I was very suprised and then exited to find this invitation in the mail today for the Texas Motor Speedway event on 4/27 - 4/28! I did not even count on attending and had made other plans (changed now)

For anyone else who has attended these events - what is it like? Should I be concerened about my mods being documented? ;-)

-Dave

 

I went to the Chicago Challenge last year and had tons of fun.

There's a lot of info at <a href="http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge">http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge</a> if you want to see what Audi has to say about it.

They'll take you through 4 different events, each of which is supposed to teach you something about how to use the full potential of your car or something. In wet handling, they'll wet down a corner on a track and send you through it at a pretty high speed so you can see how your car will react (with ESP if you have it.) They'll also take a picture of you going through it and email it to you...<a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=postcard.jpg&directory=quattroc hallenge/">Here's mine</a>.

In accident avoidance and recovery, they'll have you do an "emergency lane change" and then slam on the brakes...Like if a kid ran out in front of you. Then they'll have you go through a slalom to get the car off balance as you enter a wet corner which should put you into a skid...This one should teach you what to do in the event of a skid/spin.

The timed autocross is basically a competition. If you've ever autocrossed before, you'll find their course extremely simple. Best time of the day gets some sort of prize like a gift certificate from the Audi Boutique or a shirt or something.

Speed laps are the fun part. This is the only event where you do not drive your own car. At Chicago, they had an allroad, 2 A6s (2.7t and a 4.2), an A4, an S4 and an S8 (my favorite.) They'll stick a few cones out on the oval so you don't just fly around the track and an instructor will take you around the track at a pretty slow speed. After a couple of laps, you get to drive around the course and the instructor will try to show you how to do things the best way. The fun part is when the instructor gets back in the driver's seat, turns off ESP, and pushes the car to 100%. In Chicago, the instructors raced against each other...Here's some videos I took of the Speed Laps...
<a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=s8-instruction.asx&directory=quattrochallenge/">Instructor showing us around the track in the S8</a>
<a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=s8-me.asx&directory=quattrochallenge/">Me driving the S8</a>
<a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=s8-otherguy.asx&directory=quattrochallenge/">Some other guy driving the S8</a>
<a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=s8-wildride.asx&directory=quattrochallenge/">S8 vs S4 driven by instructors</a>
...You'll need Windows Media Player 6.4 or higher to play these.

After everything was over, Audi gave everyone a <a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?picture=MVC00196.JPG&directory=quattroc hallenge/">bucket with some cleaning supplies</a> and then treated us to dinner at a museum.

There was lots of heavily modified cars there (mostly A4s and S4s) and I haven't heard about anyone being denied warranty because of it, so I wouldn't worry about that. They do a very minor tech inspection (check fluid levels and tire pressures), so they shouldn't notice anything that isn't obvious (ie: a chip.)

For anyone else reading this who did not get an invitation, you can still sign up to go. Just call Audi at the number listed at <a href="http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge">http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge</a> and get registered...But only do it if you can actually go. Space is limited, and it would be pretty greedy to sign up and then not go.

Oh yeah...And <a href="http://laer.nu/tt/thumbs.php?directory=quattrochallenge/">here's all the pictures and videos</a> I took at the Chicago event.

 

Does it matter if you are front-drive and not quattro?

 

Nope. Not at all. Last year, they allowed anyone with any '96 or newer Audi.

 

See you there!!

-Ryan E.

 

I'm there on Saturday. Good timing: just ordered new Kumhos.

 

I changed to Saturday!

 

is it invitation only? if not how to contact them???.

 

<ul><li><a href="http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge">http://www.audiusa.com/quattrochallenge</a</li></ul>

 

I've also signed up for Saturday!