Instalación de Tradición Audi en Ingolstadt.

NeverMinds · 20 de Julio del 2007

Merece la pena ver las fotos aun cuando son bastantes, pero se hace un repaso de todos los modelos de Audi a lo largo de su historia, includo prototipos y coches de competición, motos etc.

"Tradition at Audi is more than just a buzzword. Known to be one of the most progressive and forward-thinking brands in the industry, Audi is keen to remind you that it also has a rich heritage of its own. Tasked with that job is a division under that very name. Audi Tradition is charged with exemplifying, maintaining and communicating this history, by finding, restoring and, in some cases, re-creating prime examples of the breed. Their work is best-seen in facilities like Audi’s Museum Mobile or at vintage automotive events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed. However, it is behind the scenes at Audi Tradition’s Ingolstadt headquarters that the clearest sense of magic can be experienced and the family jewels of the four rings can be seen.

Not far from Audi’s corporate headquarters in Ingolstadt, Audi Tradition operates a warehouse utilized for the storage and maintenance of the division’s large collection – numbering more than 300 and continually growing. The building isn’t exactly a secret, with Audi Tradition signage visible from the street and clearly noting that this is most definitely the place. However, the facility is not open to the public, so you’d have to know someone at Audi AG to net a visit.

For us, that someone is Audi Tradition’s press officer Peter Kober. Kober, a former journalist, is a gregarious man who can talk to you for hours about virtually any aspect of Audi’s history. He’s the perfect man for the job and a worthy tour guide, generously giving us his entire afternoon to look around and talk cars.

Walking in the entrance of the building, it’s clear this is not a pretty public display as you will find just blocks away in Audi’s Museum Mobile. While it’s clean enough that you could likely eat Spätzle off the floor. The sight of two Auto Union Silver Arrows (a Type D and a Type C) in various states of servicing makes it apparent that this is a place of work and not a tourist destination.

These fabled silver arrows are even more impressive in their torn-down states – getting a usually unseen image of their innardsthat must have appeared almost otherworldly when Ferdinand Porsche designed them in the 1930s. The effect is awe-inspiring to say the least.

Through the workshop, past the Silver Arrows and two vintage motorcycles on chassis stands, we’re directed down a narrow hallway lined with racks holding set-after-set of vintage wheels. Anyone with a restoration job back at home will salivate, as did this author.

Go past the wheel racks and you enter the first floor of the storage facility. It’s equally spotless in here – the far wall lined with mostly 60s, 70s and 80s era examples of Audis. Near the beginning of the row was a lone red DKW Monza, one of the s..iest sportscars to come out of Auto Union during those early post-war years, prior to Volkswagen ownership and back when the company was still reorganizing.

Moving along, an Audi 100 LS marked one of the earliest Audis to be offered after the company was purchased from Mercedes-Benz by Volkswagen AG. Other early modern-era cars included the small Wolfsburg-built Audi 50 and two Audi 100 S Coupes, the former a precursor to the planned Audi small car, the latter perhaps precursors to the new A5 and S5.

Strolling past these cars, we were stopped in our tracks by three Sport quattros. One of these rare homologation specials, the meanest of the ur Quattro rallying generation, is a very rare sight indeed. A collection of three in one place is almost never seen, but three there were. In particular, t was a black one that set off our enthusiast radar.

What’s so special about this one dark Sport quattro? The story goes that only two black examples were ever built. One was given originally to Ferdinand Piech, while the other belonged to Audi rallying legend Walter Röhrl. We peppered Mr. Kober with questions. “Whose was it?…. probably Piech’s. Maybe he keeps it here.”

Peter hadn’t noticed the car before, but was kind enough to call his colleagues on his mobile phone to find out the story on the car. As it turns out, there may now be three black Sport quattros. Black was not this car’s original color. It had been repainted by Audi Tradition more recently. Alas, it may not have been one of the two, but it was still an impressive sight.

Opposite these cars sat several racing legends from Audi’s past and a lone NSU TT.

