Audi is one of the few brands continuing with production of five-cylinder performance engines, even if it might not be able to for long.
After first debuting a five-cylinder engine in the 1976 Audi 100, the unique powerplant has since been used in everything from the brand’s famous Group B rally cars to its US Trans-Am and IMSA challengers, standing out from the crowd with a growling exhaust note.
Now, 50 years on from the first vehicle being produced, a special concept has been made to pay tribute to the cars it came close to dominating the North American racing scene in the 1980s with.
Posted on social media by German newspaper Stimme, the Audi GT50 was developed and built by 14 apprentices from Neckarsulm, who took six months to complete the project which involved not only a complete bodywork and interior overhaul of the donor RS3, but also the fitment of an Audi 80 roof.
The design is a modern interpretation of the 1989 Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO, which won seven of the nine races that season in the hands of Hans-Joachim Stuck but missed two rounds, leading to it missing out on the title.
Prominent design features include its chin spoiler, wide guards with aero-disc wheels, a body-exit exhaust and a wrap-around ducktail spoiler which is more akin to that from the 1988 Audi 200 Trans-Am.
There are changes inside too, with the RS3’s interior equipped stripped out and replaced by a roll cage, racing seats and other track parts.
Of course the centrepiece is the RS3’s five-cylinder engine, remaining as a turbocharged 2.5-litre unit, and capable of making similar sounds to its racing predecessors thanks to an identical ‘1-2-4-5-3’ firing order.
Audi is expected to wind up production of the five-cylinder RS3 in coming years, as emissions restrictions and its relatively niche applications make it a harder engine to justify.
Discussion about this post