Does Audi’s top-performing supercar have what it takes to beat out a car that defines Audi’s motorsport heritage? To find out, the team at carwow hit the drag strip with an Audi R8 V10 Spyder to see if it can take on a Group B Audi Quattro rally car. The results get interesting once the rain starts to fall on this battle of Audi greats.
The Group B Audi Quattro rally car featured in carwow’s drag race is steeped in motorsport excellence. Audi dominated Group B thanks to the class-leading Quattro rally car that put Audi on the map as the master of all-wheel-drive performance cars. Audi conquered Group B in the late 1980s until the series was canceled by the FIA for being too dangerous.
The Quattro rally car was powered by a turbocharged aluminum 2.1-liter inline-5 that produced 500 horsepower (372 Kilowatts) and 354 lb-ft (480-newton meters) of torque. The 2.1-liter displacement was chosen to meet Group B homologation rules for the 3-liter class that multiplied the displacement of turbocharged engines by 1.4. The beautifully boxy body of the Quattro rally car is made of a unique carbon-Kevlar material to keep weight down and retain strength to handle tough rally stages.
This particular Quattro rally car is owned and maintained in the Audi heritage collection where it is used for promotional events and maintained by expert staff. Porsche even used this exact car to develop its legendary PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission.
To take on this legend of Audi motorsport is one of the brand’s most impressive road cars, the Audi R8 V10 Spyder. This drop-top supercar is powered by a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10 engine that produces 620 horsepower (462 Kilowatts) and 427 lb-ft (580 Newton Meters) of torque. This screaming V10 is paired with a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that sends power to all four wheels via Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system.
Can Audi’s most exciting production car beat out its most impressive rally car in a drag race? Let’s find out.
