Audi Quattro New Model
Four-wheel drive in a passenger car is no surprise now, but 40 years ago, all-wheel drive was considered the lot of serious SUVs. However, Audi thought differently, and in 1980 the first mass-produced Ur-quattro passenger car with all-wheel drive saw the light of day. From that car, the development of the ideas of a passenger all-wheel drive began. And the quattro transmission has been perfected for 40 years, bringing Audi new victories – in races and in the global automotive market. We suggest following this path in four chapters of our story – by the number of drive wheels in the quattro drive!
The birth of a quattro legend
The history of quattro all-wheel drive began with a simple and functional, like a Swiss knife, Volkswagen Iltis SUV. In 1977, this car with an engine power of only 75 hp. and a fully independent suspension of all wheels was developed for the German Bundeswehr. But a number of ideas embedded in it, the engineers from Audi decided to translate into a project of a powerful sports car with all-wheel drive.
In the autumn of 1977, the first prototype, built on the basis of a conventional Audi 80, began to roll test kilometers. But it’s one thing to come up with a cool idea, and quite another to prove its promise to management. And the engineers Ferdinand Piech and Jörg Benzinger went for broke. At the beginning of 1978, in front of the concern’s bosses, a prototype on summer tires easily took the icy 33% climb of the Turracher Hoe in the Alps – previously no passenger car had been able to do this. After that, the project was finally given the green light.
A year later, when the project took on a serial shape, another prototype appeared – Allrad A2, built on the basis of the Audi 80 B2 sedan. It was also tested in real operation: for a week the car was handed over to the wife of Ernst Fiala, a member of the board of directors of Volkswagen. Frau Fial complained about “jumping and jerking the car when parking” – and this contributed to the refinement of consumer qualities.
At the Geneva Motor Show in 1980, the serial Audi Ur-quattro was presented to the public. The name was invented by the German engineer Walter Treser, who founded his own tuning studio in the future. “Ur” in this case is translated as “original”, and “quattro” as “four”. This term subsequently began to denote all all-wheel drive versions of Audi cars.
Ur-quattro was a two-door four-seater coupe with all-wheel drive and a five-cylinder turbo engine. And this car was destined to start a glorious history of racing and production Audi with quattro transmission.
quattro success secret
Many are wondering – what is so outstanding about the quattro all-wheel drive? Its work is based on the principle of maximum manufacturability, coupled with excellent characteristics of reliability and endurance.
The earliest Audi quattro cars used an all-wheel drive transmission, in which the torque was distributed between the axles in a ratio of 50:50. The front, rear and center differentials were open, but if necessary, they could all be locked forcibly.
Later versions of the quattro transmission use the famous self-locking center differential of the Torsen type, which became its basis for many years, – this system is used on vehicles with a longitudinal engine. In the latest generations of the self-blocking quattro, under normal driving conditions, the thrust between the front and rear axles is distributed asymmetrically – in a ratio of 40:60. This is done for the sake of gambling, sports handling. For confident movement on slippery surfaces, the moment can be automatically redistributed – up to 70% of traction on the front axle and up to 85% on the rear.
The most modern all-wheel drive variant for Audi vehicles with longitudinal combustion engines is called quattro ultra. “Self-block” here is replaced by friction and cam electromechanical clutches. They instantly (reaction time – 0.2 s) react to changes in road conditions, redistributing the moment. Under normal conditions, it is possible to completely disable the rear axle, which saves up to 0.3 l / 100 km.
As for Audi with a transverse engine, they received their own version of the quattro transmission in the late 90s. Its basis was an electronically controlled hydraulic multi-plate clutch, which allows redistributing torque between the axles. When driving on a dry road, almost all traction (up to 95%) falls on the front wheels, but when they slip, up to half of the moment can be sent back.
The hydraulic clutch transmission on the Audi R8 mid-engined coupe stands apart. The clutch itself is mounted on the front axle differential here. For better handling and stability at high speeds, up to 50% of traction can be transferred to the front axle, and all 100% to the rear axle. Under normal conditions, the moment is distributed in a ratio of 15:85 between the front and rear axles.
