The 1983 season, driving the group B Audi A1 and Audi A2.
Until the end of 1982, both Group 4 and Group B rally cars were allowed to participate in the world championship; in 1983, group 4 cars could no longer score points. The Audi Sport team had decided in 1982 to rename the Quattro into a Group B machine. It became the Quattro A1(A for aluminium) without too many changes. But Audi wanted to play with the engine capacity in order to be on the list with the smallest permitted weight of the car. The Quattro A1, with a steel engine block of 3003 cc was a group B in the list of cars over 1000 kg.So during the year a new A2 Evo was constructed with a shorter wheelbase and a lot of plastic material such as doors, windows. This brought the weight to below 1000 kg and onto the list of true Group B monsters. During the season the car would be homologated. The competition for 1983: Lancia team. The super car Lancia 037, already in production in 1982, was a full-fledged 130 hp Abarth supercharger with Bosch injection, a two-seater weighing 980 kilograms packed with F1 technology.
Unsurprisingly, Audi retained the services of Michèle and Fabrizia Pons for the 1983 season. She was seen as someone who could really get started with the group B 350bhp four-wheel drive Audi. It was an exciting time to be a rally driver and she was right at the heart of it.
The world championship traditionally started with the Rally Monte Carlo. The number 5 Audi Quattro A1 with license plate IN-NM 82 was for the women's team. In the tenth chrono stage she braked too late for a right-angled bend and crashed the car into a wall. Significant damage to the left side and two flat tyres. She stopped the Audi 100 meters further away. She got out, took off her helmet, walked a few laps around the car and hung angrily on the open right door. The team of Walter Röhrl and Geistdörfer, this year at the wheel of a Lancia, won this first battle.
The first one has already been forgotten at the beginning of February. The Rally of Sweden was an Audi party with four Audis in the first four places. The winner was Hannu Mikkola and second place was for Stig Blomqvist (Audi 80 in four-wheel drive), and in third place was the Finn Lasse Lampi with the David Sutton Motorsport A1. Michèle Mouton was fourth and first non-Scandinavian driver in the top 20. She lost four minutes in the rally due to a problem with the injection electronics. In her effort to make up for lost time, she won four of the last five timed stages.
At the end of the Portugal Rally in early March in Estoril, everyone was talking about the suicidal behaviour of spectators, about the exciting battle between Audi and Lancia and about Michèle Mouton's great final push. The rally went from Estoril to the north and back. What really worried everyone was the uncontrolled behaviour of the spectators, who lined up very close to the road, leaving little room for the rally cars and often stood on the road themselves as cars approached, and jumped away only at the last minute. Nothing but pure excitement and enthusiasm, but very dangerous. That aside, the Portuguese Rally was a tough race indeed, tough on cars and tight with a timetable that required mechanics to work at high speed to replace whatever was broken, no matter how small. Lancia were expected to take the lead in the early tarmac stages, while the all-wheel drive Audi Quattro’s were expected to catch up on the dirt roads, especially if wet.
The event lasted from Wednesday morning until late Saturday evening, with several stops along the way and an additional slalom (not part of the rally itself) at Estoril Circuit on Sunday afternoon. After the nine chrono stages, all on asphalt, there was an evening stop at Povoa de Varzim on the coast before continuing north. The Lancia’s were indeed in the lead on those asphalt stages, but the margin between them and the Quattro’s was not as large as expected. When three of the remaining five timed stages were cancelled due to strikes by glass workers, the Lancia’s' advantage was completely gone and Blomqvist took the lead with the Quattro. Unfortunately, Blomqvist's lead came to an end when the rear differential locked up. Audi's service point could not help him and he had to continue with only front-wheel drive until he really could be helped. Mikkola inherited the lead from Blomqvist, but Röhrl in the Lancia fought hard and remained in second place, ahead of Mouton. There were some technical problems here and there, so that on the last way back to Estoril the top three cars were very close together. Everyone could win. This was seen in the Arganil special. Mikkola had to stop to change a flat tyre and saw Rohrl speeding past. Ironically, he got a flat tyre himself, but decided to cover the last 10 kilometres on three wheels. Mikkola overtok him, but could not get past him. As is often the case, Mouton made a great final sprint and forced Röhrl into third place. With only a handful of stages to go, no one was able to push both Audis off the top podium spot.
Would you believe it is possible for a driver to win a World Cup rally after breaking his rear axle twice in competitive sections? Or that a driver is classified as a finisher after receiving a total of more than one day of penalty points? Different standards apply in the Safari rally in Kenya and victory only comes to those who push their limits and are persistent until they reach that limit. The outright winners of this year's rally were Ari Vatanen and Terry Harryman in an Ascona 400 from Rothmans Opel Rally Team. They had only had participated in one previous Safari! That says a lot about their adaptability to a new strategy and moving forward no matter how much delay they may have suffered and how they adopt Africa's completely different strategy, that is continue regardless of how long you have been delayed. There is no point in setting up special stages in Kenya in a country where road closures would be quite ineffective against strolling giraffes, a Masai's herd of cattle. family or a hopelessly overloaded matatu whose driver is as determined as any rallyman to complete his journey and collect his fares. It's not the groundbreaking adventure it used to be, when flash floods, broken bridges and mud baths were all seen as a test of competitors' ingenuity. The organizers are now more conservative in their choice of roads and try to avoid criticism by staying far away from anything that could become impassable due to the rain. There are always alternative routes available, most of which have been issued in advance, so that participants have the opportunity to train these along with the fixed rally route.
