Watch an 891-HP Audi Quattro S1 Rally Car Run a 10-Second Quarter-Mile
Even though it wasn’t built for the drag strip, this high-powered five-cylinder is more than capable of hurting some feelings.
Race cars that specialize in their disciplines of motorsport typically perform poorly when taken out of their comfort zone, but it's not a hard and fast rule. Such is proved by a cameo of an Audi Quattro S1 built to compete at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb at the home of European drag racing: Santa Pod Raceway.
The car you see below isn't one of the original 214 cars that Audi built to homologate its Sport Quattro for the World Rally Championship; it's a faithful replica stitched together from an Audi 80 and a Coupe Quattro according to a Speedhunters highlight on the car. Rather than being built completely to historic spec, however, this Quattro is a modern reinterpretation of the same formula that made the Audi Quattro so successful: five cylinders, one turbocharger, and four driven wheels.
By reinterpretation, that means using the 2.5-liter turbo engine from an Audi TT RS, plus almost everything downstream of it. With forged internals, oversized valves, and a giant turbocharger, this little "07K" engine as it's known to Volkswageneers whips up numbers that put to shame even the original Group B Audi. A mountainous 891 horsepower and 670 pound-feet of torque distributed to all four wheels is enough to make this Quattro capable of a damn quick quarter-mile pass—10.5 seconds—on its low boost setting.
According to the video's description, this car's peak boost of 2.4 bar (35 psi) wasn't used during this run, suggesting the car's ultimate quarter-mile time would be even quicker, possibly even under 10 seconds. Not bad for a car that's built for monster hillclimbs.
h/t: Jalopnik
