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A very interesting car is the Audi 200 Turbo quattro that was prepared by the French Fred Stalder in 1986 for the
French Productioncar Championship and that auto motor und sport (ams) had the possibility to test-drive.
Not really supported by Audi, rather smiled at, Stalder built the car within three months. In contrast to the works' Type44/D1 the French
utilized a large rear wing and a large skirt in front without a spoiler "board". Although the rules are relatively open, there are some things
forbidden. The conversion to an Aluminium engine block is not allowed due to cost reasons. That led to the fact that Stalder could not
implant the aluminium block of the Sportquattro, So the cast iron block of the standard Audi 200 TQ ctares for a weight on the front axle
of 720kg, while the rear axle must be satisfied with "only" 630kg. So, the weight of 1350kg is -typically for Audi- centered in front.,
but you must say that the French was quite successful in distributing much weight to the rear. The twovalve block is boosted impressively.
Although the inner parts must remain stock (cylinder head, crankshaft and piston rod), the 5cylinde now last three races form revision
to revision. Quite respectable considering the Turbo pressure of 2bar that can be boosted to 2.2bar for training sessions. 520hp at 6200rpm
and 560Nm at 4500rpm are the result with 2.0bar. That the engine can go up to 8200rpm shows that 5cylinder engines can stand
high revolutions.
The result of this courageous racing mission was the win of the championship by driver Xavier Lapeyre. To say it clear: this was the first win of a quattro in a Touringcar series! | |
| The measurement of ams are impressive enough. But they do not show the full potential of the car, as not
Lapeyre drove the car, but an ams editor. More importantly, the circuit was wet. But the quattro drove well enough on slicks. The table on the left translates as follows: watercooled fivecylinder inline engine, longitudinal in front, crankshaft with 6 bearings, overhead camshaft (timing belt driven), turbocharger KKK Type K 27, intercooler. Power 382kW (520PS) at 6200rpm, displacement 2144 cubiccentimeters. bore x stroke 79.5mm x 86.4mm, compression ratio 7.0:1, max. torque 560Nm, max. turbo pressure 2.2bar, max. revolutions 8200rpm. 10km/h are equal to 6.25mph, so: 0 to 37.5mph ........2.2sec 0 to 50mph ...........3.2sec 0 to 62.5mph ........4.2sec 0 to 75mph............5.7sec 0 to 87.5mph.........7.2sec 0 to 100mph..........9.2sec 0 to 112.5mph.......12.2sec |
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The test drive on the damp circuit showed some typical symptoms of a Turbo quattro. At first harmless but if you it the accelerator,
the beast awaks. Lapeyre tells the ams guys: "It is fantastic how early you can step on the throttle in a curve with the allwheel drive."
But he also says:"You have to completely change your driving style. It is difficult to handle an allwheel drive car at the limit.
Where you still have the possibilty of improvistion with a normal drivetrain, you do not have it with the quattro." Indeed the editor had a second of shock. When he steered into a bend he thought he was too quick. So he took his foor from the throttle. The result: The "light" rear axle was further lightened and the car drifted to the outer curve. thank god, the editor remembered the words of Lapeyre never to lift the throttle in a fast curve and stepped back on the throttle. The four wheels have grip immediately and get the giant through the bend. *puh!* I have seen quattro drivers that were not curageous enough i that moment, resulting in heavy crashes.
For 1987 the French planned big things: He wanted to start with the new Audi 80 and a 200, both equipped with the 20V block of the stock
Sportquattro. The new rules would have allowed that. The minimum weight for 87 was raised to 1410kg. But the French wanted to lose even
more kilos to store ballast in the rear, what would result for a well placed center of gravity.
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| The pics get larger when you click on them and are opened in the same window. To return here, hit the "back" button on your browser. | |
| Painted rearview mirrors, cornering abilities and an impressive additional cooling opening. |
| Four doors, much room but only one seat. |
| The interieur is completely naked, except for tghe driver's seat and the impressive safety cage. |
| The pretty large rear wing. Very much larger than that of the DTM cars and wider across the trunk than that of the TranAm 200TQ. |
| The heart of it all. Though only a 10V it has much power. |
Sits a bit lower than your standard 200TQ. | |
