{"id":489784,"date":"2007-12-01T19:00:26","date_gmt":"2007-12-02T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=59682"},"modified":"2024-02-17T16:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T16:49:00","slug":"no-laughing-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/no-laughing-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Audi Quattro &#8211; No Laughing Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In 1980, people laughed when they heard Audi was developing a four-wheel-drive rally car. Hadn\u2019t Ford tried that with their Capri 10 years earlier and drawn a blank? But the detractors stopped laughing when an Audi Quattro won the 1981 Janner Rally in Austria by 20 minutes. And they were positively \u201cpo-faced\u201d when Hannu Mikkola started taking a full minute per stage off everyone else on the ice and snow of the year\u2019s Monte Carlo Rally over no fewer than the first 10 stages, before a banal driver error put the car out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">World champion Stig Blomqvist, who would later win his title in a Quattro, said of the Audi\u2019s astounding performance on the \u201981 Monte, \u201cI was making ice notes for Bjorn Waldegard at the time and we were listening to the radio announcing Mikkola\u2019s times on the stages. I just couldn\u2019t believe what they were saying: a minute on every stage. That was the start of the whole supercar era.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1980, people laughed when they heard Audi was developing a four-wheel-drive rally car. Hadn\u2019t Ford tried that with their Capri 10 years earlier and drawn a blank? But the detractors stopped laughing when an Audi Quattro won the 1981 Janner Rally in Austria by 20 minutes. And they were positively \u201cpo-faced\u201d when Hannu Mikkola started taking a full minute per stage off everyone else on the ice and snow of the year\u2019s Monte Carlo Rally over no fewer than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":605217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,263,11272,18207],"tags":[177,19511,18433,6518,18744,11351,17140,13061,17143,17220],"class_list":["post-489784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audi","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-special-feature","tag-audi","tag-audi-featured","tag-audi-history","tag-audi-model-in-depth","tag-quattro","tag-motorsport-history","tag-members-only","tag-car-profiles","tag-special-feature","tag-vrr-column-legends-speak"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Audi Quattro - No Laughing Matter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Newman reveals that when Audi debuted their four-wheel-drive Quattro rally car, the opposition laughed. However, their laughter soon turned to tears when Audi revolutionized the sport.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/no-laughing-matter\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/no-laughing-matter\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Audi Quattro - No Laughing Matter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Newman reveals that when Audi debuted their four-wheel-drive Quattro rally car, the opposition laughed. However, their laughter soon turned to tears when Audi revolutionized the sport.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/no-laughing-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-12-02T03:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-17T16:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/FEA200712-p1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"754\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Newman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Newman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"20 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robert Newman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6bb7003c06481e9ed650a2b44c3e3c3\"},\"headline\":\"The Audi Quattro &#8211; No Laughing Matter\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-02T03:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-17T16:49:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3900,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/FEA200712-p1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Audi\",\"Audi (Featured)\",\"Audi (History)\",\"Audi Model Guides (All)\",\"Audi Quattro\",\"History (Motorsports &amp; Racing)\",\"Members Only\",\"Model Guides (All)\",\"Special Feature\",\"VRR Column (Legends Speak)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Audi\",\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Special Feature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Audi Quattro - No Laughing Matter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/no-laughing-matter\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/FEA200712-p1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-02T03:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-17T16:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6bb7003c06481e9ed650a2b44c3e3c3\"},\"description\":\"Robert Newman reveals that when Audi debuted their four-wheel-drive Quattro rally car, the opposition laughed. 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