1985 Audi Quattro E2

Simply put, when the Audi Quattro appeared, it immediately had its detractors. The immense power output with much of the weight at the front looked impossible to take seriously. Then it ran, and the detractors quickly went quiet. It was indeed a beast of a car to drive, but it became arguably the most attention-getting and revered rally car of all time.

Back in that period, I was on the press waiting list to try a sporting version of the new Quattro. My turn never came, as the cars were damaged by journalists almost every time they went out on loan. They were truly difficult cars to manage, so now through the good offices of Audi UK and Lord March, the Goodwood Media Day would provide my first chance to see how much of the legend was truth and how much myth. I’ve always had trouble getting used to serious rally cars because they all insist on being driven 11/10ths from the off…I found this with the Lancia 037, turbo Fiats and rally Abarths. We at Vintage Racecar drive cars gently and smoothly, and rally cars are allergic to that! This would be a real test.

Audi goes rallying

The rules of rallying, like much of the rest of motorsport, changed frequently over the years. The sport which catered mainly for road-going production vehicles until the mid-1950s began to change, and two major events brought radical changes. First, four-wheel drive was allowed in 1979. Then, in 1997, the homologation rules were altered so that a manufacturer only had to produce twenty cars of a particular model to be homologated. Thus the ultimate rally-spec cars took command. Not everyone agrees that this has been beneficial to competitors or to spectators.

The cars that dominated the sport until the end of the 1970s were the Austin Healey 3000, Saab 96 and V4, Mini Cooper S, Ford Escort Mk1, Lancia Stratos, Ford Escort Mk2 and Fiat 131 Abarth. The Stratos was a real change of approach in the evolution of a more “specialized” rally car.

But at Audi, something very interesting was happening. There was no groundswell of interest in 4WD in rallying at the time, and the only significant car that was 4WD and practical was the Range Rover—hardly a potential competition machine. However, Audi had a development engineer by the name of Jorg Benzinger, and he had a theory that not only could a practical 4WD machine be designed and built, but it could be done well and Audi could do it. Benzinger was part of the Audi/VW effort in the middle of the decade trying to produce military vehicles with a 4WD system. Benzinger was sure he could do more than that, but had very little budget to experiment. He did, however, design a prototype based on the military design—the Iltis—that was adaptable for the current Audi 80 and 100 passenger cars. He found it very difficult to rouse interest in the company until he managed to run a series of demanding winter tests with his prototype. The performance of the Iltis was impressive enough to turn some heads at high levels of the company.

Thus was initiated the development of a road car with potential to become a winning rally machine. Over the next few years, Audi set up a competition department that was also charged with lobbying motorsport’s international sanctioning body, the FIA, until it agreed to legalize 4WD. The new rules said there needed to be 1000 cars built for Group 2 homologation, and 400 for Group 4. Audi had its doubts about being able to sell that many. Eventually they sold 12,000!

At the time, however, Audi kept all these development plans secret, and when they talked to other manufacturers about whether they objected to the admission of 4WD cars into the World Rally Championship, there was no opposition. That was because they all thought Audi was talking about the 75 horsepower Iltis! What appeared at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show, though, was a very purposeful looking machine with an inline 5-cylinder, fuel-injected and turbocharged engine producing between 300 and 360 bhp, with a 5-speed gearbox and permanent 4WD with center, rear and front differentials.

Hannu Mikkola drove the car for the first time in public when the organizers of the late season Algarve Rally let him run it as a course-opening car where his stage times would be recorded. If he had been an official entrant, he would have won by 26 minutes! Mikkola then led the 1981 Monte Carlo Rallye but fell back with numerous problems. In spite of engine problems during the season, and arguments with officials, the Quattro took wins at the Swedish, San Remo and RAC rallies. In 1982, with either  Mikkola, Stig Blomqvist or Michelle Mouton at the wheel, the new car took seven victories and the World Championship for Audi.

When the new rules for Group B came into effect for 1983, the minimum homologation number dropped to 200, and rally cars very quickly began to resemble Grand Prix machines. They were incredibly fast and dangerous. Audi brought out the Quattro A1, whos name recognised its aluminum block. The 2144-cc engine remained, but when multiplied by the turbo coefficient, it had the equivalent of 3003-cc. Thus Audi produced the A2 with a new 2109-cc engine with a turbo equivalent of under three liters. This meant the minimum weight could be 960 kilos rather than 1100. The A1 and the A2 won five events in 1983. Walter Röhrl joined the team for 1984 and he, Mikkola and Blomqvist won six events and the Manufacturers title as Blomqvist won the Drivers title.

