Yep. This year celebrates the 40th anniversary of Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system. The celebrations kicked off in February and I’d planned to do a small feature for you guys but like most plans this year, it got shelved. Thankfully, Audi recently released this to the press: the RS6 GTO.
Long time Audi fans would immediately recognise that the look for this radically designed super wagon is inspired by the 90 quattro IMSA GTO racecar. I recognised it to because Audi had done a similarly themed tribute with its E-Tron Vision Gran Turismo concept in 2018 for the GT Sport video game. The RS6 gets a similar livery but with silver as the dominant colour along with the red accents, white wheel covers, side-exit exhausts and a large red wing. It also gets aggressive at the front with a wider bumper and reshaped grille. The “standard” RS6 looked menacing for the public roads while this one looks ready-to-kill on a track.
This particular concept is the work of Audi’s apprentices in Neckarsulm under the guidance of design boss March Lichte. We don’t have any details on the mechanicals of this bonkers looking thing but the one photo of its interior reveals a stripped-out cabin. There’s a massive roll cage behind the racing bucket seats with harnesses but the central console seems quite stock.
Audi is likely to showcase this concept in the metal at some event along with a celebratory special edition livery for the usual RS6. While tame in comparison to the GTO concept, the road-legal family missile still has a 4.0 twin-turbo V8 that makes 592bhp and 800Nm.
The Audi icon that this concept pays tribute to was an AWD racecar developed for the 1989 IMSA GT Championship. It used a 2.2-litre five-cylinder engine with a massive turbo to produce 700hp and 720Nm mated to a 6-speed manual with a top speed of over 300kph. Check out this wondrous creation making its way up the Goodwood hill climb in the clip below:
What do you think of the new Audi RS6 GTO? Share your thoughts in the comments below and be sure to subscribe to The Auto Loons for more cool updates from the car world.
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