A station wagon with a racing engine is not an obvious product. Somebody had to build the first one and find out whether anyone wanted it, and the company that did was Porsche — for Audi.
Zuffenhausen, 1994
The Audi RS2 Avant was developed jointly with Porsche and assembled at Porsche's Rössle-Bau works in Zuffenhausen, the same halls that had built the 959.
Porsche reworked Audi's 2.2-litre five-cylinder turbo to 315 hp and, having the parts to hand, fitted a good deal of its own hardware: the brakes came from the 911 Turbo, the wheels were 911 Cup wheels, the door mirrors were 911 mirrors, and the word PORSCHE was cast into the sill trim where anyone walking past would see it.
Fewer than three thousand were built.
The number that made its reputation
A British magazine road test at the time recorded the RS2 reaching 30 mph from rest in about a second and a half — quicker, off the line, than a McLaren F1.
The figure says less about the Audi's outright pace than about four-wheel drive: the McLaren could not get its power down for the first few metres, and the RS2 simply could. Over any longer distance it was no contest. But the headline went round the world, and a fast estate car stopped being a curiosity.
The line it started
Every RS Avant since descends from that one collaboration. The B9-generation RS4 has a twin-turbo V6, around 450 hp, four-wheel drive and the same basic proposition: a car that carries a family, a dog and a week's shopping, and will embarrass a sports car at a set of traffic lights.
Which is how one of them ends up carrying bicycles. A team support car at a road race has to follow the peloton at speed, carry spare wheels and machines on the roof, hold mechanics and equipment inside, and be able to close a gap quickly when someone punctures. A fast estate is the precise answer to that question — and it exists because Porsche built one for Audi thirty years ago.
The model
COBI's Audi RS4 „Cycling Madness“, set 24671, is a 1:35 model of the B9 RS4 Avant built from 155 blocks, set up as a cycling team car with bicycles to carry. Markings are printed onto the blocks rather than applied as stickers.
It is available to pre-order. The expected shipping month is shown on the product page, and you can cancel any time before it ships.
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