Auto Union was actually the combination of four companies - DKW, AUDI, Horch and Wanderer. They finally all merged in 1932 when the State Bank of Saxony, to whom all four companies owed a substantial debt, decided to consolidate their Auto Manufacturing interests.
Ferdinand Porsche was the main factor in the Auto Union race car. Even before the merger of the four makes, Wanderer had contracted him to design a car for GP racing. Auto Union inherited him and his contract when the companies combined.
The Auto Union car was based on an earlier design Porsche had worked on when he was at Benz, the Benz Tropfenwagen. It had little success and was dropped by Benz, but Porsche knew it's potential and when he left Benz, he took the idea with him. The Auto Union board was not impressed by Porsche's design and considered releasing him from his contract.
The Auto Union company was not in financial shape to take part in GP racing, and it wasn't until Adolf Hitler was made Chancellor of Germany that funds were made available. Hitler wanted to use racing as a way to promote his propaganda that German technolgy was superior. He promised 500,000 Reichmarks to Mercedes-Benz for them to build a racing team. Afterwards, Dr Porsche, Auto Union board member Klaus von Oertzen, and driver Hans Stuck (Stuck knew Hitler through personal connections) made a visit to Hitler and persuaded him to split the 500,000 between Auto Union and Mercedes. It wasn't until after these funds were secured that the Auto Union board of directors agreed to the racing project, which saved Porsche - the board even signed him to a new deal.
Richard Eberhan von Eberhorst was signed to be the head of the engine design department. His design was a single cam, 45 degree V-16 with a large Roots supercharger aimed at lower horsepower but high torque range.
Porsche's design of the bodywork and chassis resulted in the unique shape of the car. They were dubbed the "SilberFische" or "SilverFish", not to be confused with the "SilberpFeile" or "Silver Arrows" of Mercedes, as is often done.
The first race for the cars was at the AVUSrennen formula libre race in May of 1934, where the best they would do was a third place. Hans Stuck had already set four separate records at AVUS earlier in the year during a Speed record run though. At the Eifelrennen held later that same month, Hans Stuck would finish second. Neither of these races were "International Competition" events, at which all teams would be present. The Auto Union was unveiled to the world of GP racing at the French GP at Monthlery in June of 1934. None of their three cars would finish the race, though Stuck did lead for awhile. The team celebrated their first win at the German GP held at the Nurburgring. It was only their second attempt in International Competition and not even a year after they first set out to design and build the car. At the end of the '34 season, the team had try outs to find more drivers. The great Bernd Rosemeyer was one driver who tried out, another was Paul Peisch - he was also signed.
With propaganda being the reason the Nazi government backed the teams, Speed record runs were a big part of the teams goals. Auto Union would build Streamliners for record runs and competing in Formula Libre, or Free Formula races. Hans Stuck would set a total of 7 records.
Here are some miscellaneous photos of the Auto Unions:
World War II brought an end to the Auto Union team, though the company would survive to become what is now AUDI. After the war, Josef Stalin's troops took the remnants of the team to Moscow. They tried to start their own team with the plans, and Awtowelo built a couple of the cars but Stalin's death brought an end to the project. Here is one of the cars with German driver Fritz Tragner at the wheel in 1952.
The end.