Engine Of Auto Union Ferdinand Porsche. As well as acting as an umbrella firm for its four constituent brands Audi Horch DKW Wanderer Auto Union is widely known for its racing team Auto Union Rennabteilung based at. Porsches next design achievement was designing the rear-engine unruly frightfully powerful Auto Union racing cars the vehicles that along with Mercedes-Benzs Grand Prix cars became the Silver Arrows that pulverized the European racing circuit in the immediate prewar years.
The men responsible for creating Auto Unions success. Ferdinand Porsche who in 1930 had founded his engineering agency in Stuttgart registered his Hochleistungfahrzeugbau GmbH High-Performance Vehicle Construction Ltd on 8 November 1931 with an initial capital of 30000 Reichsmarks. 70845 bhp per tonne.
Coincidentally the teardrop shape of the mid-engine Auto Unions was somewhat based on the 1923 Benz Tropfenwagen which was built when Ferdinand Porsche was working for.
For Auto-Union Porsche designed a racing car with an engine located in front of the rear axle - unusual at the time but still standard for formula racing cars today patented as a Fahrgestell für Rennwagen DE692180A. No automotive historian manages to get closer to his subjects than Karl Ludvigsen. Porsche used the unorthodox layout placing the V16 behind the driver for optimal weight distribution and reduced driver height. The first project the company completed was designing an engine for a new Wanderer automobile.