Cars have been modified with strengthened and raised suspension, a better cooling system and both the engine and the interior must be protected as much as possible against the ingress of dust. The team management also uses many more service cars than in Europe and aircraft as airborne radio stations.
Winning this rally without experience is virtually impossible. The fact that Audi finished in second place with Mikkola and Michele Mouton in third place is absolutely no mean feat. The Audi team had hoped for a wet rally, when the Quattro all-wheel drive traction would be an advantage. But it was a dry, dusty and hot rally. Tyres became dangerously hot on the asphalt, water and oil temperatures often exceeded the red line. It became unbearably hot in the car itself, which meant that nausea, fatigue, loss of concentration and reduced will to persevere had to be combatted. And that rally lasts a total of five days!
Initially it was Mikkola who took the lead, but after just a handful of checkpoints his water pump broke, causing overheating. A helicopter immediately rushed to the rescue, but the delay was significant - more than an hour and a half in fact - and his teammate Michèle Mouton took over. But during the course of the rally, both Audis lost their rear windows due to bending of the bodywork. Mouton lost the lead when a wheel came loose and damaged the suspension. Then it was the turn of Timo Salonen, already a five-time winner, in the Datsun to take the lead. At the end of the first stage in Nairobi, his engine stopped and the mechanics had to get to work. At the start of the next stage, Vic Preston Jr., son of the 1955 Safari winner, was in the lead in one of the three factory Quattro’s. He drove sensibly and builded a lead of up to half an hour. In the third stage he had problems with the turbocharger. To stay ahead of Salonen, he made a mistake while overtaking in the dense dust and crashed into a rock. Result: irreparable damage.
Salonen was back in the lead, but he broke the camshaft and later the head gasket. Vatanen and Mikkola, only six minutes apart, took command. Michèle lost some time with a broken dynamo, but was running third. In the last sections the Audis could no longer hold the Opel. In the world championship standings, Mikkola now had 65 points and Michèle was second with 37 points.
After a month's break, the circus headed to Corsica, not the most favourite terrain for the A2 Quattro. Audi engineers had fine-tuned the new homologated version of the A2 just in time and set it up in an asphalt attack configuration. Again three Audi cars against four official Martini sponsored Lancia 037, Opel Manta with a Cosworth engine, a single Renault 5 Turbo for Jean Ragnotti, a Nissan for Tony Pond and a BMW M1 for Bernard Beguin. One Audi was directly written off right before the start. Local hero Bernard Darniche crashed his car during a training session trip and broke his heel bone. In the rally, when the roads were wide enough, the Audis had equal speed as the Lancia’s, but on the winding narrow roads with hairpin bends they were slower. Of the 32 special stages, Mikkola was the fastest on only two. In the longest stage he hit stones along the road and broke the suspension. Michèle had no luck either. Three stages before the end she suffered engine problems and had to pull over. Lancia occupied the first four places.
To stay in the rhythm, she participated in the ADAC-Metz-Rallye in Germany with Arhwed Fisher in the navigator seat. Never before there were so many people that came watching. She won the rally without any problems.
Three new Quattro’s for the Greece rally! The British weekly Motoring News headline read: “Audi: apocalypse now?” And indeed, the rally became a nightmare for Audi. Hannu Mikkola took the lead in the 12th chrono stage and stayed there until stage 39; a three-minute lead over Walter Röhrl. Unfortunately, the hood came loose, started to flap and broke an oil pipe. Retirement. Mouton rolled the Audi on its roof in the first stage, got a broken oil pipe. When she got to the service point, the Audi was terminal. Blomqvist was also very fast and the best Audi. Despite losing time due to a hydraulic problem, he finished third after Röhrl and Marku Alen.
Because the standings for the world championship are becoming very tight, Audi finally decides to allow Stig Blomqvist to participate in the Rally of New Zealand, albeit without any preparation. Good choice, because he was among the fastest in the first eight chrono stages. The Lancia team has issued a protest against this late registration. The protest was approved and Blomqvist had to go home. Mikkola immediately had problems with the Audi's cooling system and turbo pressure. The Audi Sport helicopter came to help, but a total of 21 minutes were lost. The Finn came back to fourth place, but a leaking fuel line caused a fire in the engine compartment. The women's team was doing well, despite some oil leakage problems. They took the lead of the rally in the 8th chrono stage and held it with a five-minute lead until the 27th stage. Then a crack appeared in the engine block and the drive rod seized; rally over!
