Hannu Mikkola

[CurtEgerer]

Much like Porsche seems to have new-found respect for the early 911 over the past couple of years, sister company Audi has been embracing the ur quattro, the car that put them on the map. Up until the last couple of years, the car has been largely ignored by corporate. Now it's popping up all over the place. Here's a brand new spot on Audi TV with their most successful quattro driver:

<iframe width="800" height="450" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TIPxDZdO3Nk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[vicrola]

Good stuff Curt...Thanks for posting...

[sithot]

"It fits me like a glove in the hand". Great video. Keep them coming!!!

Tom

[CurtEgerer]

The speed of Buffum and the brand new quattro in the 1982 SCCA ProRally series was stunning compared to the 2WD stuff that preceded it. Even other competitors would stop what they were doing to watch them in action. But Mikkola and the quattro? That was mythical. We were content to read all about the WRC rallies in AutoWeek with little hope of ever seeing the MAN and the CAR in person.

Fast forward to November 1983 and the POR here in Michigan. Reigning WRC Champion Mikkola was a last minute replacement for Buffum and he brought Fabrizia Pons (Michelle Mouton's co-driver) with him. What the hell? This was like Sebastian Vettel coming in unannounced to do a one-off race in the ALMS It turns out that Buffum had contracted some sort of serious illness in Africa. He was there driving a so-called 'chase car' for Mikkola in the Ivory Coast Rally. This was a flat-out 4500KM race over 5 days, no service parks. So Audi put Buffum, 2 mechanics, and as many spare parts as they could into a fully-prepped rally quattro in all white with no livery. Buffum says they even hammered out the roof over the right rear seat to give the 2nd mechanic some headroom. Their job was to keep as close as possible to Mikkola! So they were at race speeds for the entire 4500KM. Crazy stuff back then.

Anyway, Mikkola and Pons dominated the POR and kept Rod Millen and his 'cheater' 4WD Mazda RX7 from winning the manufacturer championship.

Here's Mikkola's car in service at the POR.

83 img009.jpg

Here's Pons at the POR.

83 img011.jpg

[Jim Garfield]

Much like Porsche seems to have new-found respect for the early 911 over the past couple of years, sister company Audi has been embracing the ur quattro, the car that put them on the map. Up until the last couple of years, the car has been largely ignored by corporate. Now it's popping up all over the place.

I also like the B&W (with just a bit of red dropped in) "This is leaving the rules in the dust" print ad. With a urq (JB I think?) about 3' off the ground.

edit: can't find a picture of the ad, but it uses this photo -