The Audi 50 Group 2 presented here has been in use in circuit racing and in hillclimbs for more than 45 years. Over the decades, it has been rebuilt four times. At the end of the recently completed restoration, the car received FIA HTP certification – and thus enjoys the prospect of many more wonderful years in international racing.
‘Cars of series production which may be submitted to certain modifications aimed at making them better suited to competition.’ This is the first sentence in Appendix J of 1976 for the ‘Touring Cars (Group 2)’ category.
This update of the Group 2 regulations which had been in force up to that point added a number of essential restrictions on parts for which there had previously been freedom. However, if you look at these new regulations as the starting point of a development that lasted until 1981, this Appendix J meant the approval of a lot of racing technology for ‘bread-and-butter cars’ such as the Audi 50. In particular, it introduced freedom with regard to mixture preparation, valves, valve guides and valve seats as well as the use of electronic ignition systems (still a novelty at the time), huge fenders, various rigid mountings and modern safety standards.
As a result, the Audi 50 from 1974 and then the VW Polo from 1975 became popular in German and European motorsport. The classes up to 1,150 and up to 1,300 cc always provided close and entertaining racing. Here, ‘ordinary folks’ like Inez Muhle, Manfred Haase, Michael Pötschke, Wolfgang Kudrass and many others battled it out. However, they did not use close-to-standard equipment as in the numerous one-make cups at the time, but much more sophisticated Group 2 machinery…
More in the current issue!
by Johan Weiß
Photographs: Dominic Heidl, Johann Weiß, Rolf Krogel, Daniel Schimmel, Christian Sandler