This year marks 40 years of the Quattro badge, and while Covid has meant the party hasn't been as big as Audi planned, this wild-looking motorsport-inspired RS6 GTO concept car is definitely worth celebrating.
While the eye-catching red, black and grey graphics, the huge white alloys, vented bonnet and aggressive side-exit exhausts give it a look any petrolhead can appreciate, its origins might not be so clear to some of us outside of the US.
That’s because the GTO is inspired by the Audi 90 Quattro GTO that competed in the IMSA race series in North America in the late 1980s. Powered by a 2.2-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine good for a monstrous 700bhp, it could top 190mph and reach 62mph from a dead stop in only 3.1sec.
Unfortunately for Audi, the car wasn’t ready for the first couple of rounds, so while it won seven of 13 races that’s season, it didn’t quite do enough to win the title.
That original racer was a four-door saloon, or at least looked like one – in fact, underneath the lookalike silhouette was a bespoke tubular spaceframe chassis. But the GTO concept is based on the RS6 Avant production car, which has only just gone on sale in wagon form in the US after years of begging from Audi fans.
If you’re already started composing that ‘want one’ letter to your Audi dealer, you can stop now. Audi says there are no plans to build a production version, but don’t be surprised if one or two home-built homages start appearing on Instagram over the next few months.
And if you’re dead-set on bagging a 40th anniversary Quattro, there’s always the TT RS 40 Jahre Quattro. Essentially a TT RS with a smart set of 20in alloys and graphics designed to evoke memories of Walter Röhrl’s 1987 Pikes Peak S1 quattro, it’s only available in Germany and limited to 40 units, each costing a staggering £102,000.
Well, you’re only 40 once.
Keyword: RS6 GTO concept celebrates 40 years of Quattro