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Inspiration for Audi's new Direct Shift Gearbox
came from the double-clutch PDK'box developed in Waiter Rohrl's
awesome Evolution 2 quattro.
CLlVE RICHARDSON tells the PDK story
"DRIVING THE E2 was like travelling on a bullet. And every corner felt as if the car would ricochet... It became even more extreme when we built the PDK gearbox into it... The PDK made the acceleration even crazier... Sometimes the E2 scared me when I dropped the clutch at 4500rpm. It was like an explosion".
The words are those of double World Rally Champion Waiter Röhrl in his revealing new book, Waiter Röhrl Diary: Memories of a World Champion. When this rally icon admits to being daunted by the 530bhp, Group B Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2 after Audi Sport fitted an experimental, doubleclutch, semi-automatic, five-speed PDK gearbox in autumn 1985, you know this was some mean machine. Zero to 62 mph took 2.6 sec and 41.9 metres. After 10 sec and 359 metres the semi auto E2 had hit 124 mph and in just 10.8 sec from rest had covered 400 metres. Röhrl would hit 140mph in fifth between the trees on gravel forest straights, the monster stabilised by downforce from huge wings. The maestro acknowledges that "the margin of error was quite small.".
Rohrl did all PDK development In this Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2, RE 02, owned today by Audi UK and driven here at Goodwood by Mlchele Mouton.
Now a six-speedmanual, it retains its PDK grille.
The revolutionary PDK 'box made just a fleeting appearance, but is proof that motorsport really can benefit road cars. It was Audi's inspiration for the new six-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSGI, premiered in the TT 3.2 quattro. DSG utilises the PDK's double-clutch principle for the first time in a production car, with 21 st century electronics to extract full advantage and refinement.
PDK? That's Porsche Doppel-Kupplung, or Double-Clutch. Porsche's wizards at Weissach, its technology hot house outside Stuttgart, initiated development for racing in 1982. It hit the tracks in '85 in Porsche's world beating 956/962 Group C and IMSA cars. Audi had a direct line to this technology through its then R&D director Dr Ferdinand Piech, part of Porsche's controlling family and designer of the benchmark Porsche 917. So it came to pass that Audi Sport would work with Porsche on development of a PDK 'box for its rally quattros.
In the PDK-equipped S1 E2, "I could change gear at full throttle, without any decrease in pulling power or any falling off of turbo boost", recalls Rohrl, tasked with development testing. Those characteristics were key to the PDK's deployment, for Audi Sport needed to raise its game. In 1984, the team had won the Drivers' (Stig Blomqvistl and Manufacturers' World Championships; a year on, the latest evolution of its frontengined, all-wheel drive pioneer was under pressure from the new generation of ultra-light, mid-engined, 4WD Group B cars from Peugeot, Lancia and Austin Rover.
Same car on '85 Lombard RAC Rally, the only WRC event run with PDK, before Rohrl's roll.
When, in early November 1985, Rohrl debuted the PDK E2 in the Austrian non-WRC Semperit Rally as a shakedown for the lombard RAC Rally 13 days later, he blitzed the event. Fastest on all 24 stages, he won by 19 minutes. Devastatingly effective, this Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2, numbered RE 02 of 20 examples, registration IN-NY 18, was swiftly reprepared for Britain's WRC round. In August, with a six-speed manual 'box, Stig Blomqvist had taken it to second in the 1000 lakes Rally. For the non-pace note UK event, Audi replaced Rohrl's regular co-driver, Christian Geistdorfer, with Briton Phil Short for his local knowledge. As darkness enveloped a notorious section of stage 1S, Rheola in the Vale of Neath, the Audi tumbled violently down a 50-foot embankment.
What caused the 'off' depends on to whom you speak, but Rohrl has it that Short, who knew the section, momentarily lost the power of speech because of the E2's incredible pace that night. For sure, the PDKequipped Audi's 'hot' seat could be a terrifying place to be. Rohrl relates how legendary Audi Sport engineer Dieter Basche, who'd sat calmly beside him through hundreds of miles of quattro testing, climbed out of the PDK E2 after a fearsomely fast gravel test in Greece and said "no more". Geistdorfer complained of a different problem: the PDK's seamless gearchanges lost him the rhythm of his pace notes.
