Teaser: Silver Arrow’s Grand Prix Second Season Summary

Words: Steve Johnson

September 29th this year marks 90 years since Auto Union’s Silver Arrows wrapped-up their second Grand Prix racing season at the Masaryk or Czechoslovakian GP. In 1934 they made an exciting entrance into the premier class of racing with their rear-engined P-Wagen or Type A racecar, and in 1935 they continued the fight with archrivals Mercedes-Benz for Grand Prix dominance. To do so, Auto Union strengthened their driver line-up by adding experienced Italian GP racer Achille Varzi (pictured above) and two fast young cadet drivers, Paul Pietsch and Bernd Rosemeyer, as teammates to Hans Stuck.

The Auto Union racecar for 1935, sequentially known as the Type B, was heavily revised by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche to eliminate the weaknesses encountered in the Type A’s design. The resulting racecar was fast, world record setting as a matter of fact. See quattro Magazine Q3_2025 for just how fast. But how did the Type B fair during its 11-race 1935 season? It set the fastest race laps in more than half of its races and won some as well. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In just over a week’s time you’ll be able to read all about how the season unfolded when the Q4_2025 issue of quattro Magazine is posted on our website under the Content menu. You’ll need to be an Audi Club North America member with an account on our website to access the magazine. Then, in a few weeks’ time, look for your very own issue of quattro Magazine to arrive in your mailbox.

Not an Audi Club member yet? Please consider joining today because with Audi diving into Formula 1 in 2026 and TT Moment 2.0 upon us, this has the potential to be Audi’s most exciting evolution, rebirth, refocusing (pick an adjective) since Ironman rocked an R8. The years 1934 to 1939 are called the Golden Era of Grand Prix racing. Join us in Audi Club North America as we anticipate the beginning of another golden era for Audi!