Sunday 20th March 2016

Hans Stuck to drive Auto Union Type C at Shelsley

DTM champ Stuck follows in his father's footsteps 80 years on

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Now this promises to be quite the spectacle. At Shelsley Walsh this July, Hans Joachim Stuck will drive an Auto Union Type C up the hill a little over 80 years since his father claimed victory there.

Now that's an engine!

Hans Stuck senior won the 'Over 5 litres Supercharged class' on June 6 1936 with the 520hp Type C, setting a time of 45.2 seconds in the rain and battling "colossal wheelspin" according to Motor Sport Magazine. Apparently he also "finished the run with a skid across the line which must have made the timing officials jump for their lives." Top work!

The Type C was incredibly successful in period, winning half the races that Auto Union entered. Along with that 520hp, the 6.0-litre supercharged V16 made approximately 627lb ft as well. Through those rear tyres!

Hans Joachim Stuck is of course a legend in his own right as DTM champ and Le Mans victor, so to have him and the car at Shelsley is a real treat. Fingers crossed for dry weather...

The Type C run is part of the Classic Nostalgia event at Shelsley, running across the weekend of July 16 and 17. Tickets are available via the website.

[Vocal Minority]

In addition to this amazing car, we will also have lots of lovely Group B Rally cars doing Group B like things up the hill.

That's got to be worth your collective Saturday and Sunday!

Edited by Vocal Minority on Wednesday 16th March 12:24

[PistonBroker]

Sounds awesome.

Exactly 42 years before I arrived on this earth.

That's a typo at the start of the article though, right? This is happening in July, as per the end of the article, not June as per the beginning?

[Vocal Minority]

That is correct

16th and 17th July

[AdamAJP]

That must be epic to (try to) drive!!!

[struttob]

They ran this one at the 100 years of Shelsley meeting in 2005 - monster fun by the looks of it !



Bob

[struttob]

Dates are a shame as I shan't be back from my "long weekend" at the Le Mans Classic ! Never mind the British Hillclimb Championship round is the best meeting of the year for my money !

Bob

[irocfan]

<wibble> that sounds awesome - may have to look into this

[fireturk]

that's going to be epicly noisy!!

[struttob]

This is the V12 engine and blower in the Type D in my picture above.



Wonderful piece of kit, sounded fabulous !

Bob

[struttob]

Hans Stuck was the most well known Auto Union driver, but my personal favourite is my all time hero Tazio Nuvolari who also had great success along with Bernd Rosemeyer. (who actually died setting speed records on the German Autobahn in a streamlined version crashing at a reported 268mph !)

When I visited the Nuvolari museum in Mantova they had one of his yellow knitted racing jumpers on the wall, I could not believe how small it was, it looked like a childs size - yet he mastered those monster machines to fantastic effect.

Bob

[Vocal Minority]

We'll of course Rosemeyer drove the V16s (such as the C Type) until his death. Nouvea lair was brought in after as they needed to fill the void in talent. The D Type as pictured by Bob was a V12 and the driving position moved further aft.

I absolutely agree about Nouvalari - only 5 ft 2 and a bean pole among men. Remarkable driver and athlete

[VonSenger]

Which Auto Unions were discovered recently and rebuilt? Lemans winning car 1 and 2 I believe. But I understand there was some doubt about the originality?
Is this one of the cars?

[Tango13]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Motor-Racing-Battl...

Well worth a read

[Matt Bird]

PistonBroker said:

Sounds awesome.

Exactly 42 years before I arrived on this earth.

That's a typo at the start of the article though, right? This is happening in July, as per the end of the article, not June as per the beginning?

Apologies, definitely July. Story has been amended now.

[chevronb37]

Absolutely gutted - I'm watching DTM at Zandvoort that weekend. This will be a sight for the ages. The C-Type is the ultimate Auto Union to my eyes (much as the W125 is the ultimate Mercedes-Benz) and the notion that it competed at Shelsley in period seems so fanciful now!

[Vocal Minority]

For ultimate nerd points, it will have the twin hubs on the rear axle

[BVB]

A ferocious behemoth of a racing car, superb.