stands for the brand’s permanent four-wheel-drive tech integrated into everything from sedans to sportscars and SUVs.

Based on this tech, Audi has stamped its legacy across both circuit racing as well as rallies the world over. So as this tech turns 40

In the winter of 1976, while testing prototypes in a remote part of Sweden, Audi engineers Jorg Bensinger saw how well their support car, a Volkswagen Iltis,Audi 80

He took inspiration, wanting to replicate this on Audi's roadgoing cars, However, it wouldn’t be easy to replicate a four-wheel-drive system

onto a sedan chassis, as the four-wheel-drive technology back then was cumbersome and rudimentary, a far cry from what Audi was looking for as an addition to its luxurious sedans.Audi 80

After repeated attempts at modifying existing four-wheel-drive configurations for use in a lighter, refined package, Bensinger's team Audi 80

hit upon the idea of hollowing out the primary transmission shaft and running a 10.4-inch-long secondary shaft within it, distributing the engine's power

to both axles via a manually-locking central differential. Audi called the system quattro (‘four’ in Italian), and launched the 2.1-litre in-line-five 197bhp Audi 80 quattro B2 at the 1980

The very next year, Audi's motorsport division, Audi Sport, debuted the quattro at the Austria rally, celebrating its first victory with drivers Franz Wittman and Kurt Nestinger.

And yet, Hannu Mikkola’s quattro set a time that was a whole minute and ten seconds faster than the next car (albeit before retiring)Audi 80.

The quattro reigned supreme in the 1982 WRC, with Mouton winning two rallies, followed by Mikkola winning three and Stig Blomqvist winning four.Audi 80

The next year, Audi debuted the A1 and A2 evolutions of the quattro, raising the power from the turbocharged in-line-5 engine to about 350bhp.Audi 80

Later in 1984, a variant of the quattro, called the Sport quattro S1 was created, comprising a carbon kevlar body shell, wider 200-section tyres Audi 80

a steeper windscreen rake (for aerodynamics as well as minimising internal reflections) and a 320mm shorter wheelbase.Audi 80