Further proof of the radness that is Audi

[optics]

This looks like fun.



Story.

[vote4pedro]

i love my audi

[ScottG]

i love my audi

Me too, when its not in the shop.


You missed the best pic:



I'm not sure how much fun I would have in that car right there.
I would rather be on skis at that point.

[ScottG]

Kaipola, Finland, 24 January 2005, 1.27 p.m: the expression on Uwe Bleck’s face is probably much the same as when he is putting his car into the garage at home or driving to the shops. Behind the wheel, he looks calm and relaxed. It is hard to believe that, after quite literally scaling new heights, he has just parked his Atlas Grey Audi A6 4.2 quattro 47 metres off the ground at an angle of 37.5 degrees – and that is approximately equivalent to an 80 percent gradient. On a ski jump!

“Safety first” was the underlying principle for the entire project. Keeping the car in the steeply angled position at the top of the jump was the biggest challenge. As soon as it stopped there it would immediately slide back again. The A6 therefore had to be “held on to” at the top. To solve this problem, an ingenious system was fixed to the ski jump and to the bottom of the car. The “roll-back safety device” was equipped with three independent systems. It was located on a steel baseplate and weighed around 65 kilograms. This “sled” was installed to the underbody of the 335 bhp Audi A6 (1.9 tonnes) and merely served to prevent the car from sliding back; it was not able to pull it.

The Audi A6 4.2 quattro with 6-speed tiptronic that drove up the ski jump was otherwise a perfectly normal production version. Two minor exceptions: the automatic transmission was kept in first gear – the slight power loss that occurs when changing gear would have made it impossible to climb such a steep gradient – and the six-millimetre spikes on the tyres. Tyres of this kind are also used in rallying.

It was then time for Bleck to start his breathtaking ascent into the sky. In first gear, at 4,200 revs per minute and at about 60 kilometres per hour, the A6 stormed up the jump, taking the 80 percent gradient with incredible ease. Later Bleck said: “I could have gone faster, even at the steepest point.” Nine seconds later, Bleck arrived at the starting gate, 47 metres off the ground. Bleck drove the A6 all the way up the ski jump a total of eleven times.