VIDEO: Audi Quattro Drag Race Celebrates 45 Years of Audi 5-Cylinder Engines
Five Audi Quattros just celebrated 45 years of Audi’s legendary 5-cylinder engine with an epic drag race!
An Audi Quattro drag race seems like an odd way to celebrate the inline-5 cylinder engine. However, when the cars are five of Audi’s most iconic vehicles, it’s the best way to see them perform. Turning people loose on the streets with $2.5 million worth of rare, original cars from Audi’s heritage museum is a bad idea. Especially if one of them is THE 1985 Audi Quattro Group B rally car driven by Stig Blomqvist and Walter Rohrl.
It’s also great fun as we see on the below video from carwow. There’s something incredible about seeing these five vehicles lined up together. The current RS 3 is a direct descendent of this line which includes:
- 1985 Audi S1 Quattro rally car – Driven by Stig Blomqvist and Walter Rohl, this is the feral beast that conquered Group B rallying and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. Producing upwards of 500 horsepower, it’s still insanely fast today.
- 1985 Audi Sport Quattro – The tamer road-going car used to homologate the S1 rally car. Not that there’s anything tame about a 300-horsepower car with 12 inches chopped off its wheelbase.
- 1989 Audi Quattro – The tamest of the bunch with only 220-horsepower but still plenty quick.
- 1996 Audi RS2 Avant and S2 Coupe – two variations of a theme. The Avant, with its 315 horsepower, helped make wagons cool. It overshadows the S2 Coupe which was the first S-line model launched by Audi.
There’s just something about the sound of the inline-5. It’s angry and ready to spring from its cage. Yet each of these five-cylinder cars sounds different based on their level of tune and emissions controls. The results of the drag race are not too surprising. The driver of the S1 rally car is clearly holding back to avoid hurting the car. Or, as he says, “give the other siblings a chance.”
Photos & Video: carwow
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