Categories: Cars

Audi Has Recreated A 16-Cylinder Record Car

Audi is back at the top tier of motorsport. Formula 1 didn’t exist yet in the celebrated, if increasingly war-shadowed, 1930s, but the Auto Union race cars of that era can still be seen as the sport’s forebears. One of them fused engineering ambition and driver bravery into a machine that redefined what physics seemed to allow: the Auto Union Lucca.

Now, Audi Tradition has rebuilt this spectacular record car. And fittingly for a legend, it’s making its comeback in the very place where its story once reached its brightest peak: Lucca, Italy—a Tuscan city of just under 90,000 people. It’s also the birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini and, in its own way, a stage for a very different kind of performance.

Flashback: It’s February 15, 1935. On a dead-straight section of the autostrada near Lucca, there’s a tense quiet, until the roar of a 16-cylinder engine tears through the air. Hans Stuck at the wheel, the “King of the Mountains,” hurls the streamlined racer through the measured mile. The result sends shockwaves through the expert community. With a flying-start average of 199 mph (320.267 km/h), Auto Union obliterates the standing marks. A peak speed of 203.2 mph (326.975 km/h) is recorded, making it the fastest road-racing car in the world at the time.

Three Years Of Reconstruction

That we can take in this sight again today is thanks to a three-year reconstruction effort by specialists at Crosthwaite & Gardiner in England. Completed in time for spring 2026, this Silver Arrow fills a painful gap in Audi AG’s historic collection.

Photo by: Audi Tradition

The 1930s were an era of obsession. Speed wasn’t just a number—it was a kind of substitute religion. And not only in Germany. There, the (state-subsidized) duel was Star versus Rings, Caracciola versus Stuck. When Daimler-Benz posted 196.4 mph (316 km/h) at the end of 1934, drafting boards in Zwickau ran hot. A “heated” winter followed.

For the first time in European race-car construction, findings from the wind tunnel at the German Research Institute for Aviation in Berlin-Adlershof flowed directly into the body shape. The result was an aerodynamic sculpture: finely finished light-alloy panels, clearcoat, fully covered wheels, and a fin-like tail that could still bring a designer to tears today.

Photo by: Audi Tradition

Under the hood of the original Lucca car was an early version of the 16-cylinder engine, producing 343 hp with roughly 5.0 liters of displacement. But technology alone doesn’t set records, as Timo Witt, head of Audi Tradition’s historic vehicle collection since 2015, emphasizes:

“What inspires me is the momentum and speed with which they reacted to the competition even back then—technically in vehicle development, but also organizationally: the weather turns and the whole team quickly moves on at short notice. Without that flexibility and the ability to adapt extremely fast to new situations, the record run in Lucca ultimately wouldn’t have been possible.”

Timo Witt and Motor1 Deutschland Editor-in-Chief Roland Hildebrandt with the Lucca car

Photo by: Audi Tradition

Across Europe to Tuscany

Indeed: the road to success was an odyssey from Hungary to Milan and on to the sunny south near Lucca—always staying one step ahead of snow and bad weather. In the end, it was the perfect stretch between Pescia and Altopascio that made the triumph possible.

But in order: After only a few weeks of development work, the finished car is already in the Auto Union racing department’s workshop in Zwickau in December 1934. On December 17, the first test runs follow on Berlin’s AVUS, and by late January 1935, the decision is made: the record attempt will take place in Hungary—on the exact road near Gyón where Caracciola had set the class record over the flying-start mile the previous year in a Mercedes.

Auto Union makes all arrangements with the Hungarian automobile club; the high-powered record contender arrives in Budapest on February 4, 1935. The next day, the team heads to the course about 25 miles (40 km) to the south; the weather deteriorates rapidly. Even so, two test runs were completed on February 5. On the second run, the exhaust burns through, and the tests have to be halted.

Auto Union Lucca car in 1935

Photo by: AUDI AG corporate archive

The race management decides to continue the record attempts south of Milan due to the weather swings. But conditions there aren’t ideal either: the planned stretch is covered in snow, so Auto Union pushes farther south. On the Florence–Viareggio road, a suitable section is finally found between Pescia and Altopascio near the city of Lucca.

This stretch of autostrada is ideal for record runs—well-graded, with good grip, 26 feet (8 meters) wide, and almost arrow-straight for about 3.1 miles (5 km). The first test runs begin on February 14, 1935. Different vehicle configurations are tested, details such as the radiator opening and wheel covers are varied, and the data is evaluated. The next morning at 9 a.m., the car rolls onto the course near Lucca again—Hans Stuck at the wheel.

A Version Built For The Auto Show Crowd

Almost simultaneously with the successful record run in Lucca, a nearly identical version of the record car is presented at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in Berlin (February 14–24). The striking difference versus the Lucca car is the larger radiator grille.

Because the mile record had not yet been officially recognized at that time, the promotional poster made for the show presents the Lucca car as the “fastest road-racing car in the world,” alongside a list of all Auto Union world and class records achieved up to that point—complete with the top speed of 203.2 mph (326.975 km/h).

Photo by: Corporate Archives of AUDI AG

But the car’s story doesn’t end with the record runs. Just a few months later, in May 1935, the Lucca car appeared together with a nearly identical sister model at the legendary AVUS race in Berlin. Because the event is formula-free, the heavy “racing sedans” (2,271 lb / 1,030 kg starting weight) are allowed to line up against slimmer Grand Prix cars. It’s the debut of a young talent named Bernd Rosemeyer, but luck isn’t on Auto Union’s side that day: tire failures and cooling-water problems force the team to retire.

Authentic, But Also Optimized

Today, we look at the reborn Lucca car with a mix of reverence and nostalgia. Timo Witt walks me through the vehicle and removes the canopy over the driver’s position—aircraft associations aren’t exactly accidental. I look into the cockpit with its huge steering wheel. It’s beautiful, but it demands serious work. The five-speed gearbox is unsynchronized, so clean shifts with a throttle blip are mandatory. And at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 meters), I wouldn’t fit in there anyway.

Authenticity was the top priority in the rebuild, but there was also practical judgment. Timo Witt explains: “Of course, we recreated the car as authentically as possible, but at the same time, issues like the vehicle’s longevity and implementing the project as efficiently as possible were important to us.”

Photo by: Audi Tradition

Inside is the 6.0-liter heart of the Type C, externally identical but making parts supply easier within the Silver Arrow family. Cooling has also been improved to prepare the car for the future. In addition, the Auto Union Lucca features several modifications, some of which had already been implemented for the AVUS race in Berlin in May 1935, such as improved ventilation.

Witt adds: “We adopted these changes on the Auto Union Lucca because otherwise the vehicle would be under too much thermal stress during our upcoming demonstration runs.” With minor modifications to the radiator and bodywork, the Auto Union Lucca can be converted into the AVUS configuration.

With a wind-tunnel-confirmed drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.43, the car is ready for its next major stage. After its premiere in Italy, it will light up the asphalt at the Goodwood Festival of Speed from July 9 to 12, 2026—complete with 16-cylinder thunder.