Bring on the E2

By late 1984, the A1 and A2 were being caught by the opposition, and the new Peugeot looked to be a very serious threat. Audi then produced a shorter-wheelbase version called the Audi Quattro Sport, now with an engine managing nearly 500 bhp and a 6-speed gearbox. The engine overhang at the front made this an immensely hard car to drive. Though created for tarmac, it had terrible handling and brought one win in 1984 and three 2nd places in 1985. So Audi set to work on a replacement.

It is important to say here that nomenclature for some of these models is slightly confusing. Some people refer to all post-1983 cars as the S1, and some call the 1984 version ether the E1 or S1/E1, some see the 1985 car as S1/E2 or just the E2. The car you see here is a 1985 E2. The E2 had some of the weight moved to the rear, it had huge rear wings and it now had a 2110-cc engine with 550bhp. There were Kevlar body panels and this car weighed in at 1090 kilograms, and it carried an altogether better aerodynamic package.

While it is not easy to be certain exactly how many rally Quattros were built, understanding E2 history is slightly easier as rather few were made before Group B came to an end in 1986. The Audi works record lists 15 identities of cars used in 1985. Of these, five were E2s with another three E2s used in 1986. The cars are identified by registration numbers rather than chassis numbers and “our” test car was IN-NY-18, IN being for Ingolstadt where the cars were built.

Audi generally, and Walter Röhrl particularly, were very unhappy with the results of the 1985 Monte Carlo Rallye. Röhrl and co-driver Christian Geisdorfer were in IN-NM-57 which was very fast indeed, reaching 60 mph in a stunning 2.6 seconds. However, Ari Vatanen in the Peugeot was ultra competitive and Audi made some questionable tire choices. A navigator error made Rohrl drive more spectacularly than usual but he finished 4th while Stig Blomqvist and Bjorn Cederberg were 2nd behind Vatanen in IN-NL-8.

Then Blomqvist and Cederberg were in the car you see here for the Rally of the Thousand Lakes. Blomqvist was optimistic but there was a clear threat from Timo Salonen’s Peugeot 205 T16 which was in superb form. Blomqvist won sixteen of the rally’s 50 stages and was in the top three on 25 other stages. The Quattro was magnificent over the many Finnish “yumps” but it just couldn’t quite beat the Peugeot, so Blomqvist was 2nd. Mikkola had crashed out of the rally in his efforts to be competitive.  Blomqvist then had IN-NY-18 at the Swedish Rallysprint event where the car was unbeatable, and managed to take the only victory of its career.

In the autumn, Röhrl and Geistdörfer were in IN-NM-7 for the San Remo Rally where they simply crushed Salonen in the Peugeot. Röhrl himself explained why the E2 was his favorite rally car:

“There was the sheer power. We had 535bhp for San Remo, and that meant plenty of power anywhere, and at any speed. The 5-cylinder inline engine had this unique sound unlike any other engine, the sound of unlimited power that didn’t exist in any other car. We had a new wastegate for San Remo, which was always blowing off pressure so there were always explosions going off in the countryside. I had not experienced anything like that before. I also felt safe in the E2, which I was very conscious of after the big crash I had the previous year in this event. I knew I would be alright if something big happened in this car.

“For me it was the ultimate driver’s car, a great challenge to handle and to get it moving quickly and to try to keep it balanced. The handling was very difficult because the car was quite short and therefore very nervous. Because the engine was so far forward, it really did not like to go around slow corners. You really had to force it around the corners with left foot braking and swinging the back end out. On very fast corners it was very nice to drive as the weight in the front gave stability. If you went quickly—over 100 kph—you used the big wings and got a lot of downforce onto the road. It was a surprise on the jumps because it would fly much better than expected and the nose didn’t hit the ground first. The weight distribution had been sorted very well so it was spectacular in the air. The real problem was the amount of power and the turbo lag, as the anti-lag system was new. The engine would pull on full boost and generated 535bhp from about 3000rpm. It didn’t matter what you did with the accelerator then. If you lifted you lost all the power, so it was either off or full on. That made it extremely exciting at San Remo.”

