Audi has revealed a super-light TT-based concept car for this year’s Worthersee show.
Oodles of carbon fibre knock off some flab
Audi TT GT4 concept
, the TT Ultra Quattro concept has been designed for "minimum weight and maximum sportiness", and showcases weight-saving technologies for possible future production. Audi says the concept "sharpens [the TT's] focus", though this sadly it seems this doesn't have anything to do with pointier scissors or a finer-toothed comb.
Rather, it means the Ultra Quattro will weigh in at 1,111kg – 300kg less than the equivalent series production TT. Carbon fibre predictably plays a big part, with panels and wheels among the components benefitting from is weight saving properties. Other exotic materials feature, including magnesium floor and hinge reinforcements, ceramic front brakes with aluminium calipers, and a titanium exhaust system.
Rather than the TT RS’s burly 2.5-litre five-pot, the Ultra Quattro will use the TTS’s 2.0-litre TFSI unit, boosted to 310hp for a power to weight ratio of 279hp per tonne. As such it'll hit 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds and 173mph flat out. The engine itself also benefits from extensive weight saving, losing 25kg through modified crankcase, crankshaft, balancer shafts, flywheel, sum and even bolts.
Interior parts have been on a diet, too
Audi’s also using the TT Ultra Quattro to show off its new fibreglass-reinforced polymer springs. These are manufactured by using long glass fibre cords, twisted together and impregnated with epoxy resin, reinforced by additional fibres wrapped around the core at alternating angles of plus and minus 45 degrees. The new springs, says Audi, cut weight by 40 per cent while “still permitting good operating characteristics."
The TT Ultra Quattro will make its debut at the Worthersee show, where Audi will also be showing off examples of the Sport Quattro S1 and the R18 E-TronQuattro, alongside a selection of other RS models and thoroughbred racers in order to give showgoers "another taste of sportiness". Sounds delicious.