Towards Buenos Aires Argentina Rally in August. The Audi army, four cars strong, was prepared for this 3000 km long rally with very fast stages, where the average speed can be160 km/h. The terrain was muddy and icy. Local hero Ruben Luis di Palma had registered his own private Audi. Unfortunately he did not go far. During the fourth stage he flipped the car over and could not continue.
From the start the Audi team dominated with Blomqvist and Mikkola followed by Shekar Metha and Michèle Mouton. On the muddy tracks, the Quattro’s showed exceptional grip, without any loss of performance, sliding as if on a rail, while the Lancia’s had a tendency to slip off track. At the end of the second stage, the Audi team remained in the first four places, Michèle now third. The last stages did not bring much change. Hannu Mikkola was promoted to first place by the team and the result was that he was now only two points behind in the world championship.
Then the intense two-day 1000 lakes rally was on the program. The Audi team pulled everything out of the closet with three factory cars and extra service Audis for Lasse Lampi and Per Eklund. The Audi had extra reinforced suspension so that the car had less tendency to jump away after a high jump. Things went wrong for Mikkola in the first stage. After such a jump the front differential broke. Recovery took 30 minutes and Hannu was also late for the start of the second stage, he dropped to 143rd place due to a penalty time. Eleven chrono stages later, he was back in seventh. Upfront the battle between Marku Alen and Blomqvist. Michèle was eighth; she was not fond about the Audi's handling, new suspension or not. From the 11th stage to the 22nd stage there was a battle at the front between the two Audis and the 037 of Alen and Vatanen. When Mikkola was the fastest for nine times, he took the lead after stage 34 by just one second over Blomqvist. Michele had dropped to 35th place. A problem with the engine and a small fire caused her to lose twenty minutes. Excitement at the front: Mikkola's intercooler came loose in stage 36. After the fixing, he was again 24 seconds behind Blomqvist. Team boss Gumpert intervened. The Swede had to obey the team orders and Mikkola ultimately became the winner. It was clear again for Michele. Rallying in Finland was still not her thing. She now had a month off.
The next rally for Michèle was the San Remo rally early October. This rally was vital for Audi to stay in contention in the world championship.
The Quattro may be fast and has good handling and traction, but it still has to prove its reliability. Until then, a rally car needs a quick repair and quick and thorough maintenance during the rally and that, strangely enough for a German team, is something Audi Sport still does not have. Service stops, whether in well-equipped garages or along the road, must be quick, decisive and comprehensive. They must also be under the control of someone fully understanding rally racing. Audi seems to miss this. Sometimes it looks more like improvisation and that has taken time in recent rallies.
The Lancia team had three top cars for Rörhl, Alén and Bettega, and five private cars for Vudafieri, Biasion, Tognana, Zanussi and Tabaton. Audi's battalion strength was only half that number, the four cars being driven by Mikkola, Mouton, Blomqvist and Darniche. There are also two Opel Mantas, for Vatanan and Toivonen, and two Conrero Mantas for Cerrato and Batistolli.
The Sanremo Rally stretches from the French border to Tuscany.This was necessary because the organisation wanted to include unpaved roads as special stages in addition to the asphalted timed stages.
Quite early in the rally it was clear that the Lancia’s were faster than last year and they quickly took the lead. In addition, Mikkola and Blomqvist were slowed down by power steering problems. After the first six stages, seven of those eight Lancia’s occupied the first seven places, while the highest placed Quattro was Mouton's, in 12th place. Things got a little better on the unpaved stages and Mouton came in second with Mikkola in third.
Not for long, though. Mikkola had to stop when there was a fire. Fire extinguishers and helicopter assistance could not prevent the Audi from completely burning out. It is not known why the fire started there! This was double bad luck, because no points for the championship.
Going into the last stage in the mountains around San Remo, Marku Alen was firmly in the lead with Blomqvist second. But then Blomqvist hit a rock just before the end of a chrono section. He could push the car across the finish line. A chaotic Audi service point failed here because the mechanics couldnot get the car ready again in time. Out Blomqvist! Michèle Mouton had already learned a lot in the past years and did some of the jobs in the service point herself. This allowed her to finish the race in seventh place.
In preparation for the tough RAC rally in November, Michèle participated in the Audi Sport National Rally on the sandy course in Aberystwyth. Sue Baker was her navigator. The tone was set. In the lead from the first lap and therefore a victory.
The Lombard RAC rally had, just like last year, the most ideal course for the Audi Quattro. Because Marku Alen was not entering, it was already clear before the rally that Hannu Mikkola was the world champion. Unfortunately, winning his rally was not for him. On the Knowlsey stage, the 'Mickey Mouse' ride, he hit a tree stump and the wheel broke off. Stig Blomqvist won the rally and he was satisfied. After two years of being forced to play second fiddle to Mikkola and Mouton, he was signed to race for Audi next year. Michèle only won one chrono stage. In the nineteenth stage during the night she went off the road and could not continue.
The 1983 championship placed Audi at the very top of rallying. Due to heavy investments and a huge number of staff and top drivers, they finished second in the constructors'
