Stig's special trick

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Anticipation Rally legend Stig Blomqvist looks forward to experiencing the power of the four electric motors. Mobility Stig Blomqvist rockets down the Audi test track in the Audi e-tron Silvretta. Fast, but without the usual engine noise. PHOTOS | OLAF TAMM/AGENTUR FOCUS Stig Blomqvist was born in 1946 in Örebro, Sweden. In 1984 he became World Rally Champion in an Audi quattro, and was runner-up the following year. He participated in 84 world championship races in all, and he still races rallies occasionally today. His 17-year-old son Tom Blomqvist is now active as a racing driver in the United Kingdom. And he liked it too, of course. The approximately 300-meter test track is covered with a slurry of snow. Perfect conditions for the Swede, who is addressed in his home country as “Mäster Blomqvist” – which translates roughly as Lord Blomqvist. Slowly and deliberately, Blomqvist moves the automatic selector lever to D. He pauses to check his “butt instinct.” This is a term coined by a Formula One driver who once explained that the secret of fast racing drivers is that they can feel with their behinds how a car will react. The better the driver applies his sensors, the faster he will be on the track. Blomqvist slides back and forth, but in an electric car, his butt instinct apparently does him little good. At least not at first. He releases the brake and gingerly applies the gas. The gas Actually, that’s the wrong term. The right pedal doesn’t cause a gas mixture to start flowing – it pulls electricity from the roughly 470-kilogram lithium-ion batteries mounted behind the seats. The documentation says the Audi e-tron Silvretta accelerates from zero to 100 km/h within 4.8 seconds. The burst of acceleration from 60 to 120 km/h is supposed to take just 4.1 seconds. That’s on a par with the performance of a high-performance supercar with a gasoline engine. Can that really be possible with batteries Blomqvist answers that question with his right foot. Immediately after he puts the car into motion, he’s pressed into the deep bucket seats, which are designed for racing. All of his neck muscles tense. His feet want to press against the force of acceleration, and he moves to get a foothold on the floorboard. The Audi e-tron Silvretta doesn’t accelerate, it rampages. Stig Blomqvist says: “Powerful, very powerful.” After this start, acceleration will have to be redefined. Other sports cars have a launch control function that charges through all gears and sends the vehicle to the rev limiter in automatic mode. Compared to the “e-start” of the R8, this seems like a silky-smooth little push. The Audi e-tron Silvretta doesn’t accelerate, it storms and rampages like a hurricane. Blomqvist describes it as “powerful, very powerful.” Maybe behind that cool, Nordic exterior there’s a storm of emotion raging. Maybe Blomqvist is reminiscing about his spectacular drive along the Col de Turini in 1984 when he plowed through the narrow mountain passes in four-wheel drift and left other rally greats looking like beginners. It’s all possible – but there’s simply no sign of it. Instead, Blomqvist says simply: “The traction functions well. It handles differently than the original quattro. The car reacts precisely to commands.” Blomqvist uses clinical language to describe a very <strong>special</strong> kind of technological prototype. The Audi e-tron Silvretta provides a hint 83
After this start, acceleration will have to be redefined: Blomqvist enjoys the benefits of electric quattro drive in the Audi e-tron Silvretta. years of quattro “It’s incredible how the technology has developed, so that you can have a driving experience that comes extremely close to that of driving the original quattro.” For over 30 years now, seven letters have represented a milestone in automotive engineering: quattro. Whether it’s a permanent all-wheel drive system that is driven by a differential, or all-wheel drive with a Haldex or viscous clutch, the name quattro is an unmistakable trademark from Audi. It stands for propulsion on city streets as well as off-road, even in strong winds, on ice or in snow. One out of every three Audi cars now leaves the assembly line with the quattro badge. of what Audi will be striving for over the next decade, namely the lowest possible emissions. And that’s fine, Blomqvist observes dryly: “Because of global warming, you just have to offer something new.” The e-tron Silvretta in which the Scandinavian is sitting is a prototype: its front and air intakes stem from racing, as do the air intake gills on the side panels. The back is also borrowed from the racing series. But the 1.90-meter width, the 4.43-meter length and mere 1.25-meter height of the supercar is the embodiment of the slogan Audi has used for the past four decades: Vorsprung durch Technik. Vorsprung – leadership – is also highly appropriate here since the age of electric mobility is just beginning and has yet to be defined, but the electric quattro has already taken the stage. In simple terms, this means four liquid-cooled, asynchronous motors that deliver power to the front and rear axles at a ratio of 30:70. Since each wheel has its own motor, the power can be distributed at lightning speed, as demanded by a typical drive with Blomqvist at the wheel. “More than thirty years ago, quattro and its all-wheel drive were very different from the usual drive concepts,” reminisces the Swede. “It was like night and day, like comparing a bicycle to a car. You can’t describe it … you have to experience it.” Experiencing the difference is a PHOTOS | OLAF TAMM/AGENTUR FOCUS (2) GRAPHIC | AUDI AG 84
Page 1: Test drive in the snow Stig’s spe

Stig's special trick

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