The Audi TT ultra quattro concept sheds a significant amount of weight, adds more power and retains all-wheel drive in time for its appearance at Volkswagen AG’s annual Worthersee tuning festival in Germany next month.
The special concept version of the Audi TT sports car tips the scales at just 1111kg thanks to some extensive engineering work with weight-saving materials such as carbonfibre and magnesium alloy.
The TT ultra quattro concept loses 300kg off its closet series production model, the TT S TSFI quattro, which has a kerb weight of 1415kg.
Engineers have also tweaked TT’s 2.0-litre TSFI engine, with power rising to 231kW (up from 200kW) and torque increasing from 350Nm to 400Nm.
The resulting modifications give the TT concept a 4.2-second 0-100km/h sprint time (5.2secs for the production model) and a top speed of over 274km/h.
The principle weight saving is achieved by using carbonfibre as a material for the rear end, central tunnel, the B-pillars and the roof, while the floor and hinge reinforcements use magnesium components.
While the concept’s bodyshell saves around 43kg, the use of detachable body panels boosts total weigh savings to 100kg.
The engine work sheds another 25kg thanks to modifications to the crankcase, crankshaft and other internal parts.
Fibreglass-reinforced polymer replaces conventional steel for the concept’s coil springs in the suspension, which is 40 per cent lighter.
The lead battery, too, has been replaced with a much smaller lithium-ion unit, which weighs less than 4kg.
Inside, the standard seats are also replaced with fibreglass-reinforced polymer versions from the R8 GT, and the same material is used for the door trim, centre console and the cross-bracing that replaces the rear seat bench.
Despite the extensive weight-saving modifications, the TT ultra quattro concept still gets features such as air conditioning, electric windows and an electromechanical parking brake.
Also on board are innovations such as compact cameras in the doors that have replaced the side mirrors for improved aerodynamics.
