Audi Quattro: Born to Play on the Snow Autocross
In a sea of blue, a handful of Audi cars ran at a local snow autocross and show you can have fun year-round.
Quattro exists for a reason. And that reason is snow. Arguably gravel too, but in this instance, snow is the undeniable factor. What better way to pay homage to the Quattro name than to put the car’s namesake through its paces on the slippery stuff? That’s exactly what we found happening up in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. On the famous Road America circuit, an autocross course had been set up. Open to the public, this course was ready for anyone to give it a go.
No matter what car you own, there is a class for you to race in. For simplicity, rear drive, front drive and all-wheel-drive were the three classes. Naturally, this put the Audi models in with some other blue cars that had rally heritage in their DNA, too. Literally, any car can participate in one of these races. Jeeps were present, other SUVs made appearances, too. Just have your car mechanically sound, throw on some snow tires, and get out there and have fun! If you are reading this and have an Audi, you’re the kind of person this event is intended for.
Using two courses – one on the road track and one on the kart track – cars had a chance to race against the clock for bragging rights and fun. To keep things fair between the drivelines, the stages began on dry pavement. But that pavement start would give a false sense of grip as you turned on to the snow.
In the AWD class, cars like the Audi had competition from the likes of Subarus, Mitsubishi Evos, and interestingly, Lexus. With an event like this, it was tough to say who’s car was better, as snow quickly cleared to wet pavement, making the Quattro advantage somewhat obscured.
Still, in the quicker high-speed autocross on the road course, a thunderous Audi RS5 came away the victor. Yep, that one sliding away in the image above. And an S4 finished in 4th in AWD at the more traditional and longer autocross setup. But you didn’t need to have an RS5 to have fun at the event. Even more humble offerings were out there for a quick spin. Everything from a 2001 Audi S4 to a 2017 Audi A4 had their opportunity to have some fun.
In all, it seemed like everyone had a blast and the camaraderie existed between all drivers at the event, regardless of what car was brought. There’s another event in February, and a final in March. You’ll likely find us there.
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Photos for AudiWorld by Patrick Morgan
