On October 18, 1980, a Nardòa diesel prototype prepared by Volkswagen was able to break several speed records. The car ARVWled by the then world champion Keke Rosberg, tore up several firsts that still stand today in the FIA record list. For example, the speed record of 353 km / h starting from a standstill over an hourand 345 km / h over 500 kilometers.
What looks like a wingless airplane is actually a record-breaking car with well-hidden four wheels. ARVW (Aerodynamic Research Volkswagen) was the ultimate expression of Volkswagen technology in terms of bodywork, design and (of course) engine. The idea was to obtain significant performance while consuming less: after all, the manufacturers’ attention had shifted to fuel consumption during the oil crisis in the 1970s. Volkswagen development chief Ernst Fiala fielded a team led by designer Emil Pommer, chief operating officer Jürgen Nitz, aerodynamicist Klaus-Rainer Deutenbach, engine technician Rolf Poltrock and team principal Rudolf-Helmut Strozyk. The results were brilliant.
The five-meter-long single-seater, with an extremely short track gauge of 650 millimeters, could only be driven by daring drivers. Keke Rosberg, in fact, and Helmut Henzler. The Finn climbed aboard a car weighing 800 kilos and with an aerodynamic Cx of 0.15. The front section occupied only 0.73 m³. Two rear flaps and three adjustable spoilers ensured maximum directional stability. To neutralize the centrifugal forces, the ARVW’s trim was set at a height of 30 millimeters inside the curve and 80 mm above the ground outside the curve, thus taking advantage of the banking of the Italian track. The car used obviously recombined stock components from Volkswagen and Audi, with a 40-pound aluminum chassis and a mix of fiberglass-reinforced polyester and carbon, attached to a suspension system with wishbones and torsion bars at the front, as well as rear arms, shock absorbers and struts at the rear.
The seat of the Volkswagen ARVW is located in front of a supercharged 2.4-liter straight-six diesel engine, the same as fitted to the Transporter LT. The clutch and four-speed transmission came from the Audi 100. The driving force of the mid-engine reached the rear axle via two short chains, without a differential. The two aluminum safety tanks contained 130 liters of diesel and 60 liters of water. One ingenuity was the injection of water into the intake pipe in front of the 2.6 bar KKK turbocharger. With 175 horsepower (up from the original 69) and a top speed of 360 km / h, it was quite easy to maintain these numbers thanks to the aerodynamics; despite everything, however, the average fuel consumption was around 13.6 liters per 100 km. At a constant speed of 250 km / h, diesel consumption was limited to 6.5 liters / 100 km. Extraordinary values.
For Volkswagen it was difficult to keep the project on an adequate level of secrecy: the car was in fact built in the workshops of Badische Waggonfabrik Rastatt (BWR), the same company that had made the record-breaking versions of the Mercedes C-111. VW team members traveled to the BWR headquarters using cars that could not arouse the suspicion of a collaboration.
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