For many of us gearheads, the World Rally Championship (WRC) is a coveted racing series which offers some of the most exciting competition in the automotive world. There are a handful of automakers that dominated the WRC at different times throughout modern history, including Lancia, Mitsubishi, and Toyota. Of course, we also can’t forget Audi, whose quattro all-wheel drive system fundamentally changed rally racing upon its introduction in 1980, and is now seen in evolved form in everything from the A3 to the A8.
Audi
Audi is a German automaker that produces a range of luxury vehicles that combine sporty driving dynamics with the latest technology. Its history goes back over 100 years and includes both production cars and a rich racing heritage.
Founded
1909
Founder
August Horch
Headquarters
Ingolstadt, Germany
Owned By
Volkswagen Group
Current CEO
Gernot Döllner
Along with Audi’s release of the quattro system, it also unveiled the Audi Quattro to go along with it, and to act as a homologation vehicle to meet WRC standards for competition. The original Quattro was unveiled in 1980, but 1984 would see the introduction of another Audi Quattro, except this time, it had a bit more to prove. The model in question was the Audi Sport Quattro, and it was so good, the US granted it a Show or Display certificate, circumventing the usual 25-year import law in some cases.
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The following information sourced from official manufacturer and governmental sites and pertaining to the Audi Sport Quattro and the Show or Display amendment is the latest available at the time of writing.
Roots Which Are Steeped In Rallying
Quick Facts About The 1984 Audi Sport Quattro
Developed to meet homologation standards for Group B rallying
Equipped with a turbocharged inline-five-cylinder motor
Produced just over 300 horsepower
As we touched on just a moment ago, the Audi Quattro was a sensational hit in the WRC. Suddenly, cars such as the Lancia Stratos and the Peugeot 205 T16s, which utilized rear-wheel drive drivetrains, were quickly exiled to obsolescence. Three years after the Ur-Quattro’s (« Ur » meaning « original » in German) debut in the WRC in 1980, Audi unveiled their next all-wheel-drive monster; the Sport Quattro. The model was destined to be a spicy one from the start, as it was meant merely as a homologation vehicle to adhere to Group B rally rules.
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Like the Ur-Quattro, the Sport Quattro came standard with Audi’s famous five-cylinder engine, here with a 2.1L capacity and turbocharging. However, thanks to a litany of tweaks and a whole host of engineers fiddling with things like its primal electronics, the Sport Quattro’s power output was increased by a large margin over the Ur-Quattro’s. The Sport Quattro’s original race-ready iteration, dubbed the A1, debuted in the 1983 Monte Carlo rally, and began to quickly dominate the WRC.
The Sport Quattro was produced for just two years, from 1984 to 1985. Because of its pivotal importance to Audi, the WRC, and the motoring world as a whole, it was granted a Show or Display exemption to the United States Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), a regulatory body that oversees the production, safety, and emissions standards of all automobiles for sale in the United States.
The Road-Going Sport Quattro’s Heart Of Aluminum
While the Sport Quatro and the Ur-Quattro shared a similar engine displacement, the Sport Quattro’s turbocharged mill was beefed-up and much more powerful than the regular one. The Sport Quattro featured an engine block made entirely out of aluminum in order to help save weight and to take advantage of aluminum’s unique heat-dissipation properties. It also sought to combat the nose-heavy handling characteristics typical of Audis with a heavy iron-block I5 engine hung out longitudinally ahead of the front axle.
We take a look at the rest of the Sport Quattro’s detailed specs in the table below:
Engine
2.1L turbo 20-valve I5
Horsepower
302 hp @ 6,700 rpm
Torque
258 lb-ft @ 3,700 rpm
Bore x Stroke
3.12 x 3.40 inches
Compression Ratio
8.0:1
0-60 mph
4.8 seconds
Top Speed
155.3 mph
Curb Weight
2,862 lbs
*Specs courtesy of Audi and Supercars.net
Along with four valves per cylinder and intercooled turbocharging, the Audi Sport Quattro boasted Bosch LH-Jetronic fuel injection at a time when carburetion was still widely regarded as the norm. Its engine was mounted longitudinally. The Ur-Quattro, upon which the Sport Quattro is based, was the first road-going production car to combine a longitudinally-mounted, turbocharged engine with an all-wheel-drive system. Audi placed the engine longitudinally ahead of the front axle, with the transmission immediately behind it and above the differential, enabling the same engine configuration in both FWD and AWD guises.
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Power from the 2.1-liter mill was handled by an Audi-bred six-speed manual transmission at a time when six gears were nearly unheard of in a road car. Audi fashioned the Sport Quattro’s body out of a steel-kevlar combination, which made for a stronger shell while also being lighter. Braking was handled by a set of slotted brake rotors squeezed by four-piston calipers. Reportedly, all of these race-ready improvements culminated in a high original price of 203,850 German Marks in 1984, or about $64,612. These days, that’s about $195,072.89, a pretty penny for a 300-hp road-going rally car.
What Exactly Is A Show Or Display Exemption?
In 1999, the United States Government saw fit to amend its vehicle code to include what would be called a Show or Display exemption. In essence, this allowed certain automobiles which were not originally offered for sale in the American market to be privately imported while also bypassing certain safety and emissions standards that vehicles from other countries or markets are normally subjected to.
The reasoning behind the amendment was to allow these unique cars to be imported due to their perceived significance to the automotive world, be it for heritage purposes, engineering prowess, or exclusivity. Potential vehicles imported under the Show or Display exemption cannot have a model production number that exceeds 500 units. Also, vehicles granted Show or Display status are allowed to drive a maximum of 2,500 miles per year.
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While those guidelines outlined above are, generally, what is to be expected for any vehicle imported under Show or Display, the US Government is able to make changes and tailor each import as they see fit. For example, the US can ban a certain import that was granted Show or Display status from driving on public roads at all. Of course, Show or Display status is moot for vehicles that have passed the 25-year-old mark for importation, as vehicles older than a quarter of a century can be imported without restrictions.
Sources: Audi, Supercars.net, NHTSA.gov.
