Experience history through vehicles from Audi’s historical collection, lectures at the Audi museum mobile, and events around the world From Aspen to Zwickau: Audi Tradition presents automotive treasures
Audi Tradition is poised to participate in over a dozen international events in 2024 as the classic car season begins. Mainstays of the event calendar include the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England (July 11–14), two classic car rallies at Audi’s home sites – the Donau Classic (June 27–29) in and around Ingolstadt and the Heidelberg Historic (July 11–13) in Neckarsulm – as well as the Sachsen Classic in Dresden and Zwickau (August 15–17). For 2024, the Audi museum mobile, as always, has a varied program in store. In addition to special exhibitions on the history of aerodynamics, the museum of the brand with the four rings will continue its series of lectures and again take part in International Museum Day (May 19) and the Night of the Museums (September 7).
For Audi Tradition, the 2024 event season kicks off early this winter: The Ice Race in late January in Zell am See, Austria, will be followed by the Bremen Classic Motorshow (February 2–4), where Audi Tradition will showcase a first-generation Audi RS 4 Avant at a joint booth with the Volkswagen Group brands. Visitors can head there for advice on spare parts for their classic cars. One weekend after the trade fair, Audi Tradition will be on the road in the Rockies and the Alps: An Audi 90 quattro IMSA-GTO and Michèle Mouton’s 1985 Audi Sport quattro S1 Pikes Peak will represent Audi Tradition at the Aspen Ice Race (February 8–10). The historic Histo-Monte winter rally will take place simultaneously, taking participants on the trail of the legendary Monte Carlo Rally. At the event, Walter Röhrl will pilot the Audi Sport quattro S1 E2, the original rally car he drove in the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally.
Audi develops all-electric one-of-a-kind car for “Elektrikhana” video Legendary Audi Sport quattro S1 serves as the base for Audi designers Ken Block: “This project makes a dream come true for me”
It instantly brings back memories of the legendary Audi Sport quattro S1 with which the four rings used to charge to the summit in the famous Pikes Peak Hill Climb event, aka the “Race To The Clouds:” Audi is presenting the Audi S1 e-tronquattro Hoonitron that has been exclusively and uniquely developed for American drift artist Ken Block. The all-electric one-of-a-kind car will be the protagonist in a new video that Block is producing together with his team for release in the next few months.
“The S1 Hoonitron combines a lot of what Audi was already famous for in the nineteen-eighties,” says Ken Block, whose enthusiasm for Audi’s rally cars was sparked at an early age. “For instance, the car’s spectacular aerodynamics have now been translated into a totally modern form. I think it’s cool that the Audi designers have been inspired by their own past and uniquely transferred the car’s technologies and appearance into the present.” Two electric motors, all-wheel drive, power galore, a carbon fiber chassis, and the full safety standards as prescribed by motorsport’s top governing body, the FIA – these are merely the S1 Hoonitron’s statistics. In November, the driver got to know the car for the first time. “Audi gave me the opportunity to test it for a few days in Germany,” says Ken Block. “I’m familiar with a wide variety of cars using internal combustion engines and transmissions, but there were a lot of new things for me to learn here. Spinning into a donut at 150 km/h directly from standstill – just using my right foot – is an all-new experience for me. Our work was focused on getting the car and I used to each other. My thanks go to the whole Audi Sport squad for their outstanding teamwork.”
As a service for the media and fans, the “Anniversary Dates 2024” booklet details over 30 anniversaries across Audi’s history It highlights various aspects of Audi’s history, including products, the company, and motorsports
The most notable anniversaries at a glance: In the “Anniversary Dates 2024” digital booklet, Audi Tradition details this year’s anniversary highlights and summarizes over 30 historically significant events spanning products, the company, and motorsports. The booklet is now available for download in English and German from the Audi MediaCenter.
The anniversaries that Audi Tradition is celebrating in 2024 are as varied as the history of the brand with the four rings itself. The Audi 50 turns 50, the Auto Union GmbH in Ingolstadt turns 75, and Audi founder August Horch established his first company in Cologne 125 years ago. The anniversary booklet lists over 30 anniversaries, including a look at Audi models launched over 30 years ago receiving their “H” number plates in 2024. Among these is the Audi A8; its launch in 1994 marked Audi’s entry into the luxury class. Made in Neckarsulm and unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show, the sedan pioneered the Audi Space Frame, a body made entirely of aluminum. The iconic Avant RS2 also turns 30 in 2024. Developed as a joint project between Audi and Porsche, the Avant RS2 established the tradition of RS high-performance models. The booklet devotes an entire chapter to the RS2. Audi Sport quattro turns 40: A powerful production car from Germany For Audi Sport, 1984 turned out to be especially successful. The season kicked off with a victory when Walter Röhrl won the legendary Monte Carlo Rally in an Audiquattro in January. Stig Blomqvist and his co-driver Björn Cederberg went on to win the World Drivers’ title and Audi took the World Manufacturers’ title. The season ended in victory for Harald Demuth.
