In the next issue of Octane magazine you can see first-hand how Audi Tradition’s Auto Union Lucca re-creation performed in the wind tunnel.
The re-creation has just been unveiled in the town that gave it its name. Known in its time as the ‘fastest road racing car in the world’, the original car achieved a recorded speed of 326.975 km/h while being driven by Hans Stuck on 15 February 1935 along a straight section of the Autostrada near Lucca, Italy – hence the name. In its use of advanced aerodynamics, lightweight construction and a high-performance engine, the Lucca was intended to demonstrate Auto Union’s (and therefore Germany’s) technical expertise and innovative strength to the world. In scale form, it was honed in the Berlin Adlershof wind tunnel, a historic 1930s testing facility known as the ‘cradle of German aviation’.
Like Audi Tradition’s other re-creations, this one is the result of a three-year project by the British Crosthwaite & Gardiner concern, custom-made and hand-crafted at its workshops in East Sussex. It is powered by a mid-mounted, specially built 6.0-litre supercharged V16 and drives the rear wheels via a five-speed non-synchronised manual gearbox. The bodywork is hand-beaten aluminium.
Driven by Hans Stuck, the Auto Union regained a speed record that had been achieved by arch rival Mercedes-Benz in Hungary, during late 1934. It also achieved a flying mile average of 320.267 km/h, Stuck wresting the record back from Rudolf Caracciola in the process. Two were built and both subsequently competed at the AVUS Ring in May 1935, though both failed to finish – the streamlining that made them so effective in record-breaking countered their effectiveness in longer races.
The Auto Union Lucca will make its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, to be held on 9-12 July. You can read all about it in issue 277 of Octane, on sale on 27 May.
