Skunkworks Project Went Completely Under The Radar
At the height of the Group B rallying formula, things started to get out of hand, with spiraling horsepower figures and eventually a few fatal high-profile accidents that ended the series in 1986. Crowd control was severely lacking, and throngs of spectators lined the high-speed gravel sections as the Group B monsters came hurtling past, sometimes mid-air, with up to 600 hp being dispensed.
The powerful and sophisticated rally cars represent the zenith of their type, which is why Group B is often referred to as the Golden Era of rallying. But after the Ford RS200 of Joaquim Santos lost control and plowed into a crowd of spectators at the Rally de Portugal – killing three and injuring 31 – and the Lancia of Henri Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto left the road and crashed into a ravine at the Tour de Corse, killing both, the end of Group B was nigh.
Audi’s Group B Dominance Fades as Rivals Catch Up
Audi had started to become fairly uncompetitive in the closing years of Group B as rivals caught up with it, with the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 in particular giving Audi sleepless nights. Its mid-engined AWD configuration made it much easier to control than the Audi Quattro Sport S1, with its longitudinally mounted inline five-cylinder engine overhanging the front wheels, causing it to understeer in slow corners and exhibit nervous behavior in high-speed corners.
Audi and Porsche’s Forbidden Group S Collaboration
Audi owners, Volkswagen, threatened to withdraw funding from Audi Sport, and demanded that all R&D money be spent on improving the current Quattro Sport S1 E2, but a group of Audi Sport engineers under Audi Sport head, Roland Gumpert, collaborated with Porsche to create a mid-engined replacement for the S1 for the upcoming 1987 Group S series, which would replace Group B.
Audi Sport eventually developed the car itself in secret, with not even Audi Chairman Ferdinand Piëch officially being aware of anything more than a single car that was supposedly nothing more than a prototype. Gumpert did show Piëch his mid-engined designs, and though intrigued, he ultimately dismissed them and ordered that development should cease, so Gumpert and his team shortened the original car’s wheelbase to create the 1984 Sport Quattro in an attempt to address the handling issues, while in the background continuing with their forbidden project.
Group S would have been based on Group B, but it would allow brands to homologate their cars by building just ten examples. The cars would have the same technical characteristics as the Group B cars, but they would be limited to 300 hp by restricting turbo air intakes and boost pressure. Toyota, Lada, Lancia, Opel, and Ford, among others, were all working on proposals for the new regulations, as well as, of course, Audi, with the RS 002 its would-be contender.
Secret Tests, Hidden Prototypes, and a Furious Ferdinand Piëch
In actual fact, four cars were being developed – one S2 and three RS 002s. A quick test of the S2 at the Dešná test track in Czechoslovakia, just to ensure everything worked, was to be followed by a test by Group B racer Walter Röhrl himself near Salzburg. This was the first time Röhrl would learn about the existence of the car. The crew loaded the cars into trucks under the cover of night and set out for the testing location. However, upon arrival, they spotted a car with photographers following them and aborted the mission.
Eventually, Röhrl managed to test the car over a distance of 180 km on dirt roads near Bavaria. He was bowled over immediately, noting that the mid-engined S2 exhibited none of the front-engined S1 E2’s handling idiosyncrasies, and was now a true weapon against its rivals. What they didn’t know was that photographers managed to snap photos of the clandestine testing in both locations, and these were published in the Austrian Motorsport Aktuell newspaper, blowing the lid off the project. They ran the story under the headline “Audi’s new rally bomb: two years too late?”
Piëch was livid and showed up in Ingolstadt unannounced and ordered the cars to be destroyed while he watched. This is how the S2 and two of the RS002s met their end. However, Piëch was unaware that the cars were constructed in different places, and there was a fourth finished car – another RS002 – hidden away in Neckarsulm and ready to go rallying.
One Car Survives: How the RS 002 Escaped the Scrapheap
The surviving car has been sitting in the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt and was basically a static museum piece until 2016. But Audi brought it back to life for the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed, with its mid-engined inline five-cylinder detuned to 400 hp – but capable of as much as 1,000 hp.
The five-pot warble and the whooshes and pops from the wastegate thrilled spectators as the RS002 ran up the Hill, driven by Hannu Mikkola, who drove Audi Quattros to ten victories back in the day. It’s still the only surviving reminder of Audi’s Group S aspirations, and would have been the only car to ever host the automaker’s legendary turbocharged five-cylinder engine in the middle of the chassis.