Audi Sport GmbH – formerly quattro GmbH – is headed by Rolf Michl and shapes the sporty, exclusive image of the brand with the four rings. Only the sportiest models are permitted to use the abbreviations R and RS. In addition to the dynamic models, the company handles customizations through the Audi exclusive program, and Audi Sport Performance Projects provides services for customer racing and the Racing Legends project. Audi AG entered Formula 1 for the first time in 2026. Operational responsibility for the project lies with Audi Motorsport AG in Hinwil, Switzerland. The model portfolio – Exceptional performance on four wheels The portfolio currently includes eight models. Customers interested in buying a car from the sporty Audi subsidiary can also have Audi exclusive customize their purchase. The models offered range from the compact AudiRS 3 with its legendary five-cylinder engine to the RS 5 and the RS Q8 with a twin-turbocharged eight-cylinder engine and the fully electric sporty RS e-tron GT performance. Furthermore, Audi Sport is entering a new era with the first high-performance plug-in hybrid, the AudiRS 5. It comes with a world-first quattro with dynamic torque control that makes the car more agile and stable. In addition, it offers a fully electric range of over 80 km and thus takes everyday usability to a new level. Audi Sport delivered more than 36,000 high-performance vehicles worldwide in 2025, a decline of around 13 percent. The decline is attributable to limited product availability as a result of the model change. Production – Craftsmanship meets smart factory Around 1,000 employees are part of the Audi Sport GmbH family, which has been registered as a high-performance vehicle manufacturer since 1996. Audi Sport GmbH’s headquarters are in Neckarsulm.
Latest electrified generation of the successful all-wheel drive Audi sets benchmarks in terms of assembly space, weight and performance Four more weeks to go before the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours
In a month from now a prestigious success will be at stake for Audi. On June 16/17, a hybrid vehicle could be winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time.
Electrified drive and quattro all-wheel drive – what looks like two different worlds at first glance has been merged into a technological synthesis by Audi. “Soon after the TDI phase had begun we started to think about the hybridization of a Le Mans sports prototype, when it was foreseeable that the regulations would open up this option,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “After exploring the concepts we quickly saw the opportunity of bringing a new technological specification of all-wheel drive back into motorsport. Unfortunately, it had been banned from circuit racing since 1998.” From 1981 to 1997, Audi won four titles in the World Rally Championship, clinched three victories at Pikes Peak, a championship win in the TRANS-AM, two DTM titles and eleven national Super Touring Car Championships plus a Touring Car World Cup with quattro models. For the first time since the 1998 ban an all-wheel drive model is now allowed to compete in the FIA’s circuit racing program. Yet what sounds like a simply return has been one of the biggest tasks ever tackled by Audi Sport to date. Packaging an additional front-wheel drive and a hybrid system into a sports car is particularly difficult due to the space conditions. With a width of two meters and a length of 4.65 meters the car has large outer dimensions. But underneath the outer shell there is a monocoque construction which in motorsport has been quite classically optimized for totally different aspects than the integration of a drive axle and incorporation of a hybrid system.
Five-cylinder engine delivering 136 hp presented for the first time in 1976 in the Audi 100 Successful engine concept for series production and rallying AudiRS 3: modified five-cylinder engine with more torque
Audi presented the first five-cylinder gasoline engine 45 years ago in the second-generation Audi 100. Enhancements and new developments followed with turbocharging, exhaust gas purification and four-valve technology, rally engines, and five-cylinder diesel units. The 2.5 TFSI won the “International Engine of the Year” award nine times in a row. Today, the high-performance engine in the new AudiRS 3 Sportback carries on the five-cylinder engine tradition – with more power than ever.
The five-cylinder engines from Audi have achieved cult status – partly due to their successful deployment in motorsport and also on account of their reliability and economy. The engine’s unique 1-2-4-5-3 ignition sequence and the incomparable sound that comes with it make the driving experience so exhilarating. The first five-cylinder gasoline engine powered the Audi 100 (C2) in 1976.
Audi Sport high-performance plug-in hybrid in action as part of the Formula 1 support program from now on Guests to experience F1 racetracks alongside professional racing drivers F1 involvement accompanies Audi’s model initiative in the US market
Audi’s transformation can now also be experienced as part of the Formula 1 support program: At the Miami Grand Prix, the AudiRS 5 makes its debut as a car for the hot-lap program. Like the current generation of F1 powertrains, the vehicle features an electrified drivetrain.
As Audi Sport’s first high-performance plug-in hybrid, the new AudiRS 5 marks the beginning of a new era of performance – with electrifying power, impressive performance figures, and a world-first technical innovation: quattro with Dynamic Torque Control. The electromechanical torque vectoring unleashes the dynamic potential of the RS 5, particularly in corners, by precisely directing drive torque to the wheel with the higher grip. This creates a razor-sharp, nimble, and always controllable driving experience.