At this year’s Classic Days at Schloss Dyck, Audi Tradition will be presenting three automotive milestones from Audi’s motorsports history: the Auto Union Type C (1936), the Audi Sport quattro S1 (1985) and the Audi R8 Le Mans (2000). In two special races on the 6th and 7th of August, racing legends Hans-Joachim Stuck, Walter Röhrl and Frank Biela will take up place behind the wheel of these racing cars. The vehicle fleet from Ingolstadt will also feature the DKW UL 500 and NSU 500 Bullus motorcycles. The classic vehicle festival near to Grevenbroich will take place from the 5th to 7th of August 2016.
Hans-Joachim Stuck, known colloquially as “Strietzel”, will be behind the wheel of the Auto Union Type C from 1936. What makes it even more special is that his father, Hans Stuck, drove the Auto Union Silver Arrows to a number of successes between 1934 and 1939. He was crowned the German Hillclimb Champion three times and from then on was known as the “King of the Hills”. Stuck won 16 of the 23 international hillclimb races held.
Visitors to Classic Days will experience in person the 16-cylinder-strong Auto Union Silver Arrow specially equipped with twin tires. Particularly on loose ground, these helped increase the vehicle’s traction during various hillclimb races. The vehicle was used for the first time in 1934 at the Feldberg race in the Taunus mountain range.
Classic vehicle aficionados will easily recognize the Audi Sport quattro S1. The snowplow-like front apron and the sizable rear spoiler afford it its unmistakable appearance. The S1 was the last development of the Rally quattro. Serving up 476 hp at 7500 rpm, the “winged monster” had phenomenal traction. Despite this, the vehicle only ever won a single race: the 1985 San Remo rally where it was entered in the legendary Group B. The driver at the time was the same person who will drive the route today: at Classic Days, Walter Röhrl will be at the wheel of a Sport quattro S1 built in 1985.
Frank Biela sees the festival very much as a home game for two reasons: firstly, the Classic Days event is held around 20 kilometers (12.4 mi) away from Biela’s native town of Neuss. And secondly because the driver from the Rhineland region will be driving “his” winning vehicle: in the year 2000, together with his team colleagues Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro, he drove the Audi R8 Le Mans to the first ever Le Mans 24-hour race victory of the brand with the four rings. At the renowned long-distance race, Biela won a further four times. Audi Tradition will be bringing the winning Le Mans vehicle with starting number 8 to the festival. Its 8-cylinder turbocharged engine with FSI direct petrol injection delivers an impressive 610 hp.
Furthermore, two rare racing motorcycles will also be on the road at Schloss Dyck. The DKW UL 500 with its pump-charged two-cylinder engine won three German Championship races in 1937. Ralf Waldmann, two-time vice World Champion of the motorcycle discipline, will be riding a completely rebuilt example of this racing bike. At the same time, Audi will also be lining up the 1931 NSU SSR 500, better known as the Bullus NSU.
The Concours d’Elegance on the Orangerie peninsula of Schloss Dyck bears the name “Jewels in the Park” and is all about elegance and uniqueness. There, Audi Tradition will be presenting a Wanderer 10/50 PS, Type W 11 in the rare Pullman-Landaulet version from 1929, as well as a DKW Schnelllaster F 800/3 equipped as a luxury bus from 1956.
