S1 and sport-q data (warning tor*en content) long

["Hans-Juergen Schneider" <hans@h-js.de>]

The S1 weight distribution was somewhere between 55/45 and 52/48 with 
two people and a fully loaded tank, depending which sources you 
believe. The sport-q used conventional LSD's front and rear and no 
centre diff. I have no records which show that the sport-q ever used 
a tor*en in competition as a centre diff. But the S1 is a different 
story.
>From what I read and heard the S1 was run with the following 
configurations:
front: VC
rear: conventional LSD or VC or tor*en
centre: VC and a split torque center diff on gravel stages and a 
tor*en on asphalt stages and a Porsche 959 multi-clutch centre diff
at the 1985 1000 Lakes
At the 1985 SanRemo the rumours are that Walter Roehrl used a tor*en 
center diff in his winning S1 and a variable multi-clutch Porsche 959 
system has been used on the 85 1000 Lakes rally. The 959 centre 
clutch should not be confused with the PDK gear box which had the 
main function of being able to change gears under full throttle.
Other sources say that with the introduction of the 6 speed gear box 
variable torque split center diffs were used for the first time. Not 
sure if the sport-q ever run a six speed box though.
Another data point in the never ending tor*en debate from the 
"father" of the quattro system Jorg Bensinger quoted from an Autocar 
& Motor article 6 Sept.1989
" Bensinger elaborates: The tor*en diff feeds more torque to the 
output that is spinning more slowly,so,when cornering,mote torque 
goes to the rear wheels. It reacts before you can even measure a 
speed difference, so on snow the car will go straight into 
understeer. With a fixed 50/50 split, sometimes the front wheels will 
spin so you get initial understeer then oversteer,which is less 
controllable.
>From the very beginning we looked at all 4wd forms available , 
including viscous couplings, before opting for a 50/50 centre 
differential and manual diff locks. Had we known about the tor*en 
diff then, it would have been in the orignal Quattro"


Source: various books like the Lewandowski sport-q book, Walter 
Roehrl Biography "Die Sucht nach Perfektion" , Scharnagl Rally-
Jahrbuch 85/86 - 86/87and the best book about the quattro ever: Sieg 
einer Idee by Paul Frere


 
- Hans-Juergen Schneider
'93 S2 Avant 
'89 CQ 20V