I have to confess I have not watched a whole episode the British Broadcasting Corporations (BBC) science fiction police drama ‘Ashes to Ashes’ which ran from 2008 to 2010, I never seemed to be at the right place at the right time, but I have enjoyed some of the trailers which feature a bright red early version of the Audi Quattro.

According to official records the registration JLY751V as seen on the Ashes to Ashes Quattro actually belongs to a 1979 Nissan New Sunny quite the opposite of the 200 hp performance beast seen here at Sherborne Castle last year which is a slightly later version of the car seen in the TV series.

The Audi Quattro was launched in 1980 featuring a great rumbling 200 hp five cylinder turbo charged motor and permanent all wheel drive which at the time was a novelty reserved almost exclusively for off road vehicles, however with the strap line “Vorsprung Durch Technick” “Forward Through Technology” Audi almost single handedly, with the aid of a healthy competition program, convinced the public of the benefits of permanent all wheel drive to traction, handling and safety. As DCI Gene Hunt says in this linked trailer for the third and final Ashes to Ashes series “You’ve either got it my friend, or you haven’t.”

I was surprised to learn that only 11,452 Quattro’s were built between 1980 and 1991, but this was the niché model aimed at the performance market that opened up the permanent all wheel drive concept up to a much wider public. I’ll leave you with a link to a funny clip that shows the Ashes to Ashes Quattro in action with a sound track taken from a 1980 edition of Top Gear soon after the car was launched which starts at 30 seconds in.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ashes to Ashes” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !