Group B rallying is remembered for many things, but at the center of it all are the four-wheel drive, flame-spitting turbo machines that defined the era of excess.
Given the sheer ferocity of these gravel bashers and the way they were driven at the absolute limit by some of the greatest rally drivers of all time, it’s little wonder that so many people who watched them compete in period hold Group B cars in such high regard. Few have taken their enthusiasm quite as far as Volker Gehrt, though.
This new video from Petrolicious takes a look at Gehrt’s 1985 Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 replica, a build that’s totally true to the ’85 Sanremo Rally-winning car of Walter Röhrl that it’s based off. You can only imagine the lengths that were gone to in creating this faithful tribute to the wildest S1 of them all, but it certainly helped that Gehrt had Roland Gumpert, the ‘Grandfather of Quattro’, on his team and able to source the technical manuals and even some of the parts required to see such a project through to completion.
Once you’ve finished watching the superb short film above, you can check out a German TV news story on the build as it all came together. It’s presented in German, of course, but even if you don’t speak the language it’s an interesting watch all the same.
If you had the means to recreate an iconic race car to the standard of Gehrt’s Audi Sport Quattro S1, what would it be and why? Let us know in the comments section below…
The Speedhunters