The history of Audi

The engineer August Horch

In 1904, German mechanical engineer August Horch (1868 -1951) ex - employee of the Benz, decided to create his own car factory and decides to baptize in his own name "August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH" while their original settlements in the German city of Colonia.

After differences with its partners decided to split and establish another company of the same features.

Thus, the July 16, 1909 founded the "Horch Automobilwerke Gmbh" in the German city of Zwickau.

So this month, just celebrated its 100 years with great festivities and presentations of new models.

The origin of the name

The origin of the name by which she was baptized this century-old brand has a rather curious history.

Some time after starting the company, Horch decided to split due to financial difficulties and disagreements with their partner and think about it and rename it had lost in a legal dispute, ownership of its brand "Horch", his own name and being together he and his new partner Franz Fikentscher talking aloud about what would they choose to name the new company, in an adjoining room, the children who were gathered Fikentscher studying languages, issues and arguments heard they had to find a suitable name for christen the new company and in a fit of sudden inspiration 10 years Heinrich occurred to him that as "Horch" in German means listening and its Latin translation is "audire" as we know we spoke in Castilian and we call "hearing" the act of perceiving sound through the ear.

And since the German imperative form is "Horch" like August last name of his father's partner, in the same way with "audire", decided to form the word "Audi" and thus the company was named "Audi Automobilwerke "thanks to the ingenuity and insight of a child of only 10 years old.

Its first model

The first vehicle was created by Audi "Type A" had an engine of 2.6 liter four-cylinder, 10 / 22 hp

The original employees were only 33 people, and which produced the chassis and engine, while the interior of the car was manufactured by professional bodybuilders who completed the vehicle.

The first Audi was sold at 8,500 frames.

The Audi "Type K", 1921

His first sporting success

The new Audi will soon begin to make an impression when winning in 1912 the most demanding endurance race of the day, "The International Race Alpine of Austria", compliment repeated in 1913 and 1914.

The birth of the four rings logo

The Audi logo is composed of four rings

In 1932, Audi, Horch, DKW (founded 1907) and Wanderer (founded 1885), decided to work in combination to cope with the difficulties arising from the Great Depression of 1929, mainly affecting all processes involved in production and automobile assembly and thus the merger came to form the "Auto Union AG".

To avoid competition within the group, decided to divide the market and each brand is made by a specific segment of it.

Thus, Audi takes over luxury cars midrange, DKW takes the segment of small cars and motorcycles, Wanderer for midsize and ultimately are responsible for Horch luxury vehicles from higher segments .

And so on June 29 of that year, was born the famous logo is composed of four interlocking rings that symbolize the union of the four brands of German origin.

The logos of the four brands which formed Auto Union

After the Second World War

The sustained growth of industrial production was interrupted abruptly by the outbreak of World War II.

In 1945 ended the war, under orders from the Soviet military administration in Germany, dismantle all the factories in the region of Saxony and soon after in 1948, closed its factory in the German city of Chemnitz and discharged from commercial register.

A few years later he moved to the city of Ingolstadt in the federal state of Bavaria, southern Germany.

The acquisition in 1958 by Daimler - Benz makes necessary a new shipment from the factory, this time to the German city of Stuttgart.

In 1964 another German firm Volkswagen acquires the majority shareholding of the company and finally get to meet all of the same in 1966.

In 1969 the company joined the firm NSU, also of the same origin and quality manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles and cars, arising from the union the "Audi NSU Auto Union AG".

Adopted as the new head office of the newly formed company to the German city of Neckarsulm, which is located in northern Baden - Württemberg near Stuttgart (city name comes from the two rivers that come together in this city, Neckar and Sulma).

Then from 1985, the company settled permanently in Ingolstadt and simplifies your brand name using the word as "Audi AG".

It added that in 2007, Audi surpassed by 14 th consecutive year its own production record 978,300 vehicles, up 4% in 2006.

Technical innovations through the years

This advertising slogan coined in 1971, "Vorsprung Durch Technic" in German means something like progress through technology.

Audi has followed the spirit of its founder, August Horch, who devoted his life to creating technologically perfect cars.

And in this brief review of the milestones set by Audi in terms of innovations and technological advances are concerned, it shows.

• 1921, Audi Type K, the first car in the world with steering wheel to the left (the vehicles had the right-hand drive, a legacy of horse-drawn carriages in which the driver sat on the right).

