with an unladen weight of 1,300 kilograms.
While the engine, transmission, and open 5-speed gearbox were taken from the Grand Prix car, the engineers chose different technical solutions for the suspension and damping. Instead of a combination of transverse leaf springs and friction dampers like the Auto Union Type 22, the Type 52 uses longitudinal torsion spring suspension in combination with hydraulic dampers. During development, the 29-gallon fuel tank was relocated under the seats.
Then Germany had the terrible idea of trying to conquer more than just race tracks, making race cars a second priority to tanks, guns, and airplanes. The Type 52 was forgotten, some documents were lost or destroyed after the Soviets moved in, and the car was nothing more than a historical footnote.
They Built The Damn Thing
I do have an inherent discomfort with German cars of this era because it’s impossible to ignore that the Nazi government was heavily invested in the idea of motorsports superiority as part of a poisonous form of patriotism that plunged the world into darkness.
In a way, the fact that this car was never built, never possibly owned by someone with an SS badge on their sleeve, makes it a bit easier to enjoy. And enjoy it I do. It’s remarkable.
Audi tapped British firm Crosthwaite & Gardner, who manages the company’s historic cars of the era, to build the car from surviving archive documents, plans, and design sketches
“We are thrilled to present the Auto Union Type 52 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This car gets people excited about design and technology,” said Stefan Trauf, Head of Audi Tradition. “For me, it is an absolute dream car. In its day, unfortunately, it remained only a dream – one that we are now, 90 years later, able to bring to life.”
The car definitely embraces the concept of überholprestige, with an imposing presence and a length that I would conservatively estimate at somewhere between the size of a football field and a runway capable of landing a 747 (it’s about 16 feet long in reality). It has the engine out back and feels quite Tatra-like, which is no coincidence given that Porsche was clearly influenced by the Czech automaker.
There are a few McLaren F1s here at Goodwood so it’s amusing to see a car that’s 60 years younger and also features the same mid-ship driver with two seats on either side. “Bring your daughter and wife or your golf bags” joked Hans Stuck’s son, racing driver Hans Stuck (great driver, not great at naming things I supposed) who helped test the car.
Look behind the rear wheels and you’ll see a huge storage area, extra wheels and tires, and that gorgeous motor. The V16 is not, as originally intended, the lower horsepower version intended to run on gasoline, but the fully supercharged 6.0-liter V16 that puts out more than 500 horsepower and runs on a methanol/gas mixture.
It actually reminds me a lot of the Bugatti Tourbillon on display around the corner.
I know only a little German but I believe the name translates to “Quick Sportscar”. I could be wrong, but if I’m right, that’s just not very creative….
This is so unbelievably amazing!
Just curious since I’m not aware:
Why the 2 spare tires? Possibly for the time period it was more likely to get multiple flats?
I want to hear it run!
It’s cool that they built it, but what an ugly monstrosity.
911? Don’t get your Ferdinands mixed up. (-;
An interesting vehicle I guess it’s not a reproduction.
The race cars ran on a quite nasty fuel mixture given the 1930’s low octane gasoline and no CARB regs. Repordedly 60 percent alcohol, 20 percent benzol, 10 percent diethyl ether, 8 percent gasoline, and traces of toluene and castor oil. I also heard the addition of nitro-methane claimed for record runs, but who really knows at this point, history is volatile.
Interesting to see they built this over a wooden buck. Probably just like it would have been in the day. I’d imagine modern prototype building techniques could have been so much easier.
Mixed feelings aside (maybe I do know why I don’t like German cars), that’s awesome to see! Massively more interesting than another modern BMW. If I tried being an automotive journalist, I’d be blacklisted after the first new car introduction.
Does it have Service Position ?
Stunning!
It’s a shame that modern cars have yet to catch up to the V16 Auto Union Type C streamliner piloted by Bernd Rosemeyer from the perspective of CdA, almost a century later. Here you have a V16 car that can hit 250+ mph, and still get like 40 mpg cruising along at 70 mph in spite of that massively inefficient 1930s-era V16 and all of its accompanied pumping losses and mechanical losses. With a tuned/chipped 2000s-era 1.9L TDI engine, this would be a 100+ mpg car capable of 200+ mph.
It makes the fuel-hungry Bugatti Turbillon with nearly a century of technological advancement look massively wasteful and stupid. Because it is. That thing has a CdA value worse than most SUVs, and weighs as much, and it shows in its dismal fuel economy.
I think CdA is sometimes impacted by cooling requirements. Such that there is probably a rough ratio requirement of HP to Radiator Volume to CdA Increase that’s just unavoidable physics. The heat has to get out some way or another. Wasteful and stupid indeed.
Of course it is. But the styling zeitgeist established by the Veyron has an even greater impact on CdA than the vehicle’s cooling requirements. You can still make a sub-0.20 Cd streamliner where the engine and brakes are properly cooled. But then it won’t fit the aggressive brand identify some yacht owner wants to push forth or the paradigm of planned obsolescence said yacht owner wants to maintain. So we get cars that are deliberately designed to eat up our money and get shitty fuel economy instead, including the EVs.
