toovo1985

At this year’s Geneva Motor Show Audi celebrated the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first quattro model. On March 3, 1980 the spotlights at Geneva focused on a new technology that would start a winning streak in motor sport and on ordinary roads. The success keeps going as Audi unwraps the next generation of this technology.

The project started in 1977 with the name “Development Order 262” and had Director Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, Project Manager Walter Treser and Jörg Bensinger , Head of the Chassis Testing, as masterminds. The A1 prototype was first used on a modified first-generation Audi 80 with a slightly elongated wheelbase and the five-cylinder turbo engine.

The all-wheel drive being permanent and functioning without a separate transfer case, and propshaft at the front were the two priority objectives of Audi’s engineers.

Franz Tengler, Head of Department in Transmission Design was responsible for the idea behind the quattro technology. The hollow shaft permitted all-wheel drive that was virtually tension-free, light, compact and efficient and that could not only be used for slow all-terrain vehicles and trucks, but also for sporty, fast passenger cars, and furthermore for volume-produced models.

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Here is a link with 26 recent photos of Walter Röhrl in the Gruppe B Quattro.
These photos were taken as part of a 30th anniversary celebration at Monte Carlo.
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/s...o-1784150.html