Auto Union V16 Supercharged A Technical Appraisal

The specification says it all: Six litres, Sixteen cylinders, Supercharged. This elephantine engine runs on alcohol and thumps out enough torque to pull down the walls of Babylon. Indeed, the bellowing Auto Union was the Handwriting on the Wall for the traditional notion of a Grand Prix car. It’s radical mid engine configuration did not spark an instant revolution in chassis layout but Old Father Time did see to it’s prophecy. In the mid Thirties, the old order was guarded by none other than Daimler Benz, the most powerful racing car manufacturer of the Inter War years. Auto Union could not muster the resources to match it yet battles between Nazi Germany's rival marques rarely proved one sided. And these were battles of epic proportions. Both sides squeezed thunderous engines into flimsy projectiles - the only technical rule was that a competing car had to weigh in at less than 750kg. Daimler Benz took the conventional front engine configuration to new heights of sophistication and performance while Auto Union broke altogether with tradition. Auto Union's strange mid engine design by Professor Porsche offered a light, well balanced structure that lent itself to streamlining on the best Zeppelin airship principles. The heart of this ingenious machine was an engine designed for torque with an unfashionable disregard for crankshaft speed. Given low stress, Porsche could provide a generous displacement within a lightweight construction. That was typical of the Auto Union's alternative philosophy. This book written by Ian Bamsey investigates how it flew in the face of conventional wisdom and how it became established as one of the most fascinating and awe inspiring Grand Prix cars of all time, with its progress being recorded within these pages as a Diary time line for the period 1934-1937.