For the love of A: The Audi 90 IMSA GTO

Audi has spent the last 30 odd-years tirelessly working to perfect their Quattro all-wheel drive system in race environments. Along this lengthy and ongoing path of experimentation, several engineering gems have resulted from their efforts. From the infamous age of no (turbo boost) limit Group B Rally racing and the all mighty Audi Quattro S1, to later dominance in the mid-late 90's in Touring Car racing with the Audi A4 Quattro sedan. Audi's Quattro story is still being written, but for this post we'll focus on one of Audi's motorsport marvels which resulted from guidelines set by the IMSA GT Championship in 1989; the Audi 90 IMSA GTO.


Video courtesy of Smatty01.

The Audi 90 IMSA GTO entry was loosely based on the road car of the same name, the Audi 90. Well I guess 'loosely based' isn't fair to say, since they shared the same taillights. This track representative of the Audi factory was built on a tube chassis, coming in at under 2000 lbs, with upwards of 700+ hp from a 2.2 Litre inline five. When this car debuted in the 1989 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GT Championship, it was still a work in progress. After missing the first two races of the season, trial and error got the two car Audi team through the first few events; once the proverbial kinks were worked out, however, domination was an understatement.


Video hosting courtesy of obimeister.

Much like history repeating itself less than a decade later, with the Audi A4 Quattro in the British Touring Car Championship series (albeit after competing in more than a single season in the BTCC), IMSA determined all-wheel drive was an unfair advantage. So Audi's ace drivers Hans-Joachim Stuck and Hurley Haywood, who missed out on the 1989 IMSA GT Championship mainly due to DNFs early in the season, would not get a second chance to do so. It's nice to think of what would've been.

World Events: Our thoughts, prayers and support go out to Japan

For those unaware, sadly a natural disaster, to be specific a historically damaging earthquake and tsunami, have ravaged Japan and surrounding inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately there are many secondary and tertiary issues from these occurrences, including now damaged nuclear power plants, which endanger the lives of tens of thousands of additional people. We want to help spread awareness so that you, our readers, know where they can contribute and help out if you feel the need to do so. For the small portion of our readers that are following this blog from Japan, something we're very proud of, please know that we are thinking about you, your countrymen and women. If any of you reading this would like more information to educate yourself, please visit the following link:

BBC World News

If you'd like to contribute money to help support efforts, please visit the American Red Cross:

American Red Cross

Please note there are other places on the web to get information and donate (we encourage you to look around online), but these are good places to start. As cliche as it is these days to say 'World-Economy' and 'everyone is connected', these words are also extremely accurate. Like many other natural (and man-made) disasters of recent years remind us, humanity is a delicate thing.

Thanks,

-ROTL Staff

Dope. #40

author: uknown

What to watch this weekend (Mar 10th - Mar 15th)

• Inside West Coast Customs. Thursday @ 8pm - 9pm (Discovery's HD Theater)
• Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. A large range of tuner cars compete for title supremacy in Las Vegas, Nevada. Friday @ 8pm - 9pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD) replay Sat at 11am
• Formula 1 Debrief. A preview to the 2011 season. Friday @ 9pm - 10pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
• Classic Autos: The Paris Auction. Episodes 1-3. Saturday @ 10pm - 1am (Discovery's HD Theater) replay
• Ticket to Ride. Dan Neil checks out the 300SL Gulwing in California and Alfa Romeos at the Montery Concours d'Elegance weekend. Sunday @ 11am - 12pm (SPEED/SPEEDHD)
• Top Gear (UK) - Season 16, Ep. 6. Jeremy races the new Jaguar XJ against the earth's rotation. Monday @ 9pm - 10pm (BBC America/BBC America HD)
• Motorweek. Hyundai Genesis Coupe. Tuesday @ 8pm - 8:30pm (Discovery's HD Theater) replay

If you haven't kept up with the widespread civil unrest going on around the world, you may not know why Formula 1 is skipping it's first scheduled race of the 2011 F1 season; currently there's turmoil in Bahrain, so the new inaugural race of 2011, the Australian Grand Prix, will take place on March 25-27. Instead of practice and qualifying this weekend, you can check out the 2011 F1 season preview on the SPEED network. This up coming Monday on BBC America, the last Top Gear of the16th season will air. Don't fret, the Top Gear guys will be back for the 17th season in June. Lastly if you're into vintage European cars, the Classic Autos Paris auction coverage series is the perfect opportunity for a history & investment lesson.


photo courtesy of motorator.com

Quick Vid: 2011 Audi A6

A review of the 2011 Audi A6 3.0TDI.


Video courtesy of Autoblogger.

Car Pron: Sire Custom Vehicle(s) (by OliandJoe)

Regardless of make, model, powerplant or use, quality fabrication and engineering of custom automotive machines trumps all. I was introduced to this video last week and it was a no brainer to share it with the ROTL audience. Enjoy.


YS from OliandJoe on Vimeo.

Car Pron: A day at the races (by Stereoscreen)

I stumbled onto this great video several weeks ago and was looking for a good opportunity to post it. Well with the road race season well underway, today is the day. I never get tired of this sht.


A DAY AT THE RACES from STEREOSCREEN on Vimeo.