By Cam Tait / Thursday, April 11, 2024 / Loading Comments
There’s arguably never been a better time for probate promotions than in the ’80s. Group B can be thanked for a lot of that, with brands desperate to prove their cars are capable of surviving the punishments meted out during the World Rally Championship, which required them to build a handful of road sections to meet the entry requirements. The Lancia Delta S4, Peugeot 205 T16 and Ford RS200 remain among the most iconic cars ever homologated and while they were neither the first nor the last of their breed, few have. We push the limits of functionality of a ‘normal car’ like the rally machines of 4 decades ago.
What’s more, the decade has seen the arrival of technologies that have truly had an impact on the automotive industry as a whole, as opposed to the hyper-complex hybrids that Formula 1 has been offering since 2014. For example, dual charging was first introduced in the Delta S4 and, while not ubiquitous, has been impressed on many VW and Volvo products as a clever way to reduce turbo lag. And while the turbocharger itself was used in road cars long before gold in the rally era, there’s no denying that rallying helped drive its wider adoption. But what literally replaced the game, of course, was all-wheel drive, which became popular through models like the Audi quattro, which we have here.
Admittedly, the quattro wasn’t the first functional car with all-wheel drive (Jensen had beaten the Germans with the FF more than a decade earlier), but the boxy coupe sold in much larger numbers and can boast of revolutionizing the rally scene. . It took 3 wins in its first WRC season in 1981, before winning two drivers’ and constructors’ championships each (not necessarily in the same year) between 1982 and 1984. However, to achieve this he resorted to outrageous tactics, given the superiority of quattro all-wheel drive over the rear-wheel-drive 037 in all asphalt rallies.
Towards the end of the Group B era, Audi’s competitors developed their own all-wheel-drive systems, and Lancia and Peugeot soon won rally races. These were necessarily mid-engined prototypes, while the Quattro remained heavily tied to its road-going counterpart. But even if it wasn’t as pervasive as our fond memories would have us believe, its effect on rallying (and the auto industry in general) is undeniable.
Thankfully, Audi’s rally device (aside from the Sport variant) is much more readily available than many special homologations of the time because it was built in relatively high volume. That said, being an ’80s car, a clever bite of them is a little clunky in the looks. Edges. This example doesn’t, and it looks almost as elegant as it did 40 years ago. And for clever reason: the dealer gradually returned ownership to the bodywork, and the remaining defects had to be repaired before being recovered through the winning bidder. The interior, meanwhile, has been left untouched, except for a Sony CD head unit that doesn’t look too out of place. The Audi brand seats, steering wheel and floor mats are all original, and you can feel the exquisitely worn leather. only in the photos.
The rest of the car was also unchanged, with the wonderfully unorthodox 2. 1-litre turbocharged inline-five engine reaching its original 200hp. Despite having driven 134,600 miles, the car has only racked up 1,000 since 2008 and has been off-road since 2022. As a result, it would possibly take a very small “recommissioning” to get it back up and running, fortunately it already does. It is said to be in “good mechanical condition” as is. The representative value ranges from £32,000 to £34,000, a far cry from the expensive Quattro maximum that has recently been put up for sale. Bidding opens on Sunday.
Discuss All Automotive
Discuss more. . .
Win on Sunday, communicate on Monday.
Not All Cars Are Created Equal
Meet Your Hero Matt Bird in Person
Do you need to get off your chest?
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions. Sometimes, our emails include announcements from our partners. You can unsubscribe at any time.
© 1998 to 2024 CarGurus UK Limited, All Rights Reserved
PistonHeads® is a registered trademark of CarGurus Ireland Limited
CarGurus UK Limited, c/o Legalinx Limited, Floor, 207 Regent St, London W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
This site is through reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy and terms of service apply.
© 1998 to 2024 CarGurus UK Limited, All Rights Reserved
PistonHeads® is a registered trademark of CarGurus Ireland Limited
CarGurus UK Limited, c/o Legalinx Limited, Floor, 207 Regent St, London W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
This site is through reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy and terms of service apply.