• 1926, Horch AG presents a model engine with 8 cylinders in line (replaced in 1933 by a V8).

• 1931, are the DKW Front, popularizing the front wheel drive cars.

• 1938, Auto Union AG carried out "crash - test" in their models, becoming a pioneer in this type of evidence in their vehicles.

• Since the '50s, a brand NSU engineer Felix Wankel, develops a piston engine with rotary (which today bears his name), having the advantage of fewer moving parts and thus be lighter.

• In 1963 he introduced the world's first car with rotary engine, the NSU Wankel Spyder.

• Since 1980, Audi has pioneered fully galvanized body of their cars to prevent corrosion.

• Also from 1980, introduced the first car in series with a body entirely made of aluminum, the famous Audi A8.

• At the Geneva Motor Show 1980, was born the "Audi Quattro Coupe," the first car in series with four-wheel drive, (then this technology is applied in the competition with great success).

• From 1987 on all models offered by Audi, had at least one wheel-drive version.

• At the Frankfurt Motor Show 1989, presents the Audi 100 TDI engine first car with direct injection diesel, 2.5 liter engine and 120 horsepower, also equipped with a turbocharger.

• The third generation Audi 100 was the first sedan with a drag coefficient equal to 0.30 Cx.

Audi 100

Your sports history

The era of pre-war Grand Prix

In the '30s, the unforgettable "Silver Arrow" (Silver Arrows) Auto Union racing caused such a sensation in "Grand Prix".

At first the German cars were painted white and silver gray use was accidental.

Legend has it that in 1934 established a maximum weight of 750 kg for cars such as "Grand Prix", in a rush to weigh a Mercedes Benz W25 751 kg this weight, so the team manager Alfred Neubauer ordered his mechanics that completely unpainted car.

The next day, a strange aluminum auto color, weighed 750 kg regulatory requirements, passed the checks and won the race, giving birth to the myth of the "Silver Arrows" also was extended to the Auto Union for being German.

Between 1934 and 1939 participated in 83 races, earning 42 wins, with the greatest drivers of prewar, Tazio Nuvolari, Hans Stuck and Bernd Rosemeyer, among others, that led to those victories.

In October 1937 he conducted the International Week of speed on the highway linking the German cities of Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

On that occasion, Auto Union was represented by a drag racing car with 16-cylinder engine and independent suspension for the first time in automotive history, the official driver for Auto Union, Bernd Rosemeyer German got over 400 km / h in a public highway.

Auto Union Type C 1937, piloted by Bernd Rosemeyer

The Auto Union Type C Streamliner in an exhibition at the Avus racetrack

The careers of "rally"

In the early '80s, Audi revolutionizes the World Rally Championship, introducing the "Audi Quattro" with four-wheel drive.

In 1981 he won three races in the World Rally Championship, with its fabulous "Audi Quattro" in the San Remo Rally, the French Michèle Mouton causes a sensation by winning, still to this day the only woman to have won a race in by the World Rally.

Audi twice won the World Constructors Championship in 1982 and 1984.

He also won 24 races in this specialty.

They were champions with "Audi Quattro," the Finn Hannu Mikkola in 1983 and the Swede Stig Blomqvist in 1984.

The latter also used a "Audi Quattro Sport" improved version of the "Audi Quattro" to deal with the "monsters" of the group B who had introduced the FIA

These improvements consisted of a motor 306 hp happened to 6,700 rpm to have an output of 463 hp at 7,500 rpm and a decrease in wheelbase, which increased from 2522 mm to 2202 mm, grille and larger intakes for better air intake, use of sophisticated materials such as kevlar and glass fiber in the body, the gates were steel only.

The engine continued to have 5 cylinders in line, but was reduced to 10 cc engine capacity that was less than 3,000 cc and its turbo, by regulation a minimum weight of 960 kg.

Also adopted a cylinder head with 4 valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts driven by a chain from the crankshaft.

It was the first head of Audi to feature cross flow of gases, ie the nozzle inlet and exhaust are on opposite sides of the head.

In addition, the intake valves are inclined 25 degrees to the axis of the cylinder, while exhaust are vertical. This tends to improve cylinder filling and therefore increase engine performance.

The Audi Sport Quattro S1 with the Swede Stig Blomqvist behind the wheel

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters)

In the Championship German Touring Car, better known by its acronym DTM, the appearance of cars "simulates" the street of cars such as Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the Audi V8 Quattro and the Opel Vectra, but their engines are totally different and allow them to reach almost 300 km / h.

