Background
The Quattro rally car was homologated on the 1st January 1981 and unfortunately its debut in the World Rally Championship was a mixed affair, with both cars retiring. At the point of his retirement Hannu Mikkola had a lead of over six minutes, demonstrating that it was only a matter of time before the wins would come. Highlights of the year for Audi were Michelle Mouton’s win on the San Remo Rally, which secured her place in the record books as the first woman to win a round of the World Rally Championship, followed by the utter dominance of Hannu Mikkola on the RAC rally, when he brought home the Quattro some 21 minutes ahead of the 1981 World Champion Ari Vatanen’s Ford Escort.
1983 saw the Quattro modified to Group B regulations, with the first incarnation being the A1 launched in January. The A2 followed shortly afterwards and saw the engine capacity reduced from 2,144 cc to 2,109cc, which meant that the Quattro could compete in the up to 3 ltr class (after the turbo factoring was taken into account) and so benefit from a reduction of 140kgs in minimum car weight.
1984 saw the introduction of the Sport Quattro (commonly abbreviated to S1), which was a shortened version of the A2.
This Car
Was built in 1984 by Audi Sport, Germany and is the last works long wheelbase ever to compete as a factory entry on the world rally championship before the S1s were used exclusively.
After its Audi Sport life, it was purchased directly from Audi by BAT via its HB arm to become one of the two Quattro’s that formed the 555 team for the HK-Beijing rallies managed by Andy Dawson. The car and a massive number of spares were sent to DAD workshop, where the car was completely rebuilt.
This car is also the last Quattro to compete in a FIA World Rally Championship, as the Indonesia International Rally was the last FIA rally to allow Group B cars to compete)
Purchased by top Indonesian Rally Driver Ledi Kunardi, at the 1986 Indonesia Rally finishing line, the car competed in 2 events before being stored for 2 years in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Then in 1989 the car was purchased by its current owner from Ledi Kunardi and used on a limited number of national rallies in Indonesia and Philippines with very limited success as no local rally team could correctly maintain and prepare the car. In 1991 the car was sent to UK directly to Andy Dawson’s workshop, where the car was re-commissioned back to full working condition.
Technical Specification
Engine: 2.1ltr 5-cylinder 20 valve turbo charged
Fuel system: Multi point fuel injection.
Transmission: 4WD 5 speed
BHP: 370