Jim, you're good looks are eclipsed only by your knowledge my friend. . . awesome info. and many thanks for sharing it with us... i gotta agree with Trent an say there are times when we should shut the hell up and just listen to you. this is one of them someday, kawfee, beer or the beverige of your choice is on me an im gonna pick your brains Jim
More Silver Arrows... 1937 AVUS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3pXXIIzvI8&search=hermann lang And the '39 Belgian GP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_45eX2fuEjI&mode=related&search=hermann lang Lang at the 'Ring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_5wAOmTSvY&mode=related&search More late '30s GP Racing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhRGjyxB40w&mode=related&search= '38 Reims GP, look at these guys get out of shape. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSpl9zRr12M&NR '37 Monaco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mouEon6ZpE&mode=related&search= '38 Donington http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmCJvDUWXaY&mode=related&search= I hoped I'd find some footage of these Silver Arrows flying. On Tracks like the 'Ring and Donington they'd jump these cars coming over the hills.... Different time, Car, and Driver... Fangio in a Maserati 250F They have cut the beginning off this clip. Which is a shame because it shows Fangio in his short sleeved shirt blasting out of the pits, with his Goggles ganging around his neck. So he takes his hands off the wheel to put them on... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-IJ0jXbnE&NR
i always liked G.T Eyestons (sp?) account of driving the Magic Midget (MG's pre-war record breaker) on the autobahn. The germans nick-named the exhaust note of the car "der aus-poof" At this point in history the autobahn was separated by wooden posts every 20 feet or so in the road. When the MG team arrived to run the germans cleared a few miles of the autobahn for them by removing the posts. There was one soldier for every post for somewhere around 5 miles of road...all on a single command and the road was cleared. or was it Goldie Gardner who drove the Magic Midget...my brain is all fuzzy right now.
thank you for making my day! Fangio at where ever...just hangs it out to the last inch of road, then just moseys on his merry way, amazing!!! and the mercedes getting airborn coming out of the corners at donnington in opposite lock was really crazy!
Cool timing, I just caught a TV program last weekend all about the Autobahn. It spent some time showing the German land speed record attempts that Hitler would only allow to be run on the Autobahn, for the publicity. It was all good until one of their famous drivers (sorry, missed the name and the car mfgr) was killed when he was swept off the road by a sidewind and crashed while making a land speed record attempt. Crazy...
I've read about Rosemeyer that one of the reasons he was so good was that he was a Motorcycle Racer before he raced the Auto Union's. And because he didnt spend a lot of time in Front Engined Race Cars, he was able to adjust to the Rear Engine, Swing Axle handeling characteristics of those cars quicker. Tazio Nuvolari was quick in one because he was one of the best Race Car Drivers that ever lived. His competitors would go to corners to see what lines he took...
More here of the Auto Union. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wly-6f0isSc&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXKsgr8aTsg&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqEUhMAa1YM&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWM6wYA-iJ0
Mrs Bluto found my book while packing. If your really interested in these cars this is all the info. Printed in Est Germany in 1984 it's not the easiest book to find but well worth the search Mine was a gift when I rode an EMW motorcycle in the May Day parade in EAST BERLIN.... another long story
I'm going to look for that book Bluto. Here is one I already have ( left in the pic...) Its written by Rudolf Caracciola, and he describes a lot about his racing days. I'm pretty sure they have translated it in English as well...
Nah... My Racers have modified production Car Engines in them. Nothing like this purpose built, money no object kinda stuff...
Two stories I've read about the amazing power of the BRMs: 1) The maximum HP that the engine produced was achieved using short stub exhausts, tuned for its astronomical RPM. Problem was that the harmonics produced by this noise were so uncomfortable for the driver that he'd do a lap, come into the pit and barf! They had to equip the car with a less efficient exhaust system so that the driver could live in the car. 2) Old Don alluded to this: the power curve was so steep that if you got a little wheelspin in a corner and picked up a couple hundred revs, you got an instant hundred or so additional horsepower, which spun you in a second. Guess they were pretty challenging to drive, and never won anything, but they sure sounded spectacular!
I have a friend that drives a BRM Yes the noise is shrill but I've never seen him complain or even braf! OK Once from too much beer but not from driving
Thanks for the tip on the book Bluto. I don't have that one. Did a quick search and there seems to be some available, one from Tom Warth ($$$). Isn't Kirchberg the Audi house historian? I'll have to start brushing up on my German. Lets see.... Ich kann nicht meine gummischuhe gefunden. Ya, it's coming back to me now.
Thanks for this post Ryan...........I was digging and found it.........gotta' love AU cars.........not that I used to work for them or anything. Chris Nelson Kansas
Info from Audi World Site http://www.audi.com/audi/com/en1/company/history.html In 1909 August Horch got into a dispute with the supervisory board of A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagen-Werke AG. Horch left the company he had set up. Shortly after, on 16 July 1909, he established a second company, Horch Automobil-Werke GmbH, in the same city. Horch lost the legal dispute over the company name. However, a solution to the problem was found: the Latin translation of his name (the German word for hark!). The new company name, Audiwerke GmbH, became effective on 25 April 1910.
Audi= Auto Union DKW (Old German car makr, Deutche KraftWagen =German Motorwagon) Ingolstadt (The city the first Audi factory was after the VAG bought the AU company in 1964) Edit: BTW. The latin word "Horch" translated means "Hear" and a latin singular is "Audiere" in and "Audi" = "Listen!"...
Those old Auto Union cars are just gorgeous. I used to see models of them in Lilliput Catalogs years ago, always wanted to see them in person. Thanks for posting that vid!
You'd better get a hold of these guys at Audi and tell them they got their own History wrong, then... While you are at it, tell them that DKW doesn't stand for Dampf Kraft Wagen either ( SteamPower Car ), like their site says...
A related piece of nickel knowledge: the four-ring logo that Audi now uses is of course the same symbol used by Auto Union. In the '30s this represented the four makes that were part of AU: Horch, DKW, Wanderer, and Audi
Search the web- there have been some very good books written about the "Silver Arrows" as they were called. I think History Channel even did a feature on them on "Automobiles" (or was it "Great Cars" on PBS?), available in video. But I bet Max Balchowski could've beaten them in "Old Yeller"!!
Hmm.. The DKW name I gave might be wrong as you say, but I'd say the Audi name explanation is correct. Or should I say we were correct both of us?
This is one of the best threads ever. Thanks. Don't know if this has been posted. A little old footage at the beginning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTpjGS_bU8s
Christie's today announced that it will postpone the sale of the 1939 Auto Union Grand Prix V12 Type D race car from the February 17 Retromobile sale in Paris pending further exploration into the car's race history, in collaboration with Audi Tradition. Just in...FYI.
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