When Lancia and Peugeot threatened Audi’s early-’80s rallying dominance, a secret plan was hatched to build a new car. But one photo was all it took to stop the mid-engined Quattro in its tracks...
bosses were deeply displeased to discover a new rally car was being developed without their consent and within 48 hours of the photo appearing in print Ferdinand Piëch personally saw to the destruction of everything relating to the mid-engined Quattro project. Some reports claim Piëch knew nothing of this car before the Austrian magazine scoop.
But that didn’t quite happen. In the 1990s the car you see here was unearthed in the bowels of an Audi facility. It’s not one of the original pair of mid-engined prototypes – they looked like Ur-Quattros but with air intakes behind the doors and stubbier overhangs – and nor was it aimed at Group B rallying.
When this crudely made proof-of-concept was exhumed, it was dusted off and rolled into Audi’s museum where it remained as a static exhibit until 2016, when the company’s heritage division got its five-cylinder engine running again. Since then this wonderful curio has been brought out to play in the hands of ex-works drivers Hannu Mikkola and Walter Röhrl, the very men who could have used it to win world championships if only management had been open to the idea of a mid-engined Quattro.
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