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INFO First dynamic appearance of the recreated Rennlimousine at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July
“The fastest road racing car in the world”: Hans Stuck accelerates the Auto Union Lucca to a top speed of 326.975 km/h on February 15, 1935
Aerodynamics, lightweight construction, high-performance engines – a testament to Auto Union’s innovation and engineering expertise
This car makes a statement: the Auto Union Lucca is emblematic of the technical innovation of the four rings in the 1930s. Audi Tradition has recreated the spectacular record-breaking car and will unveil it for the first time in early May in – aptly – the Italian city of Lucca. On February 15, 1935, the car set a widely acclaimed flying-start mile record on a straight section of the autostrada near Lucca, achieving a calculated average speed of 320.267 km/h and a measured top speed of 326.975 km/h. The Rennlimousine, a period term meaning “racing sedan”, was completed in the spring of 2026 and will join the legendary Silver Arrows in AUDI AG’s historic vehicle collection.
The 1930s see an international race to set records. Speed is far more than a mundane measurement – Grand Prix races and the constant breaking of speed records are followed and celebrated almost obsessively by the media and the public. Over the years, Germany becomes the scene of fierce competition among brands, drivers, and technologies: the star versus the four rings, Caracciola and von Brauchitsch versus Stuck and Rosemeyer, front engine versus mid-engine. Auto Union AG, founded in 1932 by a merger of Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer, enters its first Grand Prix season under the new 750-kilogram formula in 1934 with the 295 PS Auto Union Type A. That same year, it leads the way in terms of speed records: Auto Union sets three world records on March 6 and five more on October 20 – all in a car driven by the experienced racing driver and hill climb specialist Hans Stuck.
Daimler-Benz AG is under pressure – and steps up its game: Rudolf Caracciola ties Stuck’s record and, in late October 1934, sets several international records on the highway near Gyón, Hungary, in a specially built record-attempt car. Among other records, he reaches an average speed of 316.592 km/h over a mile from a flying start. This is the speed to beat. The race engineers and mechanics at Auto Union are in for a “hot” winter. They are already planning the next record attempts for early 1935, so they need to level up their racing car. Based on the vehicle used to set the records in October, the experts first develop a wind tunnel model. This undergoes various tests – first as an open version, then with a closed cockpit for improved aerodynamics. Auto Union’s racing division incorporates the findings from the wind tunnel at the Berlin-Adlershof Aeronautical Research Institute into the design of what will later become the record-breaking car – “a first in European racing car construction,” as the “Automobilrevue” noted at the time.
The body is finely sanded and coated with clear lacquer, and the spoked wheels are fitted with wheel covers. Two circular openings at the rear serve as fresh air intakes for the carburetor. The exhaust pipes point upward and are grouped into two outlets on each side. The car is already equipped with a 16-cylinder engine from the 1935 season, whose displacement has been increased to approximately 5 liters; however, this early version of the engine, with its 343 PS, does not quite reach the power output of 375 PS achieved later in 1935.
The chassis and suspension are still those of the 1934 racing car, whereas the elongated, aerodynamic silhouette – with its fin-like rear end and teardrop-shaped wheel arches – clearly stands out from its racing counterparts of the previous season. At the same time, these changes – which are primarily technical and functional in nature – give rise to an aesthetic of speed that makes the Rennlimousine – as the press coins this high-speed car – one of a kind. Audi had the Auto Union Lucca recreated by Crosthwaite & Gardiner based on historical photos and various other documents from the archives. After spending just over three years on its construction, the British restoration specialists completed the project in early 2026.
Auto Union Lucca Specifications:
Length/width/height/wheelbase – 4,570/1,200/1,700/2,800 mm
Kerb weight – 960 kg
Powertrain – 6.0-litre (6,005 cc), 16-cylinder (V16), supercharged petrol
Max output – 520 PS (382 kW) at 4,500 rpm
Exterior colour – Cellulose Silver
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- Audi has just revived one of the most insane speed machines ever built, a 1935 Auto Union race car that hit 203.2 miles per hour.- A work of art could you imagine the rollout of this Vehicle back in the day as fierce as this thing was. Is the original still alive?
- Loving the fact some think its AI, someone else in the comments already mentioned where it was built. The indoor filming was at the Astazero Proving Ground
- German auto makers were fielding expanded racing teams and intensely competing in the 1930s mainly because the Nazi government was promoting racing for propaganda purposes to showcase supposed German technical superiority.
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