At some point it seems like most automakers have lost the plot when it comes to design. Audi is a brand known for more clinical and technical shapes (barring the increasingly large grill sizes), also followed this path. But it seems like a design renaissance is currently underway at the German brand, the first signs of which we saw at the beginning of September with the stunning Audi Concept C.
Audi is currently the only manufacturer to offer a five-cylinder engine in a production model, even though stricter emissions regulations and limited applications make its long-term future uncertain. Audi’s relationship with this unique engine layout began in 1976 with the debut of the five-cylinder in the Audi 100. Since then, the configuration has powered everything from Group B rally cars to Audi’s fearsome North American Trans-Am and IMSA programs, distinguished by its unmistakable and distinctive growling exhaust note and unusual ignition rhythm.
Audis The latest student-built project seems to build on that. Fourteen trainees in Neckarsulm took the current RS3, ignored convention and created the Audi GT50, a one-off machine created to celebrate 50 years of Audi’s iconic five-cylinder engine. What you’re looking at here is not a style exercise, but a conscious statement about heritage, relevance and what still matters when everything around it points towards electrification.
50 years after Audi’s first five-cylinder production car, the GT50 comes to market as a tribute to the machines that Audi almost used to dominate American racing in the 1980s. The students did much more than just apply a body kit: they reworked the RS3 from the ground up, overhauling the body and interior and even grafting an Audi 80 onto the roof to achieve the right proportions and period-correct stance.
The visual inspiration for the GT50 seems to come from the 1989 Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO, a car that won seven of nine races that season. You can see that design in the GT50’s aggressive chin spoiler, the wide skid plates with aero disc wheels and the body-exit exhaust. The wraparound ducktail spoiler is inspired by the 1988 Audi 200 Trans-Am car and reinforces the North American racing story. Inside, the RS3’s production interior has been completely stripped out and instead you get a full roll cage, racing seats and track-focused hardware.
Mechanically, Audi has consciously chosen to leave the RS3’s 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder untouched. Power remains at 400 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, and the identical 1-2-4-5-3 firing order ensures it delivers the same sound signature that defined its racing predecessors.
Audi, like many others, is expected to scale back production of the five-cylinder RS3 in the coming years. As previously mentioned, emissions pressure and niche positioning make the engine increasingly difficult to justify in a modern lineup. But the takeaway here is this stunning GT50, which not only celebrates five decades of the five-cylinder line-up at Audi, but could also point to the brand’s future design direction.
Image source: Audi
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