Why Audi left rallying

[Jouko Haapanen]

I had a one-on-one with Hannu regarding this meeting a few years ago,
and he felt it was an ultimatum that they could not promise to
fulfill.  The question was presented, and as he said to me, how could
I guarantee the safety of spectators that I personally have no control
over?  End of story.

Jouko Haapanen


----- Original Message -----
From: <isham-research.freeserve.co.uk at pop.pol.net.uk>;
<quk at isham-research.freeserve.co.uk>
To: <quattro at audifans.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 12:00 AM
Subject: Why Audi left rallying


> Why is this such a problem?
>
> Audi left rallying for the reason they stated at the time -
> Piech's famous comment that he didn't want to see any corpses with
> four rings impressed into them.  People who were present at the
> meeting have confirmed this time and again, and I've spoken with
> ex-engineers in their own language about the decision.  It was
> discussed at some length, in German, at the Ingolstadt event last
> September.
>
> To say they were uncompetitive or had reduced their budget is to
> deny the existence of the prototype Sport successor, the RS200,
> which anyone can see in the Zinsheim museum.
>
> And Michele a French-Canadian?  She lives, as she always has, in a
> small and usually sleepy French town just outside Grasse.  I have
> her address in front of me.