Audi Quattro S1, Group B Rally Options

[Jekyll_2005]

Back in the 1980's, the 4-wheel drive Audi Quattro Coupe changed the face of world rallying. The impact was so great that other manufacturers such as Peugoet, Lancia, Ford and Austin-Rover had to go back to the drawing board and develop their own 4-wheel drive cars just to remain competitive.



Audi's 5-cylinder turbocharged supercar had been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1980. It was the first high-performance road car to use a permanent 4-wheel drive system, and it was not long before the Audi engineers at Ingolstadt were looking seriously at a motorsport campaign. In 1979, the FIA had conveniently changed the rule that previously restricted International rallying to 2-wheel drive cars. So after a Summer of development, the competition debut for the Quattro came in the Algarve in the Autumn of 1980. Although the car was blisteringly quick, world rally wins had to wait until the following year.



Public reaction was divided, as the Audi Quattro did not display the spectacular sideways style of the 2-wheel drive rallycars. But vastly better traction and improved predictability under braking meant that from now on the Quattro was going to be the car to beat.
Alongside great Scandinavian drivers such as Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist, Audi also recruited the French driver Michele Mouton, who became the first woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC). By the end of 1982 the Audi team had become World Champions; Mikkola went on to win the Driver's World Championship in 1983, followed by Blomqvist in 1984.



All the time both the car and its 5-cylinder turbocharged engine were the subject of continuous development. Pure power peaked with Audi's short wheelbase Sport S1, a dramatic Kevlar-bodied car with over 500 bhp. In 1987, Walter Rohrl took a very special version (with 598 bhp) to a record-breaking victory in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.



A fatal accident in Portugal in 1988 obliged the FIA to take measures to halt the ever increasing speed of rallycars, and so the World Rally Championship became restricted to more production-based cars. Audi Motorsport then moved its interests on to circuit racing, but the impact that Quattro technology had on the rally scene will never be forgotten.

[Phix]

So sexy and it's this car that makes me want to buy an '80s Quattro.

[Si_GTi]

Legend.

[PandaBeat]

So frozen that I'll have to buy an AUTOart one... in the meantime:

http://www.ymjr.cz/rally05.html

(YES, THAT IS MADE WITH PAPER)

[dukenukem]

my nipples tore through my shirt frozen

[bankE46]

i think we can safely say that all group B rally cars are frozen.

[LoudPipe]

As I've again heard of a lot higher engine output (closer to 700 hp) I'm interested where you got this information. To my knowledge the Sport quattro S1 was the most powerful car of all the Gr.B cars (but not the fastest as the spaceframe cars outhandled it)

Furthermore, Audi started out with the so called ur-quattro in 1980, the short wheelbase Sport quattro followed in '84 and the S1 with the huge wings in '85. Although the big steps in development (for instance massive use of composite materials and 6-speed transmission) the car was outdated, heavy and unreliable and only managed to score one victory. Interestingly the Sport quattro S1 produced more downforce than the F1 cars of the time. According to Hannu Mikkola the car was so grippy it was scary, the faster you drove the more it would grip.

BTW, I found a Sport quattro S1 acceleration test, done by a Finnish car mag



EDIT: BTW I also found an article where they say that the S1 was dynoed directly after the '85 1000 Lakes Rally. The max output was 750hp

[Jekyll_2005]

As I've again heard of a lot higher engine output (closer to 700 hp) I'm interested where you got this information. To my knowledge the Sport quattro S1 was the most powerful car of all the Gr.B cars (but not the fastest as the spaceframe cars outhandled it)

Loudpipe, i think you are thinking of the higher output HillClimb cars, because those DID have massive ammounts of horsepower, i havnt heard anything about 700hp+ Quattro except for the hillClimb ones

[moe89]

Pure Legend that made Audi(and many AWD cars... even though AWD started in the early 1900's by Spyker) what they are today

[soarer]

isnt this car breaking the rules?? because its not a prodution car??

[LoudPipe]

214 were made, out of which 164 were sold to the general public, 19 were factory test mules, 20 were built as rally cars, 5 were built as spare part cars and 6 remain at factory. The spare part cars were rebuilt in 1988 and sold to general public.

[McKhaos]

Just got a boner seeing those pics .
Gonna need some ice to make that go away .