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Ingolstadt fairy tale

Audi, currently one of the most successful and ambitious car manufacturers, was founded nearly three centuries ago in the German village of Ingolstadt on the banks of the Danube. Truth be told, if you take a stroll around the town, you can see what people missed here even that long ago.

It is not widely known that almost up until the 1960s, Audi produced only motorcycles. Motornews.ru journalists have been to the birthplace of Audi, the plant and the museum of the famous Ingolstadt-based brand. In the Audi museum, there are not only motorbikes, but also automobiles on display, but nevertheless, we will focus on two-wheel vehicles here.

Styled Auto Union at the time, the company did not limit itself to automobiles as it does now, but it also made motorcycles, which were all unique in their own way and still incite admiration and respect for their smart ergonomics and the exciting engineering solutions that Auto Union used in their serial production.

The Audi museum is right next to the plant. If you are interested in motorcycles and their history, this place has your name on it; you will not be disappointed!

A ticket costs EUR 2 for adults and EUR 1 for students. If you are travelling by car, you will find free parking near the museum. There is also a café where you can grab a bite to eat before your journey in time.

The museum’s first floor houses a library dedicated to the brand and a small souvenir shop. After seeing that, you can dive into a world of “rings” and silver arrows. The multi-story building that houses the museum is shaped in the form of rings stacked on top of one another, which carry you over from the present to the future. In other words, when you reach the top floor, you find yourself at the starting point – you see the very first automobiles and motorcycles produced. Interestingly enough, however, the vehicles can hardly be referred to as motorcycles – they are more like bicycles rigged out with combustion engines. If you take a closer look, you will be surprised to find that even the headlights on such bikes only produced light from a gasoline-soaked fuse placed inside it.

The Ingolstadt museum boasts over three dozen various motor vehicles – not just common motorcycles, but also bicycles, scooters, off-road bikes, and even race cars that were used in various competitions. You could easily fall in love with the many different pieces in the museum, and it will most likely take you some time to forget them. And it is all thanks to their design and elegant solutions, which are still working and used by various customizers. We can only hope that the car making giant Audi will at some point revert to its history and decide to resume its fight for the hearts of motorsport fans.

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