Audi engineers are waging war on excess weight, and their latest victory is a TT 2.0 TFSI Coupe which has shed an incredible 300kg and gained a power upgrade to 310PS, giving it a 4.2-second 0-62mph sprint time and a top speed of over 170mph.
The TT ultra quattro concept is, as its name suggests, essentially a study developed for next month‘s annual gathering of Audi enthusiasts in Wörthersee, Germany, but it demonstrates how an intelligent mix of materials can bring about considerable weight savings even in existing series-production models. Work on the deployment of these materials could conceivably inform the development of future low-volume Audi model series.
The showcar tips the scales at a lean 1,111kg, an impressive achievement considering it combines its potent petrol engine with quattro all-wheel-drive. With 310PS and 400Nm of torque to propel this pared back mass via a six-speed transmission, the result is a highly impressive power-to-weight ratio of 279PS per ton, a blistering 4.2-second 0-62mph acceleration time and a top speed of 173mph.
The four-cylinder engine raises its game thanks to modifications to the crankcase, the crankshaft, the balancer shafts, the flywheel, the sump, the bolts and certain ancillary units that help to reduce the unit’s weight by 25 kilograms.
No detail was too small to escape scrutiny during the optimisation process that culminated in the TT ultra quattro concept. With its innovative hybrid body shell the fully fledged production TT already boasts a low body weight of 206 kilograms (excluding detachable body parts amounting to 98 kilograms) which bears testament to Audi engineers‘ desire to account for every last gram.
The concept’s body structure sheds another 43 kilograms, and with the help of optimised detachable body parts achieves a total weight saving of 100 kilograms.
The use of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) in the rear end, the centre tunnel, the B-pillars and the roof contributes to this significant saving, as do magnesium components in the floor and in the hinge reinforcements.
The front brakes with their ceramic discs and aluminium fixed calipers also make a contribution, and there are savings to be found in the titanium exhaust system with its single centrally mounted tailpipe and the CFRP wheels with their high-strength aluminium spokes, which shave off a particularly impressive 20 kilograms.
