Why real men drove the Audi Sport Quattro S1
By Straight-Six, published on 23 November 2010
There’s nothing like excess. We’re talking balls-to-the-wall, harder than hard and ultimately a surefire way to the morgue. But one has only to look at the output of those musicians, actors, artists and even drivers who left us all too soon, following a period of unparalleled creativity and talent, to recognise that burning brighter can leave an eternal impression on us all
Applied to motorsport in the early 1980s, this total lack of self-restraint yielded something called Group B rallying, and the monster we’d like to honour today: the Audi Sport Quattro S1.
So, what the hell was Group B anyways? It referred to a set of regulations established by the FIA for sportscar racing and rallying. The Group B rules gave birth to the wildest, most powerful and definitely quickest rally cars we’ve ever seen. And probably will ever see. It turns out Group B rally cars were, quite literally, too fast for their drivers and a series of fatal and terrifying accidents – culminating in the death of Finnish driving legend Henri Toivonen and his co-driver in the 1986 Tour de Corse – meant the class was only 4 years old before its parents killed it. Quickly and brutally.
But what Group B showed us was what happened when you let a bunch of engineers, dollops of cash and fearless drivers loose on standard roads cars that were homologated in very small numbers. In other words, imagine a mechanical Frankenstein born of Bruce Lee, Ferdinand Piech and the Devil’s own harlot (yes, these things can be imagined and done here, on The Prodigal Guide!) and you’d likely be looking at the Audi Sport Quattro S1.
The S1 was truly terrifying and incredibly potent: producing in excess of 500hp (600hp in 1986) with just 1,100kg to haul around, a brutal aerodynamic kit was also added featuring distinctive wings and spoilers on the front and back of the car to increase downforce. All this meant the S1 accelerated from 0-100 kmh in a mere 3.1 seconds. The incredibly talented and charming Walter Rohrl – Porsche’s lead development driver – would be forever associated with the S1, despite the fact that he never won the WRC title in one – only a bunch of individual rallies. Maybe it’s because the S1 was made in his home state of Bavaria.
But, we digress. The pics will have whetted your appetites, we hope, and there’s only one thing left for you to do: watch, listen and wet your pants.
Why real men drove the Audi Sport Quattro S1
There’s nothing like excess. We’re talking balls-to-the-wall, harder than hard and ultimately a surefire way to the morgue. But one has only to look at the output of those musicians, actors, artists and even drivers who left us all too soon, following a period of unparalleled creativity and talent, to recognise that burning brighter can [...]
7 Responses to “Why real men drove the Audi Sport Quattro S1”
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Ivan Y
23 November 2010
Thanks for the story, Ian! Kind of sucks that rallying isn’t know well in the US (way behind even F1).
Driving in extreme (to some) conditions is just a matter of experience. When I lived in New Hampshire for a short while, driving on New England’s winding, mountainous roads seemed pretty extreme. But driving on highways in Houston is another extreme due to headspinning connectors from one freeway to the next one. Took my mother 5 or 6 years to get used to it.
And, of course, in many Asian countries, India & Pakistan, Russia, and so forth, it’s extreme since no one pays attention to the rules, ignores lane markings, and basically does whatever he/she can get away with.
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Straight-Six
26 November 2010
Ian,
A brilliant, serpentine story! Great drivers are more like ballet dancers than anything else. Their sense of balance, sensitivity and ability to fold time and space are truly breath-taking and it sounds like you tasted that a bit too soon. Along with a healthy dose of mortal fear…:)
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ValDarrant
23 November 2010
BAH!!!! Real men? Magnum PI drove a 308 how bout that?
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Kostas
25 November 2010
Great read Straight Six.. Unfortunately most people today think that real men drive a Pagani Zonda
I just have to say that Group B was and will always be the ultimate experience to watch.. Too bad I was a little too young when they came to the mountains of Greece… The sound those cars were producing will never be replicated.. also the fear they caused to their drivers Great story Ian
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Straight-Six
26 November 2010
Kostas,
I couldn’t agree more, the Veyron being the ultimate expression of today’s modern supercar steam-roller, the driver having little to do other than floor the accelerator and let the electronics sort things out.
I’m always left speechless watching the S1 spit flames, rear up on its hind-quarters and belch, fart and snort its way across tarmac, dirt and snow. A real Jabberwocky of a car, bless it.
Yeah, the fact that the guys who drove it repeatedly stated it was simply too fast says it all, no?
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[...] by now know of our love, fascination and worship of Group B rallying and the men and machines who, quite literally, survived this most insane and pointed of automotive [...]
Ian Skellern
23 November 2010
While backpacking around Europe in 1995/96, I spent a few winter days in Chamonix. To save the bus fare back to Geneva (about 90 minutes drive at that time) I thought I’d hitchhike and was very happy that within 10 minutes a young man in an Audi Quattro stopped and I gratefully jumped in.
This was before the Autoroute went most of the way and at that time the road down from Chamonix was fairly narrow, busy with cars, and slippery with snow.
No sooner had my seat hit the seat than we accelerated to what I can only estimate to be Warp 5 (maybe it was Warp 6). As far as I was aware through vision blurred with tears and fear, my kindly driver kept the pedal to the floor, cocked a snoot at the fundamental laws of physics and casually treated hairpin curves (over long drop offs) and traffic (in both directions) with absolute disdain.
He chatted non-stop, apparently not noticing that I understood very little French; that at Mach 2 on a winding icy road my focus wasn’t on his gibberish; and even if I could understand him, the fact that my heart was in my mouth chocking off all air to my lungs made reply impossible. And I only wanted to Scream!
He eventually realized that there was a communication problem and began looking me carefully in the eye and speaking more slowly and clearly. The fact that his attention was now on me instead of the snow covered road had no influence on his driving. We were still going sideways at around 5000 mph while he tried to make his point more easily understood.
It eventually dawned on me that he was saying that he had been to a race in Chamonix that was part of the European Rally championship. Great I though, my boy racer watches a serious rally in the snow and feels as though he can copy the big boys in in his bloody Audi Quattro.
Not that there was doubt before, but at that time I knew I was well and truly dead and it would only be a question of if we would hit an oncoming car or go over the edge of a 300 m drop.
And then it got worse. With the accelerator still flat to the floor and the car going around slippery corners sideways many times faster than was possible, he began searching for something on the back seat.
Before I could open the door and take my chances outside the nightmare, he grabbed a newspaper from the back seat and gave it too me.
Did he really think I was bored?
With one hand still on the door handle, I glanced at the front page and saw a smiling portrait of my Dr. Death. He had won the rally the previous day in his race Quattro, this one was his tame car.
All that took around 15 minutes – though that’s only relative when you are travelling faster than light – and I relaxed when I realized that he knew what he was doing. Though “relaxed” is alsoy relative when you are travelling faster than light.
I don’t think that I have been in an Audi Quattro since but that one left an indelible memory.