General Features
The Unfair Advantage: Round 2 Part 1
By by: George Achorn
Apr 17, 2002, 22:13

Part 1

The Audi A4 Quattro's Domination of Touring Car
In 1995, Audi was coming to market with an all new entry-level sedan to replace the aging 90. Based on the new VW Group corporate B5 chassis, the A4 offered many technical improvements over its predecessor. The sedan would spearhead not only a new nomenclature for Audi automobiles, but also a rebirth of the brand worldwide. Understandably, marketing the new car effectively was key.

The theory was simple. Success on the racetrack helps promote product, which boosts sales in the dealership. With the new A4 sedan, Audi decided upon promotion via the numerous FIA (Federation Internationale De L'Automobile) “Super Touring” 2-liter touring car championships throughout Europe and other markets. Though Audi had been campaigning the 90 sedan previously in the German series, the new A4 would venture out into other TOCA series throughout the world.

The Super Touring (TOCA) Format
The FIA 2-Liter Super Touring format is an intriguing concept for racing fans and marketers alike. The excitement of the series is upheld due to carefully written rules by the FIA in order to make sure that no one maker gains too much success over their competitors.

Regulations state that any four-door sedan with a minimum length of 4.2meters can be entered with an identical body shell of which 25,000 have been built for the public. Engines are limited to 2-liter non-turbocharged units of currently 4 or 5 cylinders and powered through a maximum of six forward gears. Suspension must be the same type as the road car, and there are minimum weights for cars depending on whether they are front, rear or all-wheel-drive.

In the past, 6-cylinder engines have also been permitted. BMW ran a 2-liter M3 dohc 6-cylinder with a modified crank to get displacement down to the 2-liter limit. And, while most teams run a sequential transmission, the regulations also allowed BMW the flexibility to run a conventional manual transmission.

Though the FIA does stipulate that 25,000 units of a production version are built for the public, true homologation is not necessary for the series. Unfortunately, unlike the homologated Audi Sport Quattro Group B rally car, Audiphiles will never be blessed with a super-limited run of street-legal A4 Super Touring models equipped with 19” OZ wheels and 6-speed sequential transmission.

Each event is made up of two rounds of racing. The Sprint Race is a shorter length race while the Feature Race is twice as long. During the Feature Race, each competitor is subject to one mandatory pit stop between 15% and 70% of the total distance to change at least two wheels and tires.

Qualifying takes place at two sessions prior to each event. The first 30-minute session sets the grid for the Feature Race. The second session is a One-Shot Showdown, where each driver uses a single timed lap to qualify for the Sprint Race starting grid.

Tires must be TOCA approved in order to be used in the events. If one tire manufacturer supplies the factory teams, it must make the tires available to all competitors. Each tire company is permitted to supply a maximum of three tire compounds of slick/dry-weather tires at each event. Each car is limited to the use of only six slick/dry-weather tires per round.

Until the 1998 season, the series was open to all sedans, including those equipped with all-wheel-drive. This acceptance of drivetrain provided eligibility for virtually all mass-market manufacturers from Honda to BMW. Such competition led the series to a massive fan following, second only to Formula 1 in Europe.

Series based on the TOCA model have offered high excitement for fans. Action within the races is plentiful as top drivers of evenly matched machines try to outpace and out maneuver each other, creating quite a spectacle for those watching the race.

TOCA racing is very close. It is common for the top ten cars on the starting grid to be separated by no more than one second. One mistake during qualification can cost the errant driver several positions on the start.

Because of the tight proximity during racing, it is very common for cars to swap paint and lose various body panels. Fantastic wrecks can and do happen amidst such tight racing, lending even more to the experience.

Perhaps the most important factor in the emergence of the FIA's Super Touring format as the premier touring car category is that the cars are dead ringers for the common sedans most people drive to work every day. The limited aerodynamic modifications maintain the extreme similarity in appearance to their production equivalents.



The A4 Takes TOCA
For the 1995 season, Audi entered its new A4 quattro where the all-wheel-drive Audis and rear-wheel-drive BMWs dominated the top positions. This raised many complaints from other teams fielding front-wheel-drive cars. All season Audi won repeatedly throughout most of the series, with BMW finishing in a close second continuously. Team driver, Frank Biela dominated, eventually taking home the 1995 Super Touring World Cup.

To further capitalize, two cars were entered into the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), piloted by UK native John Bintcliffe and world champion, Frank Biela. While many teams in the British field were run by outside contractors, Audi chose to go it alone creating Audi Sport, UK and placed John Wickham, ex-Footwork F1 team manager, at the head of the British franchise.

Audi did enter negotiations with Paul Stewart Racing in 1995 for a British campaign, but fell back on the philosophy that if an Audi fails, which should never happen, the responsibility lies with Audi.

