GRR

Is the Audi RS 002 the ultimate rally white elephant?

19th July 2017
Ethan Jupp

We’ve spoken at length in a recent piece on the Audi S4 GTO about how that car was the last hurrah for the incredible Audi five-cylinder engine. Of course, with every incredible success, there are, invariably, scattered changed and abandoned plans. 

audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04949.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04951.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04954.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04956.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04959.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04960.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04961.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04963.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04965.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04967.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04971.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04973.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04976.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04977.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04981.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04985.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04986.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04989.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04992.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04993.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_04996.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_05002.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_05003.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_05930.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_05931.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_06042.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_06047.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_06380.jpg
audi_rs_002_group_s_fos_goodwood_19072017_06383.jpg

One car this engine never got to call home – save for a rumoured one and only test – was the little-known Audi RS 002 Group S. Touted to succeed the tumultuous Group B class in 1987, Group S was to take rallying in a safer, more accessible but equally exciting direction. Revised rules included relaxed manufacturer homologation. That meant more exotic machinery could take to the stages with a more tenuous connection with what was rolling off the production line than ever before.

Enter, RS 002: a peculiar looking thing that seems to cross Ford RS200 with wafts of Group 5 brutishness and aero addenda. Take the “Audi Tradition” livery and the four rings off it and you’d be hard pressed to tell this car was a close relation of the handsome chisel-jawed Quattro. Of course, this isn’t really a close relation of that car when you consider the circumstance of its conception. With Group S regulations edging ever closer, a crack team of Audi Sport engineers began the clandestine development of a car that would hit the ground running and be ahead of the game in terms of playing to regulations.

You can thank the garden-shed-within-an-empire approach to development for the quirky looks, as well as the fact that this car is far from what the finished article would have looked like, had the project moved forward. This plastic-bodied tubular frame machine met its end as of the famous horrific accident during the 1986 Portugal Rally that numbered the days of Group B. The un-fielded Group S formula followed in its wake.

Until last year, the RS 002 was little more than a static museum piece, condemned to tell the tale of what might have been from a plinth in the Ingolstadt museum. Audi Tradition brought it to life and had it running for the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, on the 30th anniversary of its original intended debut year. 

For its runs up the Hill in the highly seasoned and capable hands of one Hannu Mikkola (who else to entrust a priceless Audi rally prototype than the man that wrestled Quattros to no less than 10 victories in period?) the car ran a steady and safe 400bhp. Audi Tradition’s entourage entrusted with the car’s care assured us it was capable of almost double that.

Standing by the bales it was interesting to see a knowing grin spread across spectators’ faces, as the familiar warble whoosh pop of a heavily boosted Audi five-banger permeated the air, only for that smile to morph into a quizzical raised eyebrow as the quirky RS 002 howled past. What a spectacular unicorn to have battering up the Hillclimb at FOS 2017, even if it never had its chance to be a game-changer.

  • Audi

  • FOS

  • FOs 2017

  • RS 002

  • 2017

  • audi_rs_002_goodwood_fos_24072017.jpg

    Historic

    Video: What is so special about the one-off Audi RS 002?

  • goodwood_fos_sportscars_02072017_004.jpg

    Festival of Speed

    Mega-gallery: From clubmans to Le Mans, sportscars at FOS

  • audi_s4_gto_goodwood_fos_list_18072017_118.jpg

    Historic

    This Audi S4 GTO is a legendary five-pot's last hurrah

Goodwood Revival Racing Experience

2025 DATES NOW LIVE
https://www.goodwood.com/globalassets/hero-videos/experiences/motor-circuit/goodwood-revival-racing-online-video-cutter.com.mp4