Car and Driver Sept 2004 page 112 - S4 tranny in RS6
08-05-2004, 12:28 PM
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Car and Driver Sept 2004 page 112 - S4 tranny in RS6
Champion Racing Audi RS6
"The RS6's four-wheel drive gives it a healthy advantage at every start. We tested the acceleration of all the cars to 60mph. The other rear-wheeled drive cars got there in about four seconds, but the RS6 was in another league-- the best time achieved by hired shoe Michael Galati was a stunning 2.7 seconds!!!!!! As a result, during races the RS6 usually leads the first lap.
But the Audi guys are quick the point out that the advantage comes with a major achille's heel: poor weight distribution. To make room for the four-wheel drive components, the RS6's twin turbocharged engine must sit forward, so the car has a greater percent of weight in the front than the other cars, which hurts breaking and cornering performance. Article goes on about Audi creating a legacy in the World Challenge...
Now the interesting part...
The RS6s were built by Champion Racing, a race shop and car dealership in Pompano Beach, Florida. Although Championship would sell an RS6 to another competitor, so far no one's asked, and the two Audi-sponsored cars the are only ones in the series. Each costs about $210,000, much of it the result of prepairing the car's unit body. To make the body stiffer, the areas where two metal panes meet are carefully seam-welded. The engines are built by Cosworth and make 525 horsepower, just 75 more than you'll find in a standard RS6. Champion's RS6's use larger intercoolers and radiators, but the turbos are stock, as are most of the engine internals. The RS6 found at Audi dealerships has an automatic transmission, ***so the race version has to make do with the six-speed manual from the Audi S4. Even though that transmission wasn't designed to handle 525HP, it has been suprisingly reliable. The same can't be said about the ball joints, which wither under cornering forces and must be replaced every weekend--at $1000 a pop. That's a pitfall of racing based on productions cars. Parts are used that were not meant to handle high levels of stress....
Article goes on, but that's the interesting parts.
"The RS6's four-wheel drive gives it a healthy advantage at every start. We tested the acceleration of all the cars to 60mph. The other rear-wheeled drive cars got there in about four seconds, but the RS6 was in another league-- the best time achieved by hired shoe Michael Galati was a stunning 2.7 seconds!!!!!! As a result, during races the RS6 usually leads the first lap.
But the Audi guys are quick the point out that the advantage comes with a major achille's heel: poor weight distribution. To make room for the four-wheel drive components, the RS6's twin turbocharged engine must sit forward, so the car has a greater percent of weight in the front than the other cars, which hurts breaking and cornering performance. Article goes on about Audi creating a legacy in the World Challenge...
Now the interesting part...
The RS6s were built by Champion Racing, a race shop and car dealership in Pompano Beach, Florida. Although Championship would sell an RS6 to another competitor, so far no one's asked, and the two Audi-sponsored cars the are only ones in the series. Each costs about $210,000, much of it the result of prepairing the car's unit body. To make the body stiffer, the areas where two metal panes meet are carefully seam-welded. The engines are built by Cosworth and make 525 horsepower, just 75 more than you'll find in a standard RS6. Champion's RS6's use larger intercoolers and radiators, but the turbos are stock, as are most of the engine internals. The RS6 found at Audi dealerships has an automatic transmission, ***so the race version has to make do with the six-speed manual from the Audi S4. Even though that transmission wasn't designed to handle 525HP, it has been suprisingly reliable. The same can't be said about the ball joints, which wither under cornering forces and must be replaced every weekend--at $1000 a pop. That's a pitfall of racing based on productions cars. Parts are used that were not meant to handle high levels of stress....
Article goes on, but that's the interesting parts.
08-05-2004, 01:06 PM
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I told someone that the other day and they told me i was crazy....
From what I understand the major changes are syncros and clutch. Wes and I have had many long discussions about this and thats probably whay they did. I might have to put a call into them inquireing about an upgrade kit for our cars ::tents fingers::
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