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1992 Audi S4 + 894HP= 242MPH (video)

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

by Zack K

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. My slightly cynical brain has observed enough people making and breaking them to know that just because Ryan Seacrest takes a break from giving Mario Lopez hand jobs to watch a big, lit-up ball drop it won’t make you stick to your diet. I did, however, make a “to do” list for 2012, and one of the things on it is to drive over 200 MPH. Somewhere, sometime, don’t care, needs to happen.

 

That goal is why I think this car, and the videos below, are so damn awesome. Jeff Gerner took a 1992 Audi S4, jammed 32 lbs of boost into it and brought it to Bonneville. Make the jump to find out the whys and hows, and watch this humble-looking (ok, aside from the stickers) sedan run near Veyron speeds. (more…)

07.01.2012 News, Video 1 Comment

Secret Rally Car: Audi Group S Prototype

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

by Zack K

This is the Audi Group S Prototype. If you haven’t seen it before it’s because it wasn’t supposed to exist. After a photographer spilled the top-secret beans with a picture of a test run the Audi big wigs forced Roland Gumpert‘s team (yes, that Gumpert) to dismantle them, while his highness Ferdinand Piech personally watched. Thankfully, Mr. Gumpert had another one stashed away. Jamal from Hellafunctional.com found this car’s story in an old mag and it’s quite a story. The hyper-light, 1000hp mid-engined car could have been a trophy-laying goose for Audi if they hadn’t scrapped it. Make the jump to learn about this insane little car that never got its shot. (more…)

02.01.2012 News, Photos 2 Comments

Ebay Want: Imported 1981 Audi Quattro with Extra Racey Things

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011


Thad (legendary TST camera operator and Head of our Dept. for Super Smart/Crazy Ideas)  sent me a link to this ebay auction, with the subject line: “Bad daily driver?” Hopefully he’s being facetious or I would answer that with a blank stare of disbelief, silently communicating disappointment and pity. No Thad, a 1981 Audi Ur-Quattro is not a bad choice for a daily driver. It’s an awesome daily driver, as long as you live anywhere that has weather. Let the record show Thad is from Florida. (more…)

20.12.2011 Photos, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Video: 24 Hours of Dubai – The Coolest Race You’ve Never Heard Of (Update! Video Link Fixed)

Friday, January 21st, 2011

The Smoking Tire’s Tom Morningstar was fortunate enough to attend the coolest race ever that no one’s heard of: The 24 Hours of Dubai. Held at the Dubai Autodrome, surrounded by unfinished buildings and general nothingness, the endurance race features privateer racing teams fielding such cool race cars as the Audi R8 LMS, SLS AMG GT3, Porsche 911 Cup, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and more. Check out the video to see Tom doing what he does best: getting great shots of cars.

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21.01.2011 News, Video 20 Comments

TST Dream Garage: All Group B Rally Cars

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

The Group B rally series ran from 1982 to 1987 and featured some of the wildest and most powerful rally cars ever made. The regulations on the cars were simple: There were none. Manufacturers had free reign on power output, boost, weight, materials, and speed. This amazing series spawned cars like the Audi Quattro, one of the most dominant cars of its time and platform from which the current Audi cars have grown, it popularized new technology like all-wheel drive, and it brought into focus the limits of both man and machine on the rally stage. Watch videos of a Group B race, and it seems like the drivers are having to thread their way through crowds of spectators practically standing in the middle of the road as the cars hammer their way through.

The demise of Group B was caused by the very thing that made it so appealing; danger. After several fatal crashes, some involving both drivers and spectators, the FIA shutdown Group B racing in 1987. Since then, it has been succeeded by the WRC and other rallying series, but none have been able to match Group B for its outrageous machinery. If given the chance, here are the Group B cars we’d tuck into the TST Dream Garage.

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16.12.2010 Editorials, News 6 Comments

Video Review: 710 HP STaSIS Engineering Supercharged R8 V10 Spyder

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010


We’ve tested a few different Audi R8′s on the show, and it seems that each one has been better than the last. We took a 4.2L V8 car on a frozen lake. I needed a substitute driver for our V10 5.2FSI review, but ripped my cast off and drove anyway. And we took to the track in a Supercharged 4.2L R8 in the second highest-viewed TST video ever.

Now, STaSIS has turned over the keys to the fastest R8 around: a 5.2L V10 Spyder running 7.5 psi of boost from a twin-scroll supercharger. This 710-horsepower beast can barely keep traction on our secret, closed canyon, and breaks Matt down into complete giggles, as a proper supercar should. Hit the jump to see what happens when Matt learns that when you have all-wheel-drive, no amount of power is ever too much.

Hit the jump to see the video.

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01.12.2010 News, Reviews, Video 16 Comments

Audi RS3 is a TT-RS With Room To Spare

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

We tested the Audi TT-S back in February, and found it to be an awesomely fun car with a very high price tag and a minimal amount of practicality. Audi fans in Europe, however, get an even hotter version of the TT, the RS. The TT-RS doesn’t just have more boost, it’s got an extra cylinder. The 2.5L 5-cylinder Turbocharged engine in this quickest of TT’s makes 340 horsepower and 332 lb/ft of torque (More than a Porsche Cayman S!), and is mated to Audi’s Quattro system through a DSG gearbox. Why are we talking about TT’s right now? Well, one of Audi’s not-so-well kept secrets is the TT is based on the A3/Golf platform, so pretty much anything you can do to one, you can do to the others.

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23.11.2010 News, Photos 5 Comments

Audi Quattro Concept is Go For Production!

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Quattrophiles rejoice! The drop-dead gorgeous Audi Quattro coupe concept was spotted cruising the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and its driver let slip a tasty nugget of information: the coupe has been greenlit for a limited production build.

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23.11.2010 News, Photos 5 Comments

Video: VF Engineering’s Supercharged Audi RS4

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

The Audi RS4 is a wonderful car, powered by one of the best V8 engines ever built. Its Quattro system helps the RS4 get around corners as fast as humanly possible, regardless of the weather. But sadly, the RS4 is becoming outdated, having been out of production for two years now. But alas! VF Engineering has come to the rescue, with a twin-scroll supercharger package for Quattrophiles to tack on some horsepower: 550 of them. Hit the jump to see how this scary-fast car sounds and feels on the track.

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16.09.2010 News, Video 2 Comments

VF Engineering Supercharged Audi R8

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

VF Engineering knows power. By strapping superchargers on everything from Porsche 911′s to BMW M3′s, they know how to give an otherwise stock car a major power increase without compromising any other part of the car. We’ve sampled all their Supercharger packages at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, and we filmed mini-segments with each of them. This is the 560 horsepower, Supercharged Audi R8 4.2. Video below.

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18.08.2010 News, Reviews, Video 5 Comments

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