Turbo Quattro Coupe info....long

[Kwattro@aol.com]

While flipping through my World Sports Car book, I ran across this...
Audi Quattro....Debut 1980
"While in Finland in Feb 1977 Jorg Bensinger, the head of Audi road test
department, had a brainwave.  perhaps the arithmetical platitude of 2 plus 2
making 4 could be seen in an entirly new light.  Driving the IItis, an
all-wheel drive jeep produced by his company, he had just walked away from
the conventional Audi saloons which were also being tested there, in
similarly rough conditions.  In theory, he pondered, it should be possible
todistribute the power of a sports car onto four wheels, and thereby set
entirly new standards in the world of rallying, for instance.  Soon Bensinger
and his colleagues, Walter Treser, Dr, Karl Bauer and Ferdinand Piech, joined
forces. And the IItis technology was cloacked within the sober body of an
Audi 80, for use as a prototype, called A1.  Toni Schmucker, the boss of the
VW empire, tried the vehicle in the summer of 78. After the car had climbed a
steep and slippery slope with no trouble at all, he gave the project his
blessing.  It underwent a number of changes before its presentation at the
Geneva Salon in the spring of 1980.  An existing monocoque coupe body was
fitted with wider plastic wings and spoilers by Audi designer Hartmut
Warkuss.  From the engine of the 2000 model, a turbo five cylinder of 2144cc,
they managed to extract a solid 200 bhp by using an intercooler, a different
inlet tract and a larger exhaust system of high grade steel.  This impressive
figure was available only at high revs, however.   The real qualities of the
hybrid were, howeverm hidden in the basement.  No fewer than three
differentials rotated under the floor pan, one installed in the rear, another
in the front axel and a third, balancing one in the middle.  If the latter
was locked by pulling a knob on the center console, braking was distributed
more equally between the front and rear wheels.  Normally set up to handel
neutrally, the coupe oversteered gently in this case. Locking the rear
differential produced understeer.  Doing so was very adventagous on poor or
slippery surfaces.  All four wheels were independently suspended on
MacPherson struts and wishbones.  The name Quattro had been invented at his
home by the future racing manager and spare time philologist, Walter Treser,
mindful of his work even when off duty.  Sales of the Quattro began only at
the end of 1980 because, as it's creator said, quite a lot of development was
necessary prior to series production.  They had long since gone off the idea
of producing only 400 units for homologationpurposes: for 1981, indeedm
1500-2000 cars were cheerfully envisaged for Europe alone.  The debut of the
competition version was sensational: after sixof the special stages in the
1981 Monte Carlo Rally, the Finn Hannu Mikkola led by 6 minutes - before
writing his car off against the wall of a bridge.  And in 82 Bersinger's
brainwave off handsomely, for the Quattro won it's first Rally Championship.