Trackside: The dark past of a £7.8m car
19 February 2007 It was expected to rival the current record for most expensive car sold at auction – a 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale Sports Coupe that sold for £5.5m in 1987. What makes this car so special? Keith Collantine explains. Although the Formula One world championship began in 1950, Grand Prix racing began 44 years before, and was just as important to car manufacturers as it is today. The grid of 2007 sees Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari, BMW, Honda and Toyota competing against one another. In the late 1930s the two major German car manufacturers – Mercedes and Auto Union – were the dominant forces. Much of this was thanks to their enormous financial clout. Shortly after arriving in office Adolf Hitler had decided to split an annual subsidy of RM500,000 (Reichsmarks, that had replaced Deutschmarks as the national currency) between the two. Auto Union was in fact a collaboration between four German manufacturers - Wanderer, Horch, DKW and Audi – and its cars bore the four circles symbols common to Audis of today. Almost 70 years ago the Auto Unions had more than half the power of Grand Prix cars of today. The Type D’s twin-supercharged 3.0-litre V12 engine pushed out 485 bhp. (Today’s 2.4-litre V8 cars produce around 800 bhp). But these cars were the cutting edge for the day. Auto Union positioned the engine behind the driver – predating Cooper’s innovation that turned Formula One on its head 20 years later. The Type Ds raced in 1938 and 1939. In January 1938 the team lost driver Bernd Rosemeyer, who died in a speed record attempt on an autobahn. In his place came the legendary Italian racer Tazio Nuvolari. Nuvolari was a master who had famously infuriated the Nazis by defeating the German teams in the 1935 German Grand Prix in an underpowered Maserati. He won the Grands Prix at Monza, Italy and Donington Park, Leicester that year. But the long, dark shadows of war were drawing across the European continent. The diplomatic crisis between England and Germany had already caused the the Donington Park race to be postponed. On September 3rd, 1939 only five cars arrived in Belgrade for the Yugoslavian Grand Prix. And once the race had been won, by Nuvolari, they dashed for the border. War had been declared. Exactly which of the Auto Union Type Ds was brought to Christie’s for auction is unclear. Following World War II many cars were reduced to their components and hidden. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union was this car discovered – in a barn in Zwickau in the former East Germany. But its exact identity is elusive. Was this the car in which Tazio Nuvolari won the last pre-war Grand Prix? It’s price may soon be known. But its value is incalculable. Are you racing this year? We want to hear from you. Contact editorial@autotrader.co.uk Auto Trader links Trackside: 80 years of the Nürburgring |
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