Audi Sport competes in a number of racing classes, together with GT2, but it surely hasn’t participated within the World Rally Championship (WRC) for a few years. It is not planning a comeback, both, so a Swedish crew is bringing the Quattro identify again to the beginning grid with a custom-built, rally-ready evolution of the pocket-sized Audi A1 hatchback.
Swedish pilot Mattias Ekström launched the venture on behalf of the EKS JC racing crew he lately shaped. He began with an A1, a four-door metropolis automotive developed largely for the European market. Making ready it for worldwide rallying required gutting the inside, including a full roll cage, and putting in sport seats for the entrance passengers. The pilot faces a three-spoke multi-function steering wheel and a display that gives details about the automotive and its environment, whereas the door panels are made with carbon fiber. Clearly, it is a no-expenses-spared construct.
Outdoors, almost each physique panel was redesigned with racing in thoughts. The entrance bumper is restricted to the rally automotive, the fenders and the quarter panels are punched out, and the roof features an air scoop. The white, yellow, pink, grey, and black livery is a tribute to the unique Quattro race vehicles that dominated the rally scene through the Eighties. We predict the A1 wears this look nicely, particularly as a result of the three vents above its grille are impressed by these on the Quattro Coupe.
The hatchback sounds as imply because it appears to be like because of a turbocharged, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine tuned to develop 263 horsepower. It sends energy to all 4 wheels through a five-speed sequential transmission and, in fact, Audi’s time-tested Quattro all-wheel-drive system. South Africa-based Rally Technic participated within the improvement.
Constructing a rally automotive from scratch is a large endeavor, and the A1 Quattro just isn’t fairly prepared for its competitors debut. It nonetheless must be fine-tuned, first on snow, then on gravel, and at last on tarmac. Emil Bergkvist, a 26-year previous Swedish pilot who’s a former FIA Junior WRC champion, has been chosen because the automotive’s improvement driver.
When it is absolutely dialed in, Ekström’s A1 will probably be eligible to compete within the WRC2 and WRC3 courses, that are assist classes the place up-and-coming younger drivers can achieve expertise earlier than transferring as much as the highest league in WRC. It complies with FIA requirements, so it may be entered in different occasions, too. It is going to begin to race in 2021.
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