Double World Champion Waiter Rohrl refamiliarises himself with the stubby PDK selector lever before the Rally start. Audi Sport's PDK development ended when the team withdrew from Group B rallying in '86
Unlike the two-pedal, DSG-equipped TT 3.2, the PDK E2 retained three pedals, the clutch used only for stopping and starting. A short selector stick replaced the manual car's gearlever. TT-style steering wheel paddles were unknown then, so for each downward change Rohrl flicked the stick. The PDK's computer protected the engine by refusing to change down if it would take revs beyond a preset 8400 rpm limit. In the gears, the 'brain' let Rohrl take the 20-valve, five-cylinder engine to 8600 rpm or, conversely, could be programmed to change down if revs dropped below the optimum 5000 rpm level. Rohrl appreciated that he could keep both hands on the wheel while accelerating flat out through the 'box.
When we discussed PDK in 1998, Rohrl told me that Audi Sport had only two PDK 'boxes, for selected events. After the lombard RAC, the next PDK appearance was scheduled for the May '86 Acropolis, in his car. He recalled testing RE 02, re-shelled in PDK form, in Greece. Meanwhile, a second PDKcar, RE 1S, was prepared as his rally car. It would never run: after an amateur's Group B car killed several spectators on the Portugal Rally in March, Audi Sport withdrew from Group B World rallying. This was the beginning of the end for the dangerously fast Group B cars, replaced by production-based Group A from January '87. The end, too, for Audi Sport's PDK development. Both PDK Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2s survive, identifiable by more prominent radiator grilles enforced by the longer 'boxes. Rohrl acquired RE 15, the unused Acropolis car, with PDK and later sold it to an Austrian garage owner friend. Audi Sport sold RE 02, reconverted to six-speed manual, to Franz Wittman, first ever rally winner in a quattro, for rallycross. This pivotal part of the PDK story, now fully restored, has been the centrepiece of Audi UK's historic collection since 1998, exercised regularly by Michele Mouton at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Rohrl revealed to me that RE 02's PDK gearbox, acquired as a spare, sits in his Bavarian garage; maybe one day historic car and pioneering 'box will be reunited.
Y de paso sacamos el mito de que Ferrari fue el primero en usar una caja semiautomática, cosa que desde los Chaparral de la Can-Am ya se venia intentando.
Ah y no solo la tracción integral metió Audi a los rallies como algo fundamental...
Inspiration for Audi's new Direct Shift Gearbox
came from the double-clutch PDK'box developed in Waiter Rohrl's
awesome Evolution 2 quattro.
CLlVE RICHARDSON tells the PDK story
"DRIVING THE E2 was like travelling on a bullet. And every corner felt as if the car would ricochet... It became even more extreme when we built the PDK gearbox into it... The PDK made the acceleration even crazier... Sometimes the E2 scared me when I dropped the clutch at 4500rpm. It was like an explosion".
The words are those of double World Rally Champion Waiter Röhrl in his revealing new book, Waiter Röhrl Diary: Memories of a World Champion. When this rally icon admits to being daunted by the 530bhp, Group B Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2 after Audi Sport fitted an experimental, doubleclutch, semi-automatic, five-speed PDK gearbox in autumn 1985, you know this was some mean machine. Zero to 62 mph took 2.6 sec and 41.9 metres. After 10 sec and 359 metres the semi auto E2 had hit 124 mph and in just 10.8 sec from rest had covered 400 metres. Röhrl would hit 140mph in fifth between the trees on gravel forest straights, the monster stabilised by downforce from huge wings. The maestro acknowledges that "the margin of error was quite small.".
Rohrl did all PDK development In this Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2, RE 02, owned today by Audi UK and driven here at Goodwood by Mlchele Mouton.
Now a six-speedmanual, it retains its PDK grille.
The revolutionary PDK 'box made just a fleeting appearance, but is proof that motorsport really can benefit road cars. It was Audi's inspiration for the new six-speed Direct Shift Gearbox (DSGI, premiered in the TT 3.2 quattro. DSG utilises the PDK's double-clutch principle for the first time in a production car, with 21 st century electronics to extract full advantage and refinement.
PDK? That's Porsche Doppel-Kupplung, or Double-Clutch. Porsche's wizards at Weissach, its technology hot house outside Stuttgart, initiated development for racing in 1982. It hit the tracks in '85 in Porsche's world beating 956/962 Group C and IMSA cars. Audi had a direct line to this technology through its then R&D director Dr Ferdinand Piech, part of Porsche's controlling family and designer of the benchmark Porsche 917. So it came to pass that Audi Sport would work with Porsche on development of a PDK 'box for its rally quattros.
