Audi Sport: the evolution of performance

If Audi Sport's early reputation was forged in the fire of international rallying, by the late 1980s it began to broaden its horizons. When the Group B rally formula was suddenly banned in 1986 after a spate of tragic accidents, the quattro S1 E2s fell silent for the last time and a new challenge beckoned. But where?

The answer lay across the Atlantic. Not that Audi was going to simply throw aside the astonishing developments that had delivered so much success on the world’s rally stages; its new challenger was the 200 quattro Trans-Am developed for the 1988 Trans Am series. Utilising the powerful turbocharged five-cylinder engine mated to a quattro four-wheel drive system, this now familiar recipe created a sensation, capturing the championship and in the process helping to establish the Audi brand in North America.

The following year was even more spectacular, with Audi entering the IMSA GTO series with the fearsome, 720bhp 90 quattro IMSA GTO, and narrowly missing out on the title at its first attempt despite taking seven wins. Despite rocking the establishment, Audi withdrew from US motorsport; Europe’s premier series, in the form of the German Touring Car Championship (DTM), beckoned.

The shock for DTM stalwarts BMW and Mercedes-Benz was the nature of Audi’s challenger. The mighty Audi V8 quattro, which simply had too much performance and grip for the opposition, catching the established players off-guard, taking Audi Sport to championship glory in its first season. Audi Sport followed up this inaugural success with another title with the Evolution model for 1991, a golden age of the series.

Meanwhile, it was with this on-track success as a backdrop that it was finally time for Audi to replace the iconic Ur-quattro after 11 years in production. In ultimate 20v form it had matured into a genuine performance hero of future classic status, and following in its wheel tracks would never be an easy task. Enter the Audi S2 Coupe, complete with a now legendary 20v five-cylinder turbocharged engine and quattro drivetrain. A stylish machine of considerable quality, it faced formidable opposition in the market and at the same time expanded Audi’s appeal.

Dr Ferdinand Piech and Audi Sport knew that if they were to continue Audi’s advancement in road car technology, something radical needed to be done. Thankfully, the doctor knew just the people down the road in Stuttgart who could help.

Porsche, then in financial difficulty, were thankful for the work, and certainly set about the project with gusto. But as much as their modifications created a performance classic, so was Audi’s decision to use the S2 estate as the basis for what would become the RS2, an inspired step. In the process, it created a new subgenre of performance motoring - the fast estate car - and also set itself up to dominate the sector for decades to come.

Today, due to its reputation, initial preconceptions are sky high, and actually, in the metal the RS2 is remarkably reserved. The same applies to the driving experience, which by today’s standards its performance is not as bombastic as some might expect, but in 1992 it was a family car with genuine supercar performance. The 20v, 309bhp five-pot is surprisingly quiet, and the steering overly light. Stick with it, though, and you’re rewarded with a turn of pace that feels entirely modern once that big turbo is blowing hard, and terrific mid-corner grip and stability. Essentially, the harder you drive the RS2, the more it seems to like it...

In the UK, the RS2 rapidly became a legend, and it was also over here where Audi Sport’s next Touring Car success had the greatest impact. The British Touring Car Championship was at the height of its popularity in the mid-nineties, the premier Super Touring series in the world, and yet the A4 quattro steamrollered the opposition during the 1996 season, easily clinching the crown - and that despite the organiser’s best efforts to slow the four-wheel drive cars down. Once again, Audi had proved that its quattro drivetrain was superior, even without its legendary five-cylinder engine in the nose.

Over the next decade Audi gradually refined the recipe of the fast estate, including the wild B5 RS4 Estate of 1999, with its 374bhp biturbo V6. However our next legend arrived in 2006 in the form of the B7 Audi RS4. No longer was Audi Sport working in partnership with other constructors or specialists; this was all its own - and available in saloon, estate and even convertible variants for the first time, as well. There was a new V8 engine, too: a spectacular, direct-injected, high-revving, naturally aspirated unit, mated to a manual transmission. The B7 RS4 is sublime: comfortable, flexible and an effortless cruiser when you’re not in the mood, then transforming into a roaring muscle car the next moment with a press of the ‘S’ button on the steering wheel. The quality of its steering, the poise and handling balance of its chassis and the sheer involvement of the driving experience now made it a firm evo favourite, an accolade once inevitably reserved for Audi’s Munich rivals.

Audi Sport had truly refined the idea of the rapid estate car, but in the company as a whole there was soon a car that really illustrated the scope of Ferdinand Piech’s aspirations. The original TT was unveiled in 1998 and suddenly an Audi sports car was creating headlines. It wouldn’t be long before such Audi models were rewriting the rules on road and track.