Review: Audi Quattro book

8th June 2010

By Anthony Peacock

With the legendary Audi Quattro approaching its 30th birthday, what better way to wallow in a bit of warbling five-cylinder nostalgia than another McKlein bible?

The McKlein range of books needs little introduction to the connoisseur, although your book shelf will not thank you, as they are all weighty tomes.

“I was a fan of the Quattro even before I drove it for the first time,” says Walter Rohrl, so at least in that respect most of us have something in common with the German World Champion.

Thirty years later, that fascination is still there. No other car has shaped and changed rallying more than the turbocharged, four-wheel-drive beast from Ingolstadt.

It was dominant from its World Championship debut, at the 1981 Monte. After only 10 snow-covered kilometres of the first special stage, Hannu Mikkola in the Quattro had caught and passed the helpless Lancia Stratos of Bernard Darniche, the winning combination in 1979.

Superb traction and seemingly limitless power were the keys to its success that made the Quattro legendary and helped Audi to capture the hearts of thousands of fans. Author John Davenport, a former rally co-driver and team manager, experienced that era at first hand and narrates, rally by rally, the complete history of the Audi Quattro. No stone is left unturned: we learn how four-wheel-drive revolutionised the rally world, how Michele Mouton put the fear of God into manhood, and how Walter Rohrl made himself immortal in the Sport Quattro E2. As always in a McKlein publication, it is the photos that crown it.

The world-famous rally photographer Reinhard Klein (who is almost as big a star as Sebastien Loeb in the industry) followed the Quattro revolution around the globe and captured the unique atmosphere of those days in an unforgettable way. In this high-quality, 252-page epic he shows off more than 400 of his most beautiful pictures: some of them previously unpublished. It’s easy to see why he’s the best in the business.

There’s a full description of all the rally cars that Audi made – including some of the more unloved example – and a comprehensive statistic sections.

Just in case you wanted more, there’s even a foreword by Walter Rohrl himself. It’s another highly recommended publication, in the same mould as all the other admirably comprehensive McKlein books. And on the off chance that you don’t enjoy reading it, the book will always double up as a handy offensive weapon.

Available from http://www.rallywebshop.com priced at €49.90 or £44.99.