Rallye Pikes Peak TransAm IMSA Talladega DTM STW DTM2000 LeMans Others
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Rallye Pikes Peak TransAm IMSA Talladega DTM STW DTM2000 LeMans Others | |
| After the switch from the DTM to the relatively young STW, in which stricter reglementation and engines with a maximum displacement of 2 Litres should keep costs low, the competitors (again BMW) once more had to deal with Audi and its quattro threat. | |
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| This is an Audi 80 quattro as it was raced in the STW. STW championships were held everywhere in Europe. Where the STW is going to is not sure yet, the follow-up series EuroSTC is not very popular. |
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| The fear that the small displacement and strict rules would hinder interesting racing was wrong as you can see on this A4. Even a Worldchampionship was held! And the Audi A4 won it! |
As the competitors were not good enough to achieve this on their own (namely BMW), reglementations had to be made. Literally, Audi carried heavy on these
additional weights. But they won nevertheless. But then the sad topping of that story: The quattro was internationally forbidden in the STW. The ad in which an A4
was immobilized by a wheel claw is probably one of the best ads.  (3)Audi was so courageous to try nevertheless. The success was not huge, to say the least. The engine sits to far in front for a good weight distribution. The quattro had enough advantages to overcome this problem. By forbidding the quattro they killed Audi's soul. My opinion: If the competitors are not able to build good cars, Audi should not be punished. All this additional weight crap is pure nonsense to me and stops a fair competion instead of enhancing it. Or has someone hung a belt filled with lead around Carl Lewis' waist, or bind Michael Jordan's hand onto his back, or blindfolded Boris Becker? Got it? It seems that the race officials got back their senses and reallowed the quattros in the 99 season of the STW, but only for private teams. Nevertheless, the STW is a dead series as no real new innovations are developed. Many manufacturers tend to new series, be it Formula 1, LeMans or the new DTM 2000 with a generic chassis and V8 engines. Well, this could be great, except that the cars are limited to rearwheel drive!! However Abt starts with a TT with rear wheel drive in the DTM2000. Now, Opel and friends have made it again: After the official Opel Team was humiliated by the private Abt Team, the basic weight for the quattros was increased from 1040kg to 1070kg! Honda and Opel threatened to leave the series if the Audis would not be slowed down! If you know that both Opel and Honda have brandnew material and aerodynamics while the Audis have to cope with old cars with adjusted aerodynamics, this was really very embarassing for the competitors. | |
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| This was taken on the next to last race sunday. Christian Abt was torpedoed by a lapped private Opel driver. Abt spun on the track and Uwe Alzen hit him directly. Abt went to the pits and finished third in the second race but was later disqualified because his crew would have started working too early (!). However, that would have not been enough, if Christian Abt would not have been torpedoed by an Opel driver on the last raceday. It happened in the last race in the very last corner by an already disqualified driver!! Does this seem fair to you? To me neither. Only thinking of it makes me nearly vomit. |
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The official court of the STW has changed the results of the last race. The next to last lap is now the decisive lap,
resulting in the '99 STW Championship for Christian Abt!!! Besides that, Roland Asch had to pay a fine after an amateur video showed him hitting Abt without braking
The new DTM2000 draws attention away from the STW, at least in Germany. The successor to the STW ist the Euro-STC. It is, as its name implies, a European cup. Once again, Audis are driven, by privat teams, but with quattro!  (4)Euro STC - European Super Touring Cup | |
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Models
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Rallye Pikes Peak TransAm IMSA Talladega DTM STW DTM2000 LeMans Others | |