Audi is increasing its motorsport presence by launching the Audi Sport TT Cup, which will form part of the supporting cast for the 2015 DTM season.
Based on the new TT, the race-prepped version weighs 1125kg and has 228kW on offer from its 2.0 litre turbocharged engine. A “push to pass” button provides a limited power boost of an additional 22kW.
A grid of 24 cars is planned for the one-make series, with 18 seats now up for grabs. The remaining six cars will be made available to guest drivers.
Audi driver Markus Winkelhock will be on hand to coach the drivers if need be. He’s been involved in testing for the new TT racer and said: “The Audi TT cup is a genuine race car, ideal for rookies, yet challenging to drive. You immediately feel that you’re sitting in an Audi and recognise the close kinship with the brand’s other race cars.”
Audi says the winner of the TT Cup could progress to the company’s GT3 program and possibly then onto DTM or WEC.
Ahead of next week’s Paris Motor Show, Audi has revealed images and details for its new TT and TTS Roadster models. This follows the launch of the third-generation TT at Geneva in March this year.
That means, with the exception of the open air view, we already know what to expect with this latest TT example. So let’s focus on the convertible roof for a moment. Made from magnesium, aluminum, steel and plastic the roof weighs 39kg, which is 3kg less than the previous model.
You need just 10 seconds to open the electronically controlled roof and the same amount to close it. You can do this while the car is motion, too, at speeds up to 50km/h. All you really need to do is decide which colour you’d like your fabric roof to be. You can choose from the obvious black, the less obvious titanium gray and and the positively funky sounding jive.
The TT Roadster goes on sale in Europe later this year and you can expect to see it in Australian showrooms after mid-2015.
There’s more details for you after the break, including images of the TTS Roadster; it’s the yellow one. As you would expect the TTS has a slightly more aggressive body kit to complement its range-topping 228kW/380Nm 2.0 litre TFSI engine.
Audi UK brings us inside the new TT with a brief video giving us a working look at its new virtual cockpit. You and I would call it a fancy dash display. More specifically it’s a 12.3 inch high-resolution TFT display which can be reconfigured in more ways than we can probably count.
One of the concerns for systems like this is that the movement of the graphics is fluid and there’s no annoying lag. On this evidence the virtual cockpit seems quite good. We’ll be keen to see this for ourselves once the new TT lands in Australia.
[Source: Audi UK]
Got a couple of minutes to spare? Then here’s a a short video from Audi UK bringing you up to speed on all things TT.
As you’ll see the first gen started off all French curves and bendy and now its becoming aluminium rulers and angular. To us, all three generations of TT look pretty damn fine. But so far our pick is the middle child.
Although, we are very keen to see this new dash display in action.
[Thanks to John for the tip]
Like us you probably haven’t had a chance to duck over to Europe to check out the Geneva Motor Show. So here’s the first of a two part series bringing you a selection of the cars on show. Here we start with Alfa Romeo and go through to Lexus.
Audi clearly wasn’t content with unveiling the new production-spec TT in Geneva, so they brought along this 420hp (309kW) TT quattro sport concept as well.
You might think that this is a preview of what to expect in the next TT RS. Maybe it is. Audi isn’t really giving any concrete rationale for the model other than these words from Technical Development boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg: “With our Audi TT quattro sport concept show car, we wanted to demonstrate what the new TT’s technology can do if you take it a step further. This car is designed for racing—an extreme driving machine for the motorsports enthusiasts among our customers.”
To that end, and with any luck, expectations this is a forerunner to a production TT RS are lost when it’s revealed the concept car is powered by a heavily worked engine based on the familiar EA888 2.0 litre turbocharged four cylinder and not an inline five cylinder. Yeah, we know the days of the unique five-pot may be over, but we can live in hope.
It’s clear this can’t really be considered an EA888 engine when you consider the quattro sport concept motor has a lightweight crank, revised pistons, a new cylinder head and a specially created cast alloy block.
All told there’s 309kW/450Nm on offer and it can propel the 1344kg concept to 100km/h in only 3.7 seconds, thanks also to its S tronic transmission and quattro all-wheel drive system. Audi proudly boasts the engine produces 155kW/litre, which it describes as “a new benchmark” for a 2.0 litre.
We’re a bit unsure about the aggressive and angular body styling, what about you?
This is the new Audi TT. The third-generation of Audi’s landmark coupé is ready to take centre stage at the Geneva Motor Show. Shown above in TTS trim with Tango Red paint you see many familiar cues from the original TT launched in 1998.
