All-new RS 4 Avant and six other RS flagships vie for attention with eagerly awaited newcomers and futuristic electric concepts at Festival of Speed
- UK show debuts of the A1 quattro, all-new A3, RS 4 Avant, new generation RS 5, A6 allroad quattro, S6, S7 Sportback, S8
- All the RS heroes from the first Avant RS 2 to the present day RS 3 Sportback, TT RS and RS 4 on parade
- UK debuts of the all-electric A3 e-tron and Urban concept design studies
- 560PS R8 GT Spyder, Le Mans-winning R18 e-tron quattro and historic Auto Union Type C Grand Prix car will all power up the hill
Audi RS power meets Audi e-tron ingenuity at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed, which runs from today through to Sunday July 1. The all-new 450PS RS 4 Avant is just one of eight important UK new model debuts at the annual Sussex-based celebration of motoring and motorsport, and just one of seven RS models on the Audi stand.
Their combined output of 2,695PS is in complete contrast to another star of the show – the tiny Audi Urban concept with its two electric motors developing 20PS. All points in between these two extremes will also be represented, with highlights including the 256PS A1 quattro, the eagerly awaited all-new A3, the latest A6 allroad quattro and the new S6, S7 Sportback and S8 trio with their V8 cylinder-on-demand technology.
On the competition front, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro sports prototype will be in the F1 paddock in commemoration of the eleventh victory for Audi in the 24 Hours of Le Mans marathon race earlier this month. One of its three winning drivers, Germany’s André Lotterer, will drive the innovative diesel-electric hybrid racer up the hill course at Lord March’s estate.
Also destined for the hill will be the exceptional R8 GT Spyder road car, which will be unleashing the full might of its 560PS with the help of quattro all-wheel-drive.
Meanwhile,Audi Tradition will also make its annual pilgrimage to Goodwood House, this time with the much-loved Auto Union Type C Grand Prix car which will again be piloted by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.
The Goodwood off-road course will be reserved for the A4 allroad quattro and the all-new A6 allroad quattro, and of course the now three-strong Audi Q model family – the Q3, Q5 and Q7. The toughest members of the Audi range will be scaling its tricky terrain throughout the Festival.
All-new RS 4 Avant
Of the seven RS models dominating the Audi stand, the all-new RS 4 Avant with its 450PS, 4.2-litre V8 will be the highlight. Its ancestors, dating back to the 1993 RS 2, will stand alongside it, including a mint example of the first V8-powered RS 4 owned by Audi UK facebook competition winner Martin Blakey. These legends will be joined by the new generation RS 5, the RS 3 Sportback and the TT RS.
In addition to the battery-powered Urban concept with its compact and radically styled carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) body and offset 1+1 seating, the A3 e-tron concept will showcase a very different side to Audi engineering. Showing how the lines of the all-new A3 could potentially look if they were reinterpreted for a four-door saloon body shell, this plug-in hybrid combines 211PS from a 2.0-litre TFSI petrol engine with 27PS from an electric motor. The motor is powered by lithium-ion batteries charged by an energy recovery system when the car is in motion or directly from a household power socket when it is parked. It gives the A3 e-tron concept a range of up to 34 miles on electric power alone.
Visitors to the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed can read more about the Audi element of this fascinating event by visiting audi.co.uk, or by downloading the Audi Goodwood app from the Apple iTunes store.
