Audi Presents the New A4 DTM
The Audi A4 DTM is unveiled to the public on Tuesday within the framework of the official DTM presentation in Hamburg. The two works teams Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest present their new 2004 DTM (German Touring Car Masters) race cars for the first time in their partners’ colours. The two A4 DTM cars of Christian Abt and Tom Kristensen start in the typical yellow outfit of the Hasseröder Brewery. The cars of Mattias Ekström and Martin Tomczyk are painted in metallic-blue and carry the logos of Red Bull and PlayStation 2. The silver A4 cars of Audi Sport Infineon Team Joest race under the “S line” banner of the quattro GmbH. Although the DTM technical regulations allow the engineers very little room for manoeuvre, Audi Sport has managed to develop a DTM touring car that differs in many respects to the competitors’ cars. Furthermore, the team of Audi Motorsport Head Dr Wolfgang Ullrich won the first race against time: The new Audi A4 DTM successfully completed its roll-out just before Christmas and, as a result, earlier than the cars of their rivals. That the A4 DTM, developed under the supervision of Wolfgang Appel (Vehicle Technology), Ulrich Baretzky (Engine Technology) and Stefan Aicher (Technical Project Leader), possesses the necessary genes to follow on in the wheel tracks of the successful R8 sports car project were clearly displayed at the first encounter with the competition: The new Audi touring car topped the time sheets after four days of testing at Estoril (Portugal). “However, only at the season opening Hockenheim race on April 18 will we definitely know where we stand,” qualifies Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. The Audi Sport engineers were able to resource their wealth of information from the touring car days during the A4 DTM car’s development. Much know-how from the successful Audi R8 poured also into the new A4 DTM – particularly concerning the ease of maintenance and handling the car. The rear bodywork, which can be removed and refitted in one piece at the flick of a wrist, numbers among the technical highlights of the A4 DTM. Audi also follows an unconventional route with the air-jack system, which is used during the pit stops. In contrast to other touring cars, the A4 DTM has only one compressed air activated air jack at the front instead of two. Even more extreme than the competition is the driver’s seating position, located as far towards the rear as possible to achieve the optimum weight distribution. The revolutionary LED daytime driving light technology from the new Audi A8 12-cylinder production car is also used in the A4 DTM.
A4 DTM Wallpaper Gallery
|
