AUDI QUATTRO

Audi's Quattro is a legend that re-wrote the form book in International Rallying, as well as causing rival manufacturers to rethink their offerings and was, quite literally, a trailblazer. The story began with Audi chassis engineer Jorg Bensinger, who spent a Finnish winter testing the Volkswagen Iltis - a four-wheel drive West German military and forest service vehicle - and found it could outperform all other machines on snow, whatever their type or power output. He put the idea of a four-wheel drive version of the Audi 80 Coupé to the company's hierarchy and, well, you know the rest. The resulting model was launched to great excitement at the 1980 Geneva Salon and then released to European customers later the same year powered, initially by the WR, 2144cc in-line, five-cylinder, 10-valve SOHC unit with turbocharger and intercooler.

Whilst the engineering is pure-Teutonic, the styling was overseen by Yorkshireman Martin Smith who was tasked with turning the elegant but mundane Coupe into the distinctive, flared-arched Quattro charger. This was the first time the mass car market had been introduced to the intoxicating combination of turbo power and four-wheel drive, and the results were spectacular. The road-going Quattro was clearly a success for Audi, with nearly 11,500 cars produced, but it was as a world-beating rally car that the model really gained its fearsome reputation. Throughout the early 1980s until the end of the 'Group B' era, Quattro variants won 23 WRC rallies at the hands of rally legends Michèle Mouton, Hannu Mikkola, Walter Rӧrhl and Stig Blomqvist including two world championships and twice championship runners up.