The 1930s see an international race to set records. Speed is far more than a mundane measurement – Grand Prix races and the constant breaking of speed records are followed and celebrated almost obsessively by the media and the public. Over the years, Germany becomes the scene of fierce competition among brands, drivers, and technologies: the star versus the four rings, Caracciola and von Brauchitsch versus Stuck and Rosemeyer, front engine versus mid- engine. Auto Union AG, founded in 1932 by a merger of Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer, enters its first Grand Prix season under the new 750-kilogram formula in 1934 with the 295 PS Auto Union Type A. That same year, it leads the way in terms of speed records: Auto Union sets three world records on March 6 and five more on October 20 – all in a car driven by the experienced racing driver and hill climb specialist Hans Stuck.
