Audi Quattro

The Audi Quattro is a famous and historically significant road and rally car produced by the German automaker Audi. Notably, it was the first four-wheel drive grand tourer since the Jensen FF of 1966.

It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time, and was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of all-wheel-drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of all-wheel drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was an instant success, winning a rally on its first outing. It won competition after competition for the next two years.

Audi released the original Quattro in 1980, making it both the first car to feature Audi’s quattro four-wheel drive system (hence its name) and the first to mate four wheel drive with a turbocharged engine.

The Audi Sport Quattro was a Quattro program car developed for Group B rallying homologation in 1984, and sold as a production car in limited numbers — it featured a 2.1 L (2133 cc) 20v DOHC engine slightly smaller than that of the Audi Quattro but capable of producing approximately 355 HP (257 kW). The vehicle also featured a different body shell comprising wider arches, wider wheels (eight inches as compared to the Quattro’s seven inch wide wheel rim), the steeper windscreen rake of the Audi 80 (requested by the Audi Sport rally team drivers for improved visibility) and, most noticeably, a 320 mm shorter wheelbase.

The Audi Sport Quattro S1 was introduced in 1985 as an update to the Audi Sport Quattro. The car featured a inline 5-cylinder engine that displaced 2110 cc and produced 444 bhp.

The S1 proved to be an immediate success in the rally circuit, helping Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer win the 1985 San Remo Rally. A modified version of the S1, driven by Michèle Mouton, won the 1985 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, setting a record time in the process.