Chris Harris Enlightens With the History of “Quattro”

Contrary to popular belief, Audi did not introduce the Ur-Quattro at the Geneva Motor Show… The company actually introduced the Quattro to journalists at an indoor ice-skating rink near the site of the Geneva Motor Show. That ice-skating rink was the launch pad for a new era in Audi’s history. An era where Audi would win a lot of races.

Even before the Audi Quattro began competing in rallies, it was a winner. Between October 29 and November 2, 1980 at the 44th round of the European Rally Championship in Portugal, as a non-competing course car driven by Hannu Mikkola, the Audi Quattro beat the European Rally’s Portuguese-section winner by a staggering 30 minutes—not 30 seconds as Chris Harris says in the video.

In the next video, watch Chris Harris manhandle the Audi R8 V10 S tronic, and the $440,000 R8 LMS Ultra GT3 around an empty Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit.

These are the first two of six /INSIDE QUATTRO episodes from /DRIVE. We can’t wait for the remaining four.