Audi has a big surprise for this year’s Festival of Speed at Goodwood, for those of you that are not familiar the Goodwood’s Festival of Speed is the biggest classic car racing event in the world. This year Audi will debut the reconstruction of a classic racing car from Auto Union, the famous “Silverarrow” Type D Dual Compressor from 1939.

The reconstruction of this racing car was not easy; it took four years to reconstruct the “new” Auto Union Type D. The car was entirely built in England by the specialist workshop Crosthwaite & Gardiner in East Sussex using some original parts and by Roach Manufacturing, near Southampton, who had the hardest task in hand, rebuilt the bodywork based only in a handful of historic photos.

The “Silverarrow” will be driven by Pink Floyd’s drummer Nick Mason. Nick has driven in the famous Le Mans 24h Hours in five occasions and has an impressive collection of classic racing cars. Had already driven an Auto Union car at last year’s Festival Audi couldn’t think of anyone else rather than Manson to drive its new master piece.

The new “Silverarrow” won’t be the only Audi car on the line-up. The Audi A4 Supertouring that won the 1996 British Touring Car Championship (BTTC) will also be on the line-up, and will be driven by it’s former driver Frank Biela who also won Le Mans 24 Hours five times.

Another Audi section will be present at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, Audi Sport will exhibiting the Audi R10, winner of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.

One of the four companies that joined together to create Audi  DKW is celebrating its centenary. The company from Zschopau in Saxony originally planned to build steam-driven vehicles, yet ultimately rose to fame courtesy of its two-stroke engine. DKW is an abbreviation the abbreviation of the German word for steam-driven vehicle (Dampfkraftwagen).

As the experimental fuel cell cars only waste is steam I wonder if Audi ever puts a fuel cell vehicle into production (they have the A2H2 test car at the moment) it would be nice if they  used DKW as part of the name as a tip of the hat to their forbears?

Audi  is marking the anniversary of its famous predecessor brand by entering DKW classic cars in a whole host of events, including the Mille Miglia and the Gran Premio Nuvolari in Italy, the Concours d’Elegance in Bergerac, France, the Silvretta Classic and Ennstal Classic in Austria, and of course the “100 Years of Rasmussen” festival in the town of Zschopau on 26 August.

The four rings of the Audi badge symbolise the brands Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer, which were later combined under the umbrella of Auto Union. Auto Union and NSU, which merged in 1969, made many significant contributions towards the development of the car. AUDI AG was formed from Audi NSU Auto Union AG in 1985.

Together with the two traditional companies Auto Union GmbH and NSU GmbH, Audi nurtures and presents the deep and diverse history of Audi. The Audi museum in Ingolstadt is open daily from Monday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Another interesting fact is that the Trabant in East Germany continued to use the DKW pre-war engines to the early 1990’s. Also  DKW’s where pioneers in the use of front wheel drive which has continued to be used to this day by Audi.

Check out Audi world for a longer article on audi history and the DKW centenary.

The A5 has just been launched more information later today

 (Update - Separate post on the S5)

The Lineage of the A5

The A5’s concept was named for the legendary motor racing star Tazio Nuvolari the last driver to win a Grand Prix in an Auto Union car – in Belgrade on 3rd September 1939.

Nuvolari was born in Mantua, Italy in 1892 and died in 1953, his trademarks were his daring, spectacular driving style and the yellow pullover that he always wore in the car. Nuvolari was a motorcyclist until 1926. After numerous victories with other cars, he switched to Auto Union in 1938 and drove its 12-cylinder Type D mid-engined cars in Grand Prix races and hillclimbs.

He won his first race in 1938 when he was the first across the finishing line in the Italian Grand Prix held in Monza on 11th September 1938. Only a few weeks later, he won another race in Donington, England.

The Gran Premio Nuvolari, a long-distance historic car race covering a distance of approximately 850 kilometres, with the start and finish in Mantua, honours Nuvolari. The main sponsors of this event, in which numerous high-calibre racing cars participate, are AUDI AG and its Italian importer, Autogerma.

Wired’s car blog has an interesting piece on one of the most expensive Audis ever - no not a modern super car in the mould of the Bugatti Veyron but a pre-war auto union Auto Union V12 D-Type.

The car was scheduled to be auctioned by Christies at the retromobile auction on the 16th and 17th - but It was removed at the last moment. The Christie representatives said the car was removed from the auction to check its racing provenace , but rumor has it that investigators were trying to determine just how much of the race car’s parts were the true originals.