Audi 80: First Audi rally car back where it belongs

Audi Tradition has restored an original Audi 80 from 1979!

In preparation for the appearance of the Audi quattro in the World Rally Championship from 1981, a sports department had already been founded at Audi in 1978 in order to gain initial experience. After the first attempts in the German Rally Championship, Audi strengthened its involvement with the new second-generation Audi 80 (B2). Under the then motorsport director, Jürgen Stockmar, this car participated in a total of ten races in the European and World Rally Championships, and achieved respectable finishes. AUDI AG is now proud to present this very same vehicle: Audi Tradition has had the 160 bhp Audi 80 restored, and today it is being handed over.

It is highly interesting to note that this old rally car was restored by the very same company which had previously worked with Audi in 1979 in its rally involvement and which had a team working on the Audi 80 in the German Rally Championship. The customisation company Konrad Schmidt Cadolzburg, today known as sms engineering GmbH, restored the car, which had already had several owners, to its original state. This is the same car in which the driver teams of Harald Demuth/Arwed Fischer and Freddy Kottulinsky/Michael Schwägerl competed in European Rally Championship and selected World Rally Championship races. Demuth finished 6th as early as the 1979 Portuguese Rally, with Kottulinsky coming home in 7th place to complete the outstanding result for the Audi newcomers.

The 1,600 cc engine of this front-wheel-drive model delivers 160 bhp at 7,600 rpm. The Audi 80 rally car clocks a top speed of 205 km/h. A mere four of this model were built at the time. The sporty Audi 80 is now housed in the Audi museum mobile in Ingolstadt. A place on the world’s largest paternoster, which has exhibited cars from Audi’s motorsport history for a few weeks, has been reserved for this model, which paved the way for a spectacular history of rallying success.