In Germany, Audi continued their campaign with a four-car lineup. Tamara Vidali, Yvan Muller, Phillip Peter and Emanuele Pirro all fielded factory cars in the STW series.

Female Audiphiles should note Tamara Vidali's presence on the German Audi factory team. Audi has a history of prominent and successful women drivers, including Michelle Mouton and co-driver Fabrizia Pons, who piloted Audi Quattro rally cars in the ‘80's.

During the 1996 season, Audi's corps of quattro racecars again dominated the opposition in all seven Super Touring series in which they competed, taking home an astounding 95% of Touring Car titles worldwide. In Germany, Emanuele Pirro took the STW-Cup. Frank Biela won top honors in the British Touring Car Championship and Rinaldo Capello won the Italian Touring Car Championship. The other Audi championship wins included Belgium, South Africa, Australia and Spain. It should be mentioned that this feat was accomplished despite the added weight handicap over front-wheel-drive competitors of roughly a passenger and luggage.

Audi's performance in the BTCC was no exception. Frank Biela dominated all season and was so formidable in his yellow-mirrored A4 quattro that he received criticism whether he won or lost. If Audi Sport UK's ace driver won a race, rivals attributed his success to the car's superior quattro system. If he lost, other racers would accuse him of intentionally running slower or “sandbagging” to delay the inevitable weight penalties that came with dominance and success.

The quattro system allowed Biela to perform miracles on the track. In wet weather, the quattros completely dominated with their improved traction. This increase traction also allowed for braking much later into turns allowing for increased mid-corner stability. Incredible standing starts allowed Biela to perform maneuvers like converting an eighth position on the starting grid to a third place position in one fast start.

Stories of Audi's silver flyers from the 1996 season performing feats almost unbelievable during the 1996 season aren't that rare, but perhaps one of the most spectacular of all the tales happened at the BTCC event at Thruxton.



Frank Biela started at the rear of the pack and with a 10-second time penalty. His quattro had been rebuilt after a fairly serious wreck during qualifying, and he was suffering from slight injury to his neck. Nevertheless, he fought his way through the ranks of drivers and went on to claim third place.

Though they may have sounded unbeatable, the A4s had their weaknesses. The increase friction of the quattro drivetrain took its toll at very high speeds. Weight penalties imposed on the cars added to this weakness. On long straights, the Audis had a hard time keeping pace.

Due to their 1996 success, Audi began the 1997 season with an additional 95kg weight penalty to aid in making the all-wheel-drive cars more competitive with their less dominant rivals. The Audi team cars dropped back in the standings considerably, resulting in a choice by the FIA to lift the penalty later that season but all-wheel-drive would eventually be banned by the FIA governing body in France for 1998.

It would appear that Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system had again become an “unfair advantage” as it had for other Audi Sport endeavors in the 1980's. Even without the added weight penalty the A4 quattro touring car weighed in at 1040kg vs. the 975kg weight of its front-wheel-drive rivals. The results of their winnings clearly show the advantage bestowed on the cars via Audi's famed quattro all-wheel-drive system.

Many other manufacturers complained about the dominating aspect of all-wheel-drive over the more popularly used front-wheel-drive TOCA cars. What is less known is that both Ford and Nissan experimented with all-wheel-drive variations of their own Mondeo and Primera models for the German Super Touring Cup but were unsuccessful. This proved that it wasn't just all-wheel-drive that provided the advantage, but also Audi's careful engineering and years of experience with quattro's use in motorsport.

Audi has fought the FIA's ban on all-wheel-drive vehemently. Currently, Audi and BMW are the only cars competing with a longitudinally (north-south) mounted engine.

Cars with transversely (east-west) mounted powerplants benefit from a lower positioning of the engine. With the transverse layout, the engine appears almost beneath the feet of the driver. This positioning offers a lower center of gravity that also aids in improved handling. The Audi longitudinal setup places the engine significantly higher and further forward than the tilted and lowered transversely mounted rivals do.

In an effort to evaluate further participation with the ban on quattro, Audi chose to run a single front-wheel-drive A4 racecar in the German STW (Super Touring Wagen) Cup. Then in 1998, Audi had a dismal season backing front-wheel-drive versions of the A4 touring car, which was partially due to the loss of quattro and partially due to finally making the change from Dunlop tires to Michelins with which they had little racing experience.

This has lead to the pull out of most factory-backed teams in the Touring Car format worldwide with the exception of Australia.

Privateer teams continue to carry the torch for the Audiphiles. In addition, most of the series have allowed the return of all-wheel-drive. Unfortunately it may already be too late for a major return by Audi to TOCA. The A4's own production cycle is quite mature, and it is rumored that the A4's replacement will be larger in size. In the meantime, sister brands SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen have all recently introduced new sedans based on the corporate A-chassis, which could also benefit from motorsport involvement. Further, the Bora TDI-R endurance racer has successfully competed in several events and just happens to be built very closely to a TOCA spec racecar.

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