Audi reveals its wildest TT ever

Audi will send a stripper to entertain Europe’s blue-collar masses at Austria’s traditional Wörthersee fast-fours festival on May 8.

Its kilo killers have pulled 300kg of weight out of the standard TTS to deliver supercar sprinting out of the humble 2.0-litre four-cylinder coupe.

The TT Ultra Quattro Concept has been thinned down so extravagantly and expensively that it delivers the same 4.2-second 0-100km/h sprint time as the mega five-cylinder turbocharged TTRS Plus.

A big part of that speed, which includes a 280km/h maximum, comes from pulling the concept car’s kerb weight down to just 1111kg thanks to generous smatterings of carbon-fibre, fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP), aluminium, magnesium and even titanium.

Audi has even gone as far as replacing the TT’s steel springs with FRP units, using carbon-fibre for the wheel rims, fitting a titanium exhaust and putting magnesium in the floor.

With 228kW of power eked from its old-generation 2.0-litre turbo four, the result is a power to weight ratio of just 3.6 kg per horsepower and a 0-100km/h sprint that is 1.4 seconds faster than the standard TTS.

An enormous, single-frame grille provides hints about the direction of the next TT and dominates the visuals, but it’s the rest of the body that needs closer attention.

Audi has cut 43kg from the core chassis (which is the old-generation Golf VI architecture) and a total of 100kg from the body itself. This came from cutting out significant slabs of steel in the rear floor, the central tunnel, the B-pillars and the roof and replacing them all with pieces of carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP).

Audi has had plenty of experience with CFRP in the R8 (the Spyder’s entire engine cover was its first major production component) and it also has more than 25 years of Lamborghini carbon prowess to draw on.

Most of the TT Ultra Quattro Concept’s steel or aluminium panels have been replaced with CFRP versions, including the bonnet, the roof, the front quarter panels and the bootlid.

The same slavish dedication to CFRP continues inside the car, with the door trims, a large cross brace that replaces the rear seat and the centre console all made from the lightweight, super-strong material.

Other interior weight-saving moves include replacing the seats with the 22kg-lighter carbon-shelled units from the R8 GT limited-edition street racer, though the car retains its air-conditioner and electric windows.

The side mirrors have gone, too, replaced by a pair of small cameras that relay what they see to a digital screen in the cockpit to cut back on both weight and aerodynamic drag. The traditional battery has been replaced by a 4kg Lithium-Ion unit that is so small it can now live beneath the driver’s seat.

The trick new FRP springs for the suspension use a long, central glass pipe as their core, with even longer glass fibres twisted and woven around it at 45-degree angles and impregnated with epoxy resin. These are cooked and set to be as strong as the steel units but are 40 per cent, or 6kg, lighter, which gives a direct impact to the unsprung mass.

The wheels have delivered a huge weight saving of 20kg between them, but don’t ask what they cost. The wheel rim is pure carbon-fibre, with aluminium spokes – carved from billets – bolted directly to them. Tyres are Dunlop Sport Maxx 255/30 R20s all round.

Another unsprung mass move is to fit it with carbon ceramic brakes discs with alloy calipers all round, while the new titanium exhaust runs the length of the floor to exit in a single, large central outlet.

The engine has had its modifications, too, for both power and weight. Its crankcase, crankshaft, two balancing shafts, flywheel, sump and most of its bolts and a few of its ancillaries have all been lightened to save 25kg.

The standard TTS version is a multiple Engine Of The Year winner, complete with direct-injection, variable valve timing and lift and a twin-scroll turbocharger to deliver 200kW of power and 350Nm of torque.

But the TT Ultra Quattro Concept hikes this up to 228kW and a V8-esque 400Nm of torque from 1900 to 5000rpm.

The TT Ultra Quattro Concept is set to join a collection of fast race and production Audis at the traditional Volkswagen Group fan fest on one of Austria’s most picturesque lakes.

Audi also plans to bring last year’s Le Mans winner, an S1 Quattro rally car, its DTM A5 touring car and the recently released RS6 and S3 models.

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