Overall the look is pure TT. Although, perhaps the grille may raise a few eyebrows at first, especially on the TTS. In general, though, the new TT has been chiseled and refined to form a very pleasing result.
The innovative electronic dash display, replacing the traditional dials behind the steering wheel, is the TT’s biggest party trick. It clears space in the interior allowing design to take centre stage without hurting function.
Powered by a familiar range of engines the TTS sits at the top of the tree, for now. Its 2.0 litre TFSI engine produces 228kW or 310hp in the old money—that’s 7kW more than found in the S3. Torque remains at 380Nm and reaches that figure at a low 1800rpm. Coupled to a quattro all-wheel drive system the TTS can reach 100km/h in 4.7 seconds with an S tronic transmission.
Also included at launch are 135kW/380Nm 2.0 TDI and 169kW/370Nm 2.0 TFSI models. With front-wheel drive and a 6-speed manual transmission the 2.0 TFSI will reach 100km/h in 6.0 seconds. The addition of a 6-speed S tronic and quattro brings that sprint down to 5.3 seconds.
The TTS sits 10mm lower than its siblings and gets the S line body kit and Audi magnetic ride suspension as standard equipment.
More detail on the new TT range can be found after the break.
Der neue Audi TT is only days away from being revealed to the world. Audi Germany has published a short teaser to YouTube which almost shows us the whole car.
It will be the third-generation of TT, a model which since its launch in 1998 has, aesthetically at least, won a strong following. The new model will be built on the MQB platform and should be the best handling and performing TT we’ve seen.
In less than two weeks the third-gen Audi TT will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. To tide us over until then Audi has released four sketches which give us a taste of what is to come.
It’s true that most new cars look better and more aggressive in drawings compared with final production models and, while we think that will remain the case with the new TT, we’re also expecting to like what we’ll see under the brights lights in Geneva.
Certainly, the interior of the new TT looks promising and advances automotive design in a small way with its innovative dash display, removing the need for a screen in the central console.
A small detail of note, too, is the move of the four-ringed badge from the grille to the bonnet, as we see on the R8.
Audi has gone into adjective overdrive in the press release accompanying these sketches, which you can read below. We’re keen to see the real deal and will update once we have the photos and details to hand.
The public reveal of the next-gen Audi TT is scheduled for the Geneva Motor Show in March. This doesn’t leave much time for Audi to be out and about testing prototypes, but that’s exactly what they’re doing.
As you can see this near naked TT looks pretty much like the first two generations, with a more refined bodystyle following on from the current model’s approach.
Audi has already showed us inside the TT, with its nifty TFT dash display doing away with a centre console screen. And now we’ve got a pretty good handle on what the outside looks like too.
[Source: WCF | Pic: Automedia]
Last month Audi previewed what we now know is the allroad shooting brake concept, which is what you see here. Then, and now, it’s clear this show car is a real-world preview of the next-gen TT coupé.
Certainly, if you look inside the cabin, the dash of this shooting brake concept matches the new TT interior revealed in Las Vegas last week.
On the outside the production TT may not match this concept panel for panel, but you can expect the front grille, headlight treatment and general shape of the TT to be directly descended from the shooting brake concept.
Indeed, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi’s Technical Development boss, has said as much: “We are offering very concrete glimpses of the near future in this show car.”
The design language previewed here will likely carry across other future models as well. The next A4, for example.
For what it’s worth the allroad shooting brake is powered by a 300kW/650Nm petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain. The bulk of that power comes from a 2.0 TFSI petrol engine producing 215kW/380Nm. While two electric motors provide the rest: 40kW at the front axle and a separate motor for the rear axle offering 85kW. They say both motors can operate together with the petrol engine, so that makes 340kW to us. Never mind.
Despite the use of aluminium and CFRP for the body panels the concept still tips the scales at a not so moderate 1600kg, but with all hands on deck in the drivetrain department and a ubiquitous double-clutch gearbox the allroad shooting brake can reach 100km/h in 4.6 seconds.
Oh, and, don’t you just love the way car makers post-rationalise their concept models. Audi’s explanation for this concept model is a bit like a tampon commercial:
The versatility and functionality of the Audi allroad shooting brake is ideal for young, sporty and active people. In the winter in California, for example, they could drive the car from Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Mountains for snowboarding in the morning, and then head out to at Venice Beach for some kite surfing in the afternoon.
