Audi UK Heritage at West London Audi (GB)

Anyone who has driven on the elevated section of the M4 in recent weeks has probably noticed that the huge Audi showroom on the adjacent Great West Road is now open. Glance for a little longer, as I have done more than once (when in a queue, I hasten to add), and you will see that one of the floors of the building clearly contains some historic Audi, such as both a road-going and rally Quattro and a 1980s Audi 80. Ever since the building opened in mid October, I vowed I would call in to what is apparently the largest Audi showroom in the world, but I had either got no time, or it was out of hours and the place was closed. Today was different.
What I discovered is that there are actually two different parts to the 5 storey building. The ground, first and second floors are indeed an Audi showroom, specialising in new and used Audi vehicles, with all that you would expect in a dealership. The upper two floors are run completely separately, and belong to Audi UK. Marketed as the Audi Quattro Rooms, this striking building is actually a purpose built conference centre, adorned with some vehicles from Audi UK’s Heritage fleet. You cannot just simply go up to the third floor, as access is controlled. However, as long as the facility is not booked out to someone, with exclusive rights, then it is usually possible to go and have a look .
My luck was in, and I was introduced to a lady called Clare, who runs the facility, and she gave me a tour of the conference centre,  related a short history of each of the cars and offered me a welcome cup of coffee before allowing me to take as long as I wanted to see the cars at my leisure and to take all the photos I wanted.

As a Conference facility, I have to say that what they have is absolutely superb. There are a number of separately bookable meeting rooms on the fourth floor, along with a “board room”, and on the third floor is an auditorium area which could easily seat 30 – 40 delegates in cabaret style. The main floor areas are very spacious, and so the venue can either house 7 separate meetings, or if you have an exclusive booking, the facility can accommodate 340 guests. The rooms are all equipped with state of the art Bang and Olufsen audio visual equipment. Ruefully, Clare told me how the 103″ screen and sound system in the auditorium tends to be confined to PowerPoint presentations, but she gave me a quick demo of the sound and some video clips. The furniture is all supplied by Fritz Hansen, and looks both contemporary and comfortable. All the rooms have their own supply of drinks, and they can bring in food from various suppliers, depending on your budget. The prices she quoted to me seemed pretty good value, compared to some venues I have used for events in the past. I have to say that the whole set-up was very impressive, and if I were looking for such a facility, this would be high in my list of places to select.

However, I had really gone there to see the cars.
On the fourth floor, there are just three cars from the current range:
On the third floor, there are a number of cars from Audi UK’s Heritage fleet.        
1980 Audi 80 GTE

This is actually a replica of the car that was raced successfully by Sir Stirling Moss in 1980. The original was destroyed a long time ago, apparently.

1939 Wanderer W23
Wanderer is one of the marques that was part of the Auto Union Group of companies, that are now badged Audi. This elegant car, like many of its type, had a coach-built body, largely formed out of wood, though I confess that when I touched it, it was not obvious to me.

1981 Audi Quattro Rally
This is one of the first rally cars which so shocked the world when it appeared on the rally scene in 1980, with its stunning performance, which simply blew all the other competitors into last week. This car was driven by Waldegaard and Blomqvist, among others.

Audi Quattro Sport C1 Group B Rally
Another famous car, this is one of the later Quattro rally cars, and had considerably more power than those early 5 cylinder turbo machines.

Audi R8 Le Mans
This particular car, a diesel, did compete at Le Mans, but had a fairly troubled time, retiring early in the race,m having caught fire. You’d never guess now, though!

Audi Quattro Sport
One of a few of these cars that was officially imported to the UK in 1985. Although the car looks immaculate, inside and out, it has apparently been thrashed hard on road and track, as Audi used it to demonstrate what this car was capable of.

1991 Audi Quattro 20V
This is one of the very last batch of Ur-Quattros that was produced. This car has done a mere 51 miles, and so is showroom fresh.

Audi 100S Coupe
The combination of Italianate styling and German engineering should have been a winner, but these cars were costly when new, and sold in small quantities. This car has been recently purchased by the Heritage fleet, and although superficially in excellent condition, you can see that it will need attention, and Clare did tell me it will be heading off soon for a full restoration.

Audi A4 Touring Car
Although this looked rather like my first S4, it turned out to have a 2 litre engine, to comply with the then regulations. That did not stop it from developing more power than the twin turbos of my 2.7 litre S4, though!

I learned that Audi has about 30 cars in its UK Heritage fleet, so the cars on display will change over time.
Definitely worth popping in if you are passing, and whilst the showroom area is nice, it might be worth calling ahead first to see if you will be able to get into the Heritage collection area.

2009-12-29 20:33:54

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