The 90th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb kicks off in just one week and to pay homage to our record-breaking past here, we’ve got a surprise in store for you. In the meantime, here’s a history lesson from the Audi Sport Quattro S1...
Audi entered the Pikes Peak for the first time in 1984. Michèle Mouton finished second in the Sport quattro; she won the race in 1985. In 1986, local driver Bobby Unser set a new record of 11:09.22 minutes in the S1; Walter Röhrl followed him the next year. His Sport quattro S1 was a concept of bare functionality pushed to the absolute limit. The five-cylinder engine pumped out 440 kW (nearly 600 hp) and 590 Nm (435.16 lb-ft) of torque. The recirculation system kept the large turbocharger spinning. A dual- clutch transmission directed the power to a quattro powertrain with three locking differentials.On race day, June 11, Röhrl started second to last, before the driver with the fastest practice time, Ari Vatanen (Peugeot). As calm and collected as ever behind the wheel, the Bavarian navi- gated the world's highest highway in the record time of 10:47.85 minutes. He got the Sport quattro S1 into sixth gear four times and was clocked at 196 km/h (121.79 mph) at the fastest part of the track. Röhrl beat Vatanen by nearly seven seconds.
Read Article