Among the main features that have become so successful in DTM is that it has 4.0-liter V8 engine displacement and 480 HP maximum power, of which each driver has only two engines per year, which significantly reduces costs.

DTM Champions were the Germans Hans-Joachim Stuck in 1990 and Frank Biela in 1991, both using the Audi V8 Quattro, Laurent Aiello French in 2002 with an Audi TT, the Swedish in 2,007 Mathias Ekström and Timo Scheider Germany, in the 2008, both Audi A4.

This is the Audi A4 DTM Mathias Ekström Swedish

The 24 Hours of "Le Mans"

In this legendary endurance race that takes place every year on the circuit of "Le Mans" won the editions of the year: 2,000, 2,001, 2,002, 2,004, 2005 with the legendary Audi R8.

Audi R8 LMP winner within 24 hours of Le Mans 2000 with Biela-Pirro-Kristensen

In 2006 Audi introduced the TDI R 10 also became a legend, being the first diesel-engined car to win at this track and also repeated his triumph in the years 2007 and 2008.

The Audi R10 TDI engine is an aluminum block architecture built in V 12 with a cylinder bank angle of 90 degrees. Its displacement is 5.5 liters, the maximum permitted by the regulations for these engines and in this type of racing. It has four valves per cylinder, dry sump and double camshaft head.

The engine is fed by a system of high-pressure direct injection of over 2,000 bars, thanks to the inclusion of piezo injectors, thereby achieving a much higher pressure than street cars. The use of "common rail" was set up in a whole new, as street models of the Volkswagen Group that owns Audi, used to incorporate diesel-powered injection pump.

This system of "common-rail" or "common rail" is a system of electronic fuel injection diesel engine in which gas-oil is drawn directly from the fuel tank to a high pressure pump and this in turn sent to a common conduit for all injectors and high pressure to the cylinder.

The Audi R 10 TDI wins the Le Mans 24 hours of Biela-Pirro 2007 with-Werner

This year introduced the Audi R 15 TDI which won the second place, behind a Peugeot 908 HDI FAP.

Audi R 15 TDI filed February 17, 2009 ready for Le Mans

List with all the victories and top positions of Audi "Le Mans"

Year	Car	No.	Pilot	Pos	Km	Prom	Classify	Time
2000	Audi R8 LMP	8	Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuelle Pirro	1 º	5007	208.63	2 º	3:36 '650
	Audi R8 LMP	9	Allan Mc Nish Stephane Ortelli Laurent Aiello	2 º	4994	208.08	1 º	3:36 '124
	Audi R8 LMP	7	Michele Alboreto Rinaldo Capello Christian Abt	3 º	4967	206.96	3 º	3:37 '086
2001	Audi R8 LMP	1	Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuelle Pirro	1 º	4367.2	180,949	2 º	3:32 '458
	Audi R8 LMP	2	Laurent Aiello Rinaldo Capello Christian Pescatori	2 º	4353.6	180,386	1 º	3:32 '429
2002	Audi R8 LMP	1	Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuelle Pirro	1 º	5.118.7	213,281	2 º	3:30 '219
	Audi R8 LMP	2	Rinaldo Capello Johnny Herbert Christian Pescatori	2 º	5.105.1	212,713	1 º	3:29 '905
	Audi R8 LMP	3	Michael Krumm Philipp Peter Marco Werner	3 º	5077.8	211,575	3 º	3:30 '801
2004	Audi R8 LMP	5	Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Seiji Ara	1 º	5.169.9	379	4 º	3:34 '028
2005	Audi R8 LMP	8	Tom Kristensen JJLehto Marco Werner	1 º	S / D	S / D	S / D	S / D
2006	Audi R10 TDI	8	Frank Biela Emanuelle Pirro Marco Werner	1 º	5187	215,409	2 º	3:30 '584
	Audi R10 TDI	7	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen Allan Mac Nish	3 º	5.009.5	208,039	1 º	3:30 '466
2007	Audi R10 TDI	1	Frank Biela Emanuelle Pirro Marco Werner	1 º	5.029.1	209,152	4 º	3:28 '301
2008	Audi R10 TDI	2	Rinaldo Capello Allan Mc Nish Tom Kristensen	1 º	5.192.6	216,360	4 º	3:23 '847