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If Ur quattros are desirable, then a quattro Sport is something to rob banks for. This shortened, more powerful version was developed primarily for motor sport, but 214 were built, 164 of them being sold to the public.

We wondered whether any of these cars were still in the hands of their original owners.

It would be interesting to know where they are now.

One of the biggest problems about driving the Ur-quattro in rallies was its lack of agility. The relatively long wheelbase and the big front overhang were features which sometimes had drivers reversing to negotiate tight corners; and visibility over the long bonnet was never good.

When we talked to Walter Treser several years ago, he told us that three options for dealing with this were discussed. One was to put the engine in the centre of the car and give it a short bonnet; the second, which he favoured, was to put the engine in the rear; the third, and simplest, solution was to keep the engine where it was and cut a chunk out of the middle of the car.

Audi was keen to maintain the road car image of the quattro and this was one factor in choosing the third option.

Shortening the wheelbase by 400mm was tried initially, but this was found to be too short and, eventually, a reduction of 320mm was decided on, most of the
chop being evident by the lack of rear legroom. At the same time, the wind-screen from the Audi 80, with its less-pronounced rake, was used to provide better visibility in difficult driving conditions and this, inevitably, required the use of doors from the 80.

Although the introduction of the shorter quattro was motivated by the need to provide a more effective competition car, a minimum of 200 had to be built for road use to ensure its homologation. In all, 214 were built, 164 being sold to the public. It was christened the Audi quattro Sport, not, as is sometimes thought, the Sport quattro.

Although the visual emphasis is on the shorter wheelbase and the more upright screen, it is the engine which is of prime importance.

Dr Fritz Indra had been recruited by Audi from Alpina in 1979 and the first job given to him by Audi boss Ferdinand Piech was the development of a light, alloy cylinder block for the five-pot engine. This had been used from 1982 and, for the Sport, a four-valve, crossflow head was developed. At the same time, the engineers were developing the four-valve head for the engine which would power the Golf and Scirocco l6Vs. One difference was that hydraulic tappets were designed into the Volkswagen engine for service reasons, while the Sport used conventional, adjustable valve gear.

The 28mm exhaust valves were parallel to the cylinder block centre line, while the 32mm inlet valves were angled outwards by 25 degrees. The exhaust camshaft was driven off the crankshaft by a toothed belt and transmitted drive to the inlet camshaft by means of a pair of helical gears at the same end as the belt. This is unlike the Volkswagen version, which used a chain-drive between the camshafts rather than gears.

The massive intercooler was manufactured by Langerer and Reich and had the same dimensions as that of the 1983 rally quattros. Air which was heated, to 140 C at maximum boost was cooled to 60. The cast exhaust manifold, which, under the rules of the time, could not be altered for competition purposes, had to be designed to cope with a possible 450bhp rather than the 300bhp of the road. cars.

Displacement of the Sport engine is 2133cc and, with a compression ratio of 8.0:1, power output was 300bhp (220kw) at 6500rpm. Maximum torque was 2431b-ft (330Nm) at 4500rpm. Maximum, boost from the KKK-K27 turbocharger was 1.2 bar and 98 RON fuel was essential.

The styling of the quattro Sport was entrusted to Peter Birtwhistle, an English designer working for Audi, and the bumpers, roof, front and rear aprons and wings were constructed from a glass and Kevlar-reinforced composite. The bonnet and boot lid were made of glass-reinforced resin. Overall weight was about 22001b.

Although the wheelbase had been shortened by 320mm, overall length was only 240mm less than that of the Ur-quattro because the nose was lengthened to accommodate the intercooler.
Track was 95mm wider at the front and 34mm wider at the back than the regular quattro's. The 9x5 Ronal wheels were shod with 235/25 tyres, those on the launch cars being Michelins.

The standard Ur-quattro brakes were clearly inadequate to deal with a 50 per cent increase in power output and gave way to 295x28mm ventilated discs at the front, with four-piston AP calliper's, and the same set-up at the rear, but with an additional handbrake calliper.

When launched, the left-hand-drive-only quattro Sport was listed at just over £51,000 and several went to British enthusiasts (see picture above). It would be interesting to know how many are still in the hands of their original owners.

Eventually, all that development work was translated into a more widely avail-able car, the Ur-quattro 20V. Although the 20-valve engine only developed 220bhp, the work which had gone into the quattro Sport ensured that the engine was so strong that much higher outputs could be extracted, witness the Avant RS2 and the special engines from firms like Nothelle, SMS and MTM.

MCP Motorsport 1999/2000/2001 Last Page Update 10 March 2001