Video: The Auto Union Type 52 is a 1930s hypercar

Had it been made, it would have been the first mid-engined production car. Shaped like a teardrop, the Type 52 features a Grand Prix-derived V16 engine sat behind the three seats of the driver and two passengers. Power is well over 500PS and the performance, for the time, would have been extraordinary. Indeed, this pretty much would have been the world’s first hypercar, had it gone into production, even with half that figure as was intended in period. Of course, it didn’t with the plans being shelved in 1935, only to be dusted off and carried out to completion over the last few years, nine decades on.

Indeed, it’s not an exact recreation of the planned car, with a few choice modifications that were necessary to even make it possible. The drawings, for instance, didn’t take into account certain packaging challenges, meaning the wheelbase had to be lengthened. As above, that V16 is full Grand Prix methanol-drinking spec rather than the de-tuned version originally envisioned for the car.

What a storming, gargling monster of a thing, that was a joy to see on the Hill at the Festival of Speed.