Audi Sport Quattro

About this model

In 1979, the FISA legalised all-wheel drive for rallying, and, just a year later, Audi began dominating with its prototype quattro. Combining a powerful turbocharged five-cylinder engine with a revolutionary all-wheel drive system, it seemed like a potent pairing to say the least. However, Audi struggled to get the systems working reliably. The quattro was, in fact, slower than the contemporary RWD cars in tarmac rallies, mainly due to catastrophic understeer issues caused by having the engine so far in the front. Its transmission was also unreliable, and it had a tendency for its centre differential to stop working many times this would just be removed as a quick fix, but furthermore disrupted the handling as well as engine overheating issues.

Group B was introduced in 1982, and the quattro was a direct transplant from Group 4. In January 1983, Audi re-homologated the quattro (as the A1) to make an advantage from the looser Group B rules. Group B used a 1.4x multiplication factor for forced induction engines, which determined their maximum tyre width and minimum weight, which unfortunately put the quattro (with its 2145cc engine) in the 3000-4000cc class. A few months later, this was fixed with the A2, which had a de-stroked engine (to 2135cc, or the equivalent of 2989cc), and was significantly lighter through the now lighter minimum weight requirements of the 2500-2999cc class.

However, the power and traction advantage wasn’t enough, and the 1983 World Championship title went to Lancia with their Rally 037. Still, it had shown the other manufacturers the potential of all-wheel drive, and the effects were soon shown. After a few refinements, the 1984 season looked promising for Audi, but unfortunately, the more nimble mid-engined Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 utterly dominated the second half of the season. Audi had to do something, and the Sport quattro was their answer.

Audi sought to improve the understeer issue by shortening the wheelbase by 320 mm, which in theory would enhance its turn-in ability and reduce weight at the same time. However, in practice, it actually increased the front weight bias from 60% to 62.1%. The understeer could now be counteracted by some ‘spirited’ driving techniques, but this was no easy feat it was still very present at low speeds. Audi’s drivers had also complained about the glare they received from the front windscreen, so while the chassis was being reconfigured, engineers fixed the front section of the Typ 81 with the rear section of the quattro, which fixed the problem. The engine was also upgraded to a 450 bhp, but in doing so, became extremely ‘peaky’ (all the power was in the high rev range), which made it difficult to drive. This prompted Audi to develop a closer-ratio six-speed manual gearbox until they later adopted the Porsche PDK system.

This new quattro, the ‘S1’, was not very well-received by drivers. Stig Blomqvist, in particular, chose to carry on with the A2, raking up the Driver’s Championship in 1984, with teammate Hannu Mikkola coming in second, earning Audi the Manufacturer’s title. Despite these results, Audi decided to exclusively run the Sport quattros for 1985.

The next season, the 205 T16 was still dominating, and the S1 struggled to match pace, so Audi chose to fit a new aerodynamic package that increased the car’s traction and improve the weight distribution by moving such things as the oil and transmission coolers, alternator and engine radiator to the rear, lowering the front bias to 51%. The five-cylinder also had improved mid-range torque, and together with the deletion of the permanent 50/50 split centre differential and fitting of a variable system, greatly improved drivability. Now dubbed the ‘S1 E2’, this car was significantly faster, but wasn’t enough to prevent Blomqvist from transferring to Peugeot for 1986.

However, this car is not one of those rally machines but is extremely significant in its own right. In order to homologate the Sport quattro for Group B, Audi had to produce 200 units of their race car, of which this car is one of them. In truth, 214 were produced, but the shorter wheelbase, more powerful engine and steeper windscreen of the race car remained. The turbocharged five-cylinder produced 302 bhp, which made it the most powerful ‘homologation special’ Group B car produced for the road. Combine that with shorter front doors, wider wheels and arches and a bodyshell more lavishly splashed with use of composites, and Audi had an instant classic.

At the time of its production, the Sport quattro was the most expensive model in the Audi line-up, costing in the region of 200,000 Deutschmarks. Yet, contemporary media reported it as being a complete handful to drive with terminal understeer and ‘questionable’ handling thanks to the front-heavy weight distribution.