The season had not been going well. Brake discs were cracking in testing, and several types were tried. Considerable tire testing had also taken place. The new open center differential would be used on the tarmac stages but not on the gravel stages as it was felt too much torque would break the diff. Röhrl was happy that only one car was going to the Italian event so all the resources could be concentrated on him. Salonen had already won the championship, but from the second day the E2 left him behind, and Peugeot were having uncharacteristic troubles. Henri Toivonen was using an older Lancia 037 as the S4 was not ready, Markku Alen was unhappy with the team and Miki Biasion had numerous mechanical problems, but Röhrl just left them all behind, winning by six and a half minutes, the last Group B rally win for Audi.

Then came the British RAC Rally and Röhrl would be in IN-NY-18 with Phil Short as his navigator, as he was very familiar with the route. The event had a superb entry and it was expected to be a battle between Audi and Peugeot. As it happened, newcomers Rover with the Metro 6R4 fought with the brand-new Lancia Delta S4. Mikkola’s Audi led after the first twenty stages in the tough five-day rally with only one night stop, only to start suffering electronic maladies. By the time Mikkola had gotten into the lead, Röhrl had managed to roll IN-NY-18, and as the event progressed, the Lancias of Toivonen and Alen looked stronger and stronger, and finished 1st and 2nd with one of the Metros in 3rd. Per Eklund in a private, older Audi A2 was fourth.

It was an “almost” season for Audi, and hopes were still high for 1986. In the end they only did three events in the World Championship. When a car killed three spectators in the totally uncontrolled Portuguese Rally, the manufacturers pulled out of the event. Then Henri Toivonen was killed in Corsica and that was the end of Goup B—spectacular but very, very dangerous.

Driving Walter’s car

After the RAC crash, IN-NY-18 was totally rebuilt and became the property of Audi UK, showing up at prestigious events, often with notable Audi pilots behind the wheel. Röhrl himself drove it several times in recent years and the car has been maintained in superb condition.

I don’t think I quite believed it when Audi UK agreed that I should drive the car at Goodwood, perhaps not the best place to try a car with this one’s reputation for the first time. I was all set to take it nice and easy, when two things happened to change the plans. First, Lord March said two very fine stopwatches would go to the car that left the start line in the most spectacular fashion…that put the pressure on a bit. Then Norman Gault, who looks after the car for Audi UK, advised me that there were two ways to drive the car: very slowly without finding out what it was like when the turbo lag stopped and the power came on at something resembling warp speed; or drive it properly as it was done in period! It was at this point that Walter Röhrl’s words came back to me: “it’s either on or it’s off!”

Whereas some of my earlier hairy rally car experiences have been in slightly more private surroundings, this was very public, with a huge press gathering watching every move. And the Quattro managed to be the center of attention—not easy with some of the machinery and celebs Charles March is able to gather for this media day. As I was sizing it up, and learning the controls, Bruno Senna came over for a look. He was driving a historic Lotus F1 car, but was drawn to the Quattro, as was ace rally veteran Jimmy McRae, a great guy, and TV chef and Mini-conductor James Martin. All a bit daunting, and I was pretty certain I would make a mess of getting the car from its parking place down to the start line.

Sitting behind the wheel in this most visceral of machines—at zero mph—is adrenalin-pumping on its own. It’s left-hand drive, of course, and entry is puzzling as the doors weigh…nothing! They are so light they almost don’t register, but the Kevlar panels are tough so there is no feeling of flimsiness. I had Steve Black in the passenger seat with me for the first run. He’s driven the car and would be an excellent guide, and he didn’t look the slightest bit worried. Steve took me through the controls and, of course, this was a pretty technological beast when it first appeared. Much of the control panel is taken up with light switches, hazard and warning lights, wipers and all the various instruments needed on long rallies.

