Author Jeremy Walton takes us behind the scenes of how Audi’s all-wheel drive system came to be.quattro: The Race and Rally Story explores 24 years of factory-supported quattros in motorsport.Affiliate Disclosure: Automoblog and its partners may be compensated if you purchase this book through the links provided here. Our Book Garage series showcases what every enthusiast should add to their library.

It’s really hard to get across just what a revolution Audi’s quattro drive system was. In hindsight, it seems so simple and like such an easy solution, but at the time, it was as if Audi set off a literal bomb in the rally paddocks of the world. From this point forward, nothing would be the same. quattro: The Race and Rally Story: 1980-2004 engagingly written by Jeremy Walton tells the story of when Audi showed up one day and said, “No, this is how you build a rally car.”
One Brilliant Idea

I remember when this happened. At the time, Audi was this kind of obscure German car brand. Part of the Porsche group, gearheads such as myself would notice the “Porsche+Audi” emblazoned on the rockers of Porsche’s fearsome CanAm cars. Indeed, the guy behind the Porsche 917, Ferdinand Piech, was the same half-lunatic behind quattro (all lower case!) and Audi’s decision to go rallying with it.

In a lot of ways, Audi showing up with an all-wheel drive car to rallying was sort of like Jim Hall showing up to a ...