Appropriately enough, Audi is the Latin word for listen, and in my long motoring career one of the most enduring memories is the sound of the turbo waste-gate chirruping as the mighty Audi Quattro rally cars descended on overrun through the forest stages of the RAC Rally in the early eighties. I was a member of a rival team in those days but that didn't detract from the thrill of listening night after night to one of motor sport's most recognisable sound signatures.
The rough and tough Audi Quattro was an Eighties icon. More in-your-face than almost any other mass production car it was a flagship celebration of Audi's Volkswagen-inspired recovery from the near anonymity of Auto Union days when Mercedes/Daimler-Benz were running the outfit. But the origin of the legendary Quattro lies amidst the pot-pouri of German automotive history.
The origin of the Audi marque arose from a dispute between August Horch, builder of luxury motor cars, and his fellow board members nearly ninety years ago. In 1909 Hr Horch left the company bearing his name as set up down the road using the name Audi which, in Latin, has more or less the same meaning as the German word Horch. Eventually both companies, along with Wanderer and DKW became part of Auto Union. Meanwhile Ferdinand Porsche was building his reputation at Daimler and later within the Auto Union Group which eventually led to a 'phone call from Mr Hilter and the Porsche 60 which soon became the KdF-Wagen (Kraft durch Fruede or Strength Through Joy) and the rest, as they say, is history.
In an earlier life Porsche had been tinkering with electric-hub two and four-wheel drive and had walked off with so many hill-climbing trophies that they changed the rules to exclude him. Some seventy years later his grandson, Dr. Ferdinand Piech, in his capacity as the Audi board member responsible for Research and Development, gave the go-ahead for a prototype four-wheel drive car on a sports chassis. He had earlier led the Porsche design team responsible for the legendary 12-cylinder Porsche 917, a theme to which Volkswagen have recently returned with the unveiling of a W12 (2 x VR6 engines) roadster. The Quattro concept was, to many people, the best thing since sliced Knockwurst which is perhaps why selfsame Dr Piech. is now the Chairman of the whole VAG empire.
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