The red NSU was parked near thoroughbreds like a long-wheelbase ur Quattro A2 rally car, 90 STW touring car, A4 quattro STW touring car, 200 quattro Trans Am racer, V8 DTM racer and the closed-top R8C from the company’s first year at Le Mans – all well-known former four-ringed racers

One car that grabbed our attention was a two-door Audi 80 touring car, which had recently been restored. The car made its debut this past year at Techno Classica in Essen, Germany and exemplifies the less-known modern pre-quattro racing days at Audi.

At the end of the first floor, several pre-war era cars were also parked. These ranged from the small and light DKW F5 Roadster in red and black paint to the recently restored olive-green Audi Type R, a Horch 830 and one of Audi Tradition’s sultry Horch 670 Sport Cabriolets in navy blue.

Then, a treat for the most enthusiastic, an area of shelves was located just beyond the big pre-war cars. Engine after engine sat on these shelves, spanning a broad range of both age and cylinders.

Peter next ushered us into a car-sized freight elevator for a trip up one level. As the doors swung open on the second floor, more recent Audi concepts sat staring us in the face, reminders of just how good Audi has gotten at delivering true-to-concept production models. There was the Pikes Peak, precursor to the Q7 SUV. Near that was the Roadjet and the second-generation allroad, a concept that lead the way to the production car by the same name. TT enthusiasts would have particularly enjoyed the original silver TT coupe concept car sans rear quarter windows and parked next to the white Sportback design study that basically revealed the design of the second-generation production TT.

The RSQ concept, a prop from the movie iRobot, could be seen in one corner with its spherical wheel covers off, allowing us to peer underneath. How does it look? It’s a secret. If we told you, we’d have to kill yo.

Speaking of movie props, a handsome grey 200 Turbo quattro on three-piece BBS wheels was parked along one wall. It turns out that this particular sedan was used in the James Bond movie The Living Daylights, one of several occurrences of Audi product placements in the British spy movie series."

Editado 20 de Julio del 2007 por NeverMinds

NeverMinds · 20 de Julio del 2007

"On this floor, yet another Sport quattro was housed, along with a second ur Quattro and a host of other 80s and 90s era cars. Among the cars from the 90s were two of the original RS cars, examples of the original Porsche-developed RS2 . One was an extremely clean blue example of a production RS2 Avant, while the other is a one-off black sedan prototype that was never put into series production. Near the 4-door RS2 study was another prototype from that time – a yellow Coupe S2 with a never-manufactured 4-wheel steering mechanism.

Audi Tradition’s extensive motorcycle collection is also housed on the second floor. The defunct NSU and DKW brands, both part of Audi’s heritage, had a rich bicycle and motorcycle heritage, having produced and raced all sorts of two-wheeled offerings. Numerous examples from both marques were found clustered on one side of the floor, along with a singular Audi motorcycle – a design study finished in metallic bronze from the 1970s that utilized the 4-cylinder engine from an Audi 50.

As with the first floor, pre-war cars were again located on the far end of the building on this level. Perhaps one of the rarest on the floor was the sole remaining Audi Type B. While certainly not the most elegant, the more basic-designed and now fully-restored Type B was originally discovered most-romantically in a German barn. Now the car is pristine, parked on one side of the aisle, while its original body sits in the center of the floor on a pallet. Having been used for measurements in the restoration, Kober explained that Audi Tradition wanted to preserve this original piece of history and has kept the somewhat tattered piece as part of the collection.

An interesting comparison, Audi had the Horch 930 S Streamline concept from the 1939 Berlin Motor Show parked next to a matching Horch 930 sedan. While the cars may have shared a chassis, the futuristic look of the S shows how the shape of traditional pre-war cars like the production Horch was about to extensively change.

In addition to vintage cars, racecars, concepts and prototypes, you might also spot several nondescript-looking recent production models in the mix. We inquired about the significance of these cars with Peter and he explained that they mark a production milestone, and are added to the collection.

What we found in the Audi Tradition facility in Ingolstadt is just a portion of the company’s vast collection. Cars can be found on loan to other museums, being campaigned at vintage events or on loan to one of the various Audi Forums around the world. At any given time, what is found in storage in this warehouse a few streets back from Audi’s Ingolstadt factory might be completely different. All the better for a return trip then – that is, if Peter Kober is willing to generously give up another work day in order to show us around."

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