While I totally agree in principal with what you’re saying, I am skeptical about cooling 2,000HP with a net 0.20. Radiators create drag one way or another and thermal efficiency is what it is. That’s all I was suggesting.
I repeat, wasteful and stupid indeed. 🙂
That’s a design exercise I’d really like to see someone do. Given the lack of thermal efficiency of the time, a 600 horsepower V16 from the 30s should make similar heat at full output to a 1,000 horsepower W16 in a Bugatti Veyron at full output. And the 30s car with the 30s V16 was adequately cooled with a sub-0.2 Cd value.
Well the Bugatti also creates downforce and can SAFELY and COMFORTABLY drive above 200 mph as well as handle driving on a race track.
It creates far more downforce than is needed to safely drive above 200 mph. And handling doesn’t noticeably improve from downforce on even the most aggressive designs until speed approaches the triple digits.
There are many race tracks where that downforce is relevant
Yep. There’s one near me that circles around back to the Starbucks pickup window. LOL
But no third row seating tho…
Hard to see why aerodynamics matters when most people spend their time idling (0 MPG) in a parking lot waiting to pick up precious. I mean, I get it, you can still experience a headwind when stationary. /s
You don’t get point. Do you.
There are many things to prioritise on a hypercar over CdA. I don’t see your argument comparing a 1 seater streamliner with skinny 30s tires and no downforce whatsoever, to a product that should also handle, be comfortable, have storage space, be safe, etc etc.
I get that hypercars need other items addressed before CdA. My complaint is hypercars, like almost everything else, prioritize a company’s brand aesthetic and the current styling zeitgeist, over CdA AND also over the other things that would make the hypercar go faster or if a normal car, save the operator money.
We’re not allowed to get no-bullshit designs. It’s almost always this gussied-up, overweight, feature-laden crap designed to nickel and dime the user.
Nearly everything out there is style over substance. Bespoke hypercars included.
The Koenigsegg Jesko is one of the few exceptions. It is designed primarily to be functional, rather than for looks. But it still looks good… It has a Cd value lower than the average new car, yet still makes plenty of downforce. And it doesn’t weigh 4,000 lbs either.
You, uh, do realize hypercars aren’t meant to actually go anywhere, right? They’re an investment piece for the ultra rich and clout for new money. Sure, they put up crazy numbers and *some* people drive them, but the entire point of them is to make bookoos of money for the companies that produce them, say “look at me” for sad people and make money for even sadder ones.
It would be nice if that weren’t the case, as they’re unbelievable engineering exercises most of us could only dream of experiencing. Even if that’s how they were used, nobody is ging to drop millions on an ugly, or worse, boring hypercar just because the design justified a few mpgs or mph. If something isn’t pretty, especially something costing that much, it won’t sell. Why do you think we all still lust after the Holy Trinity, or the F1 or the Daytona years or decades later, but almost nobody gives a shit about the Gumpert Apollo? Also, nobody, no matter how stupid, is going to pay to develop a car like that, know the design is busted, and try to sell it. Nobody would buy it. Cars and car companies are designed to make money. End of.
I feel like what you may not be accounting for is downforce. Yeah the Bugatti has an enormous amount of drag, but that’s to stop you from dying as your obscenely powerful machine struggles to maintain grip and either sends you airborne or spinning off into the bushes. Wings may increase drag, but they do so for a very important reason.
It’s always fun to imagine a super streamlined car with a small engine matching a supercar in acceleration and top speed, but I’d rather drive the less efficient car that can go 200 mph without being a deathtrap.
A streamliner with a small engine and a fan system sucking it to the ground might be interesting though… You’d spend fuel running the fan motor, but at least you’d have grip.
Hard to ignore history at times like this. Cool to see, a real one of a kind. But reality is tough to deal with. Like a huge PORSCHE family member here, but then history, and the participation in such a regime, is almost beyond my pea brain’s comprehension at times.
Thanks again Matt.
Kinda reminds me of the resurrection of the VW Beetle after WWII. As you reminded us while co-hosting National Geographic’s Driving America, without a dropped bomb that turned out to be a dud and a British bomb defussser we would not have the Bug!
Great article Matt.
Are there four doors? If so, what are the rear doors for? The passenger and driver seats appear to be accessed via the front doors. Are the back doors engine access, maybe?
That’s how you’d access the spare tyre and front spark plugs.
Classic Audi
I thought retro was out these days. Macht schnell!
I love that old Auto Union decal.
So does this mean that the R8 replacement will be an 2026 F1 inspired Sauber?
So the Beetle is not the only body design the Germans stole from Tatra.
As an extended family member once, “it was wartime! And all is fair to do in defense of the fatherland.”
Yeah I know. It sucks to think about it too much.
Needs an EA888
Don’t let Nsane in the Membrane hear you say that!
🙂 we have fun