The starting procedure was straightforward: flip the master switch; press the button; don’t touch the accelerator and it ticks over calmly, bringing the engine and all the fluids up to working temperature. A very effective fan kept it all cool enough as we moved up from the back of the queue, awaiting our turn to launch the beast off the line. Norman and Steve reckoned that about 6000 to 6500 would keep it from bogging down as it is quite high-geared. Caution was necessary to avoid riding the clutch and Norman said I would soon find the clutch would be “off or on!” At this point I still hadn’t made the decision about how I would approach the double right-hander at the end of the first tree-lined avenue. I was busy contemplating the temperature and pressure gauges, the boost gauge and numerous other devices—all of them original equipment.

The gearbox is the latest 6-speed plus reverse. I discovered maneuvering out of my parking place that getting reverse by mistake is possible, so that had to be carefully avoided. In fact, the gearbox turned out to be a delight. The only flaw, if you could call it a flaw, is that everything happened so fast you really had to concentrate if you wanted to know what gear you were in. The clutch, in spite of itself, was easy to get used to, and it just required some anticipation to avoid having to use it too often. That out of the way, I considered what was ahead. Norman and Steve warned that you didn’t want to lift the throttle at the wrong moment. If you lifted early, you would just lose revs and would have to build them up again, but if you lifted just as turbo caught up you would go flying into the corner…and go straight.

Hence, when the lights turned green, I saw 6200rpm on the rev counter and released the clutch. Even at those revs it started to bog down so back down went the throttle in a roar of energy and the Quattro exploded off the line. First, second, third and fourth went by in a flash and I had finally decided to lift early for the first corner. Yes, the revs dropped way off, but the lag was not quite as dramatic as expected, and we would have another run to do it quicker. Turning right and going past Goodwood House, it was all flat again, and the yellow and white machine just flew down to the tight left. It was now possible to “goose it along” a bit, threading cautiously past the flint wall on the left, and again lifting early for the next right into the trees before blasting up the rest of the hill.

The words of Walter Röhrl and Steve and Norman had a clearer meaning now; the car is great in a straight line with all that power. With the locked diff and 4WD, it wants to go straight ahead. When the power comes in at about 4500rpm, however, everything happens quicker. So, if you want to keep the power on, it needs to be manhandled quite aggressively round the corner. You do a bit of left-foot braking and sling the back out while keeping the throttle down hard. I was able to do a little practice with this technique on the way back down the hill. For the second run, we opted to trade places so I could sit next to Steve as he put his experience to work. Our time off the line hadn’t been bad, but this time Steve realized we needed a lot more revs…closer to 8000, and this time it really lit up.

It was 1st, 2nd and 3rd, then back down to 2nd for the right-hander, the throttle flat to the floor and Steve using great quantities of opposite lock, the inside right wheel well onto the grass and the whole car bristling with speed as it scrabbled for grip. With the nose straight again, it was just a bullet disappearing into the distance. This was when the light of insight struck: who were those guys who could drive like that for days on end through hundreds and hundreds of special stage miles? The effort was enormous; and what was it like to try it for the first few times? At this point, I highly recommend you now go to YouTube and type “Audi Quattro E2 in a rally” into the box. You will find clips from several big events, and even Walter himself testing with in-car footage. I’m sure you will enjoy it!  I’m still getting over watching the faces of those who come and look in the window to see who is driving.

Oh, we didn’t win the watches. They went to a tail-sliding British Touring Car driver and a Jaguar. However, the Quattro was fastest off the line—three thousandths of a second quicker than one Mika Hakkinen in a brand new super GT car!

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 5-cylinder inline, fuel-injected, turbocharged 4 valves per cylinder

Capacity: 2110-cc

Bore and Stroke: 79.5mm  x  85mm

Compression Ratio: 7.5:1

Power: 550 bhp@7500 rpm

Transmission: 6-speed gearbox and 4-wheel drive

Wheelbase: 2224mm

Weight: 1090 kilograms

Body: 2-door coupe, steel with Kevlar panels

Brakes: Four ventilated discs

Suspension: Independent front and rear, MacPherson struts

Tires: Michelin 225/50ZR-16 front and rear

Resources

Many thanks to Audi UK for the chance to drive this great car, to Norman Gault and Steve Black for their generous help on the day, and to Lord March and Goodwood for making it possible.

Klein, R.(Editor)  Rally Cars  Konemann  Cologne Germany  2000

Robson, G. Quattro – Group B, Sport, Sport S1  Veloce Publishing  Dorchester England  2008