Why Audi Withdrew From Rallying - with a bit of history.

[Greg Johnson]

Audi began rally racing because it wanted to prove quattro’s value.
Excuse me while I toot our favorite horn.

In 1981, the quattro won 3 of 12 rounds (Sweden, San Remo and the RAC).
In 1982, the quattro won 7 of 12 rounds and the World Manufacturer's
Championship.  In 1983, quattro driver Hannnu Mikkola became the World
Rally Champion.  In 1984, quattro driver Stiq Blomqvist became the World
Rally Champion and the quattro again won the World Manufacturer's
Championship.  By 1985, Peugeot and Lancia had caught up and the Group B
sport quattro won just one race - San Remo.  Audi still made the podium
with second or third place an additional 8 times and Blomqvist and Rohrl
place second and third in the driver's championship and the quattro
placed second in the Manufacturer's Championship.  Audi had
unquestionably proved the value of quattro, but its days of dominance
were over.  In 1986, a driver's loss of control caused a Ford Group B
rally car to plunge into a group of spectators in Portugal.  Audi
protested the lack of spectator and driver safety by with drawing from
the World Rally Championship.  In 1987, the Group B cars were eventually
banned and the less powerful Group A cars made their comeback.  Audi
entered a 200 turbo quattro in about half the races.  Despite a very
abbreviated season, the 200tq placed second in the World Championship
for Makes, and that about wrapped it up for Audi.

I submit that Audi left rallying for two reasons - money and market
share.  In November, 23, 1986, CBS (Center for BS) ambushed Audi with
its unintended acceleration piece.  Audi’s US market share went from
steady growth to "in the toilet."  Audi had to tighten it purse strings;
choose its racing venues wisely; and it could not afford two front wars.

Rally racing is huge in Europe; most Americans know little about it.
Audi laid low in 1987, but in 1988, it roared back into the U.S. market
by competing in the Trans-Am racing series.  The 200tq placed second in
its first race (Long Beach) and first in its second race (Dallas).  When
the 200tq kept winning, the SCCA invoked a series of mid-season rule
changes that added 200 lbs to the car, restricted its turbo intake area,
and reduced its tire contact patch.  None of these penalties seemed to
matter.  When the season was over, Audi had won 8 of the 13 races; the
constructor's title; and quattro driver, Hurley Haywood, won the
driver's championship.  Citing the unfair advantage of all-wheel drive,
the SCCA invited Audi not to return to Trans-Am, however Audi wasn't
done yet.

In 1989, Audi went IMSA-GTO racing with a tube-frame Audi 90 quattro.
The 90 quattro and its driver Hans Stuck won 7 of the 15 IMSA-GTO races
and they narrowly missed the driver's and constructor's titles because
development of the new cars did not allow them to participate in the
early season long distance races (Daytona and Sebring).

In the Spring of 1989, the NHTSA released an 81 page report which
confirmed what anyone with a brain had known all along:  "Only the
driver's foot or the cruise control can move the throttle to the wide
open postion," . . . the inescapable conclusion is that these
[incidents] definitely involve the driver inadvertently pressing the
accelerator instead of, or in addition to, the brake pedal."

Having been vindicated, Audi withdrew from America’s road racing
courses.  It continued to successfully race quattros in the D1Cup Races
(a.k.a. touring car racing) in Europe throughout the early 1990s.

On a personal note, Audi's U.S. marketing ploys worked.  I first noticed
Audi in 1983 when John Buffum's quattro screamed up Pike's Peak on ABC's
Wild World of Sports.  I began paying close attention to Audi in 1988
when ESPN showed the 200tq running away with the Trans-Am series.  I
swore to myself then, that I'd own a 200tq someday, and I do.  BTW, with
the sole exception of a friend who was once on 60 Minutes (for about
three minutes) I haven't watched the show since Car & Driver called
their Audi bluff in June of 1987.

Greg J
BIRA.ORG