We’ll address all of these points – why the Nuvolari is such an important one-off for Audi – as well as allude to the fact that in spite of that significance, it was but a third of Audi’s three-concept preview of a new model and image onslaught.
Nuvolari to some might sound an odd exotic name for a manufacturer whose forecourt bread and butter was a selection of numbered As Ss and RSs. It in fact commemorated 50 years (in 2003) since the death of Tazio Nuvolari – master Grand Prix helmsman of the mad propaganda-fuelled era of racing leading up to global war in 1939. Auto Union became the Au in Audi – a story for another feature, we feel. Nuvolari’s prodigious death-defying antics behind the wheel fortified the backbone of Audi’s gestational heritage.
The Nuvolari Concept, at least in part, evokes the spirit of those old Auto Unions. That long swooping dull silver body with a beating heart of excessive power – a 5.0-litre twin-turbo V10 producing 600bhp. Mega numbers for a car of its type in 2003. A similar unit would go on to motivate 2009’s brutal RS6.
While an appropriate nod to a hero of Audi’s past, the Nuvolari Quattro primarily looked to the future. Granted, of the three (Nuvolari, Pikes Peak and Le Mans) concepts, this would lend least to the specific model it inspired, the silhouette, interior layout and general premium exotic demeanour would live on. The introduction of the A5 in 2007, along with production versions of the other concepts, put Audi on the map for a new era.