Deja V-10

Professor Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry prophesied the Audi R8 5.2 exactly seven decades before it was announced as a production model. Toasting the success of their Auto Union grand prix racers, the Porsches put pen to paper in 1938-39 for what was intended to be their first sports car: the Type 114 F-Wagen. This project followed the Beetle design by 54 type numbers, and the F in the name honored both Ferdinand and Ferry.

Like the Auto Union A, B, and C type racers, the Porsches’ sports car had a mid-engine layout with a water-cooled, 1.5-liter V-10 engine situated between the two- or three-person cockpit and the rear axle. The DOHC 20-valve engine was constructed with a 72-degree V-angle, an aluminum block and heads, iron cylinder liners, and a roller-bearing crankshaft. The F-Wagen would have ridden on a 108.3-inch wheelbase, four inches longer than the span between the R8’s axles. True to Porsche form, each wheel was suspended by a trailing arm and a torsion bar, with the rear wheels pivoting on swing axles. A scale model of the body created for wind-tunnel testing resembles an elongated Beetle.

Alas, the Type 114 was stillborn, because the Porsches’ engineering expertise was required by the Wehrmacht to develop a 30-ton Leopard tank powered by twin 10-liter V-10 engines.

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