In the PDK-equipped S1 E2, "I could change gear at full throttle, without any decrease in pulling power or any falling off of turbo boost", recalls Rohrl, tasked with development testing. Those characteristics were key to the PDK's deployment, for Audi Sport needed to raise its game. In 1984, the team had won the Drivers' (Stig Blomqvistl and Manufacturers' World Championships; a year on, the latest evolution of its frontengined, all-wheel drive pioneer was under pressure from the new generation of ultra-light, mid-engined, 4WD Group B cars from Peugeot, Lancia and Austin Rover.
Same car on '85 Lombard RAC Rally, the only WRC event run with PDK, before Rohrl's roll.
When, in early November 1985, Rohrl debuted the PDK E2 in the Austrian non-WRC Semperit Rally as a shakedown for the lombard RAC Rally 13 days later, he blitzed the event. Fastest on all 24 stages, he won by 19 minutes. Devastatingly effective, this Audi Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2, numbered RE 02 of 20 examples, registration IN-NY 18, was swiftly reprepared for Britain's WRC round. In August, with a six-speed manual 'box, Stig Blomqvist had taken it to second in the 1000 lakes Rally. For the non-pace note UK event, Audi replaced Rohrl's regular co-driver, Christian Geistdorfer, with Briton Phil Short for his local knowledge. As darkness enveloped a notorious section of stage 1S, Rheola in the Vale of Neath, the Audi tumbled violently down a 50-foot embankment.
What caused the 'off' depends on to whom you speak, but Rohrl has it that Short, who knew the section, momentarily lost the power of speech because of the E2's incredible pace that night. For sure, the PDKequipped Audi's 'hot' seat could be a terrifying place to be. Rohrl relates how legendary Audi Sport engineer Dieter Basche, who'd sat calmly beside him through hundreds of miles of quattro testing, climbed out of the PDK E2 after a fearsomely fast gravel test in Greece and said "no more". Geistdorfer complained of a different problem: the PDK's seamless gearchanges lost him the rhythm of his pace notes.
Double World Champion Waiter Rohrl refamiliarises himself with the stubby PDK selector lever before the Rally start. Audi Sport's PDK development ended when the team withdrew from Group B rallying in '86
Unlike the two-pedal, DSG-equipped TT 3.2, the PDK E2 retained three pedals, the clutch used only for stopping and starting. A short selector stick replaced the manual car's gearlever. TT-style steering wheel paddles were unknown then, so for each downward change Rohrl flicked the stick. The PDK's computer protected the engine by refusing to change down if it would take revs beyond a preset 8400 rpm limit. In the gears, the 'brain' let Rohrl take the 20-valve, five-cylinder engine to 8600 rpm or, conversely, could be programmed to change down if revs dropped below the optimum 5000 rpm level. Rohrl appreciated that he could keep both hands on the wheel while accelerating flat out through the 'box.
When we discussed PDK in 1998, Rohrl told me that Audi Sport had only two PDK 'boxes, for selected events. After the lombard RAC, the next PDK appearance was scheduled for the May '86 Acropolis, in his car. He recalled testing RE 02, re-shelled in PDK form, in Greece. Meanwhile, a second PDKcar, RE 1S, was prepared as his rally car. It would never run: after an amateur's Group B car killed several spectators on the Portugal Rally in March, Audi Sport withdrew from Group B World rallying. This was the beginning of the end for the dangerously fast Group B cars, replaced by production-based Group A from January '87. The end, too, for Audi Sport's PDK development. Both PDK Sport quattro S1 Evolution 2s survive, identifiable by more prominent radiator grilles enforced by the longer 'boxes. Rohrl acquired RE 15, the unused Acropolis car, with PDK and later sold it to an Austrian garage owner friend. Audi Sport sold RE 02, reconverted to six-speed manual, to Franz Wittman, first ever rally winner in a quattro, for rallycross. This pivotal part of the PDK story, now fully restored, has been the centrepiece of Audi UK's historic collection since 1998, exercised regularly by Michele Mouton at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Rohrl revealed to me that RE 02's PDK gearbox, acquired as a spare, sits in his Bavarian garage; maybe one day historic car and pioneering 'box will be reunited.
Y de paso sacamos el mito de que Ferrari fue el primero en usar una caja semiautomática, cosa que desde los Chaparral de la Can-Am ya se venia intentando.
Ah y no solo la tracción integral metió Audi a los rallies como algo fundamental...