Audi Monument at Goodwood Festival of Speed

{img1 alig=left}The Audi monument unveiled yesterday at Goodwood could pass for one twisted race track. The 35 meter high sculpture features two Audi cars - the 1937 Auto Union streamliner and the newly launched R8 V10 sports car suspended in the air, at either end of the tire marks.

The monument, designed by Gerry Judah, marks the second Audi celebration at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, after its 90th anniversary in 1999.

“I wanted to design something iconic because this year is Audi’s 100th anniversary,” explains Judah in a press release. “The sculpture had to have a celebratory theme and it also had to encompass the qualities of the Audi brand: sporty, prestigious and progressive.”

The monument’s structure is made entirely of steel and weighs a total of 40 tons, the equivalent of 40 small family cars. It took the 12 workers about four weeks to fabricate, build and install the structure.

“I drew about 20 ideas and some had elaborate bridges with vaulted arches but somehow they didn’t have quite the right style. I then had a flash of inspiration and designed this ‘swoosh’ with a car at either end to represent Audi’s 100-year history,” Judah continued.

At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which debuts today, Audi is also showcasing its most important cars and drivers from its centennial history, from the days of the Grand Prix Auto Union ‘Silver Arrows’ of the thirties, through the ‘quattro years’ of the Eighties, right up to the present day.

The entire Audi line-up at the event is featuring the company's R8R, R8, R10 and R15, the 2007 Audi A4 DTM, the Audi A4 STC from 1996, the Audi V8 quattro DTM, the 1988 Audi 200 quattro TransAm and the Audi R8 LMS. Motorcycles will also be present as Audi will bring along Ewald Kluge's DKW 250 SS.

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