Audi quattro documentary - Part 1 Changing the game

Permanent all wheel drive is synonymous with quattro, as with rally racing, motorsport, and the brand, Audi. In this special episode in the RS5 series, episode 4 is where we dive into the automotive history and legend of Audi’s revolutionary quattro drive system.
Part 2 covers modern quattro systems and more! watch it early here / shop
00:00 Audi quattro introduction
03:29 What does permanent all-wheel drive fee like?
07:31 Audi quattro origins
10:27 quattro goes rally racing
18:32 quattro goes to America
27:32 quattro goes to DTM
32:57 A new era of sports cars
44:40 Extras and Outtakes
How did Audi’s quattro permanent all-wheel drive system become world renown? While most may have looked at Audi as this manufacturer of sensible cars, not a genuine threat in racing, Audi was setting itself up to become one of the most revered competitors in rally and motorsport.
So where did Audi’s quattro system come from?
Like most advanced technology we enjoy today, especially for utility, development comes from the military. In 1978, the Type 183 Volkswagen Iltis, a “Jeep like” amphibious vehicle, was the birth of this highly effective all wheel drive system. Despite the Iltis lacking power, it could conquer a variety of different terrain because it was lightweight and could put power down efficiently.
In the late 1970’s remember 4 wheel drive systems had a transfer case, where you selected 4x4, and the power could be delivered to the front and rear, but without a differential, the wheels rotated at different speeds. Plus, they were heavy and quite large.
For off road, this didn’t really matter because loose surfaces provided slip, and if you were going slow, you could crawl your way through mud, snow, whatever. But on the road, 4 wheel terrifying around corners, and not stable for high speeds.
The vision at Audi, was to make a powerful, lightweight, road going sports car, with the same benefits and handling capabilities that permanent all-wheel drive system could perform offroad.
This was a massive engineering challenge to overcome, and even if they could deliver the tech, for this project to actually succeed, you still need to sell the cars.
Audi goes racing
At first, the sport of rally racing wanted nothing to do with four-wheel drive. You’d think it would be a benefit to have superior grip off road? But no, 4x4 or typical all wheel drive systems required a big, heavy transfer case remember, it didn’t make sense in the context of racing. You need small, fast, lightweight sports cars.
So Audi had 2 big challenges, 1 design a more efficient all-wheel drive system for a road going passenger car, and 2 get the rules changed so that they could compete in rally.
The birth of a new division, Audi Sport, and the debut of the ur- Quattro, or original Quattro, was a landmark occasion for the brand and the sport or motor racing. From the competitor’s point of view, Audi was new to the game, and they were never looked at as anything to worry about.
Read the full article on our website here www.whybuyglb.com/project/198...
Curious about what modern quattro you should buy today? Watch Part 2 here / shop

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