The History of Audi Sport, part 2: the evolution of performance

Music

So Toby, in the last film we saw how Audi completely redefined the sport of rallying

and in the process established the Quattro brand and also added a much-needed luster to its entire product range

Now, we're going to look what happened next. They had to move on. Rallying had stopped, as you say

So they went to America. They took the engine, they took the technology, they took Walter Rohl, a world rally champion

they took Hans-Joachim Stuck, a Le Mans winner. That's a driver line-up. That's a driver line-up

And they had the IMSA GTO. They weren't just winning races. the pair of them were lapping the whole field

continuing this four-wheel drive route around the world. On the road car side, though, things were a little bit trickier

because the Eau Quattro was such a legend. It was actually a difficult car to replace

kind of like the difficult second album syndrome. Well, the car that had that unenviable task was this S2 Coupe

Today, the legacy of this car is not so much what it is

but what came from it, the technology that came from it because from this car, Audi took the basis of it and put it

into a, well, created a whole new sub-genre of performance cars, the fast estate. The car that

did that was this, the RS2. The 1994 RS2 is the very first Audi RS production car. Revealed for

For the first time at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show it was the product of the new joint venture company set up between Audi and Porsche The Porsche script appears more than once on the RS2 and the wheels mirrors and the style of the

gaping front vents are all recognizably Stuttgart born and bred. It's not quite as raw as the numbers

and the reputation make you think it is. The engine is quieter. It's a lot quieter than the

early 10-valve quattro. The steering is not the last word in communication, quite light

not really much feel. You drive it on the road, it can almost be a little bit underwhelmed

by modern standards, of course. However, there's another side to this car where it really shows

its class. One of them is speed, because one word, this is still a really quick car. Yes

you've got a bit of lag to contend with. Once you've got it on the boost and you're driving it

on boost all the time it really is still a very very quick car. The harder you drive it the better

it is. Once you've got it locked on line it stays absolutely laser planted. No wonder people went

mad for this back in the mid 90s. I would have done that waffly old five cylinder. Gives you that

great soundtrack and it's got so much talk so evocative of the 90s i just love it takes me right

back sometimes you shouldn't meet your heroes it's true but i have to tell you this is actually one

of those cars where give it a give it a little bit don't make up your mind too quickly and you

will grow to love it but i can see coming up behind me another legend i can see what happened

just over 10 years later when Audi really had refined the faster state formula Audi unveiled the B5 RS4 in 1999 going on sale just after the turn of the millennium

with 6,000 eventually made. These featured 375 brake horsepower from a heavily reworked

bi-turbo V6. But it was in 2006 that Audi took the fast estate formula to a new level

with a very special high revving 4.2 litre V8, creating a beefy but sophisticated estate car with a muscle car soundtrack

What a car. What a car. I'll be candid

It is one of my all-time favourite cars. I can remember doing the launch of this back in, I think, 2006

With this car, Audi really nailed for me that fast estate formula

It had all the practicality that you'd expect. It looked fantastic. It had that latent menace and energy, the wide arches

It wasn't overdone. It featured that wonderful 4.2-litre direct injection V8 engine that revs to 8,000

And, of course, connected to a really lovely, rather delicate six-speed manual gearbox

Unlike later cars, the engine is still quite out the front on the B7

And you can feel that in the handling balance. Still got a bit of that nose-led Audi-ness to it

But you know what? That doesn't spoil the car at all. The steering is beautiful

It's really poised. Very accurate. It's got wonderful stability, but it's got adjustability as well

And I think with this car one of its real high points if you like is its ride It just such a beautifully comfortable riding car And yet you get it on a circuit and it not wallowy or anything it just amazingly deft and rewarding for a relatively heavy estate

car I mean you just shouldn't be able to do this in a wagon should you one of those examples where

a group of engineers have just absolutely nailed it they nailed the magic formula

I get on the power there, look, you can really feel the four-wheel drive system shuffling

the torque around. Listen to that engine, look, I'm going to take it to eight, over eight

Never gets old, my word, 2006 this came out, still absolutely wonderful

I don't think any of us at the time really expected or recognised how good this car was

going to be and I still think it's something of a benchmark. I know they're quicker now but my word

I want one of these. Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam. I know what it is in principle but why is it here

Well it looks really good. I mean I have to say that because I think you know it's aged beautifully

especially this original form without the rear wing. I think it looks great these days but no

But there is a serious point. I know it's not an Audi sport car per se, but if any vehicle sums up Audi's ambition as we get to the turn of the millennium, it's this car

If you think about it, they went from producing low-volume, high-performance estate cars

and now they're doing a mainstream sports coupe that's going to appeal to so many more people

Big units. Yeah, exactly. Big units. and that brand advancement with the help of sports car racing

really put them at the forefront of technological advancement. Again. Again