Audi RS2 Avant
Fresh from their success at rally stages with their world-beating Quattro rally car, Audi were all set to enter the fast-road market with a spicy station-wagon. However, Audi at the time were strangers to the world of making fast road cars. In order to get the finer details just right, the upper management at Audi decided to contract Porsche to help them develop and produce a quick grocery-getter. And thus, the RS2 Avant was born.
Porsche, motivated by their dire financial situation and being provided with the opportunity to apply their expertise, had gotten comfortable with the idea of being commissioned by other manufacturers to develop and manufacture spices up versions of regular cars.
While the car is largely based on Audi's 80 Avant, powered by Audi's own 5-cylinder engine, and manufactured by Audi at their manufacturing facility, the unfinished rolling chassis and drivetrains of the 80 Avant were sent to Porsche's Rossle-Bau plant in Zuffenhausen, where Porsche fettled with the engine, suspension, brakes and added certain distinctive cosmetic touches that established Porsche's involvement in the project.
Incidentally, Porsche's Rossle-Bau plant in Zuffenhausen was the same facility where the Mercedes Benz 500E was also developed and assembled for production, and assembly of both these cars took place simultaneously right next to each other!
Porsche's secret sauce for the RS2 Avant 's 2.2 litre turbocharged 5-cylinder engine included uprated KKK turbochargers, a larger intercooler, higher-lift camshafts, high-flow fuel injectors, a tuned air-box, a less restrictive exhaust system and a re-calibrated Bosch ECU amongst other things.
As a result, power and torque figures were bumped up to 311 bhp and 410 nm of peak torque being sent through Audi's own Quattro AWD and a 6-speed manual gearbox, allowing the RS2 Avant to achieve 0-100 km/h times of 4.8 seconds. The RS2 Avant would go on to hit an electronically restricted top speed of 262 km/h. However, the headline figures were the acceleration times from 0-30 mph in just 1.5 seconds, which apparently was faster than the McLaren F1!
17" Porsche factory "Cup" wheels worn over Brembo-supplied Porsche (964) 911 brakes.
Mirrors from a Porsche (993) 911:
A closer look at the front facia will reveal that the RS2 Avant wears Porsche styled bumpers that include indicators and cooling ducts knicked from a Porsche (964) 911.
The factory RS2 emblem/badge that establishes Audi's venture with Porsche (just in case anyone assumes that an enthusiastic Audi owner raided a Porsche service centre for parts).
As one would expect, the RS2 Avant was limited to 2200 units in production and bumped up to approximately 2900 units in order to cater to unrelenting demand. Only 180 of these units were made in RHD configuration for the British, South African and New Zealand markets.
Being a limited production car born out of a special collaboration, the RS2 Avant now commands huge premiums in the used car market. Auctioned examples were sold for well over $100,000 and the values only keep rising!
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Mercedes McLaren SLR
Grand Touring super sports cars have always been popular amongst the well-heeled and enthusiasts alike. So when Mercedes Benz unveiled their Vision SLR concept at the North American International Auto Show, everyone queued up for a closer look.
Mercedes noticed the interest that the concept generated and garnered, and decided to join hands with their Formula 1 partner, McLaren, to develop and produce the SLR.
While Mercedes styled the car drawing inspiration from Formula 1 race cars, McLaren worked on the electronics, chassis and several other components. Mercedes then supplied their hand-built supercharged V8 engine developed by their performance division, AMG, along with a 5-speed automatic transmission.
McLaren worked extensively on the packaging of the engine as well as the electronics, aero and other bits so that the whole car works well as a cohesive package.
Carbon fibre reinforced plastic was extensively used for the bodywork to keep the weight down. Despite this, the car weighed in at a chonky 1800 kilograms (wet).
The 5.4 litre supercharged V8 developed by AMG, produces an eye-watering (for its day) 620 horsepower which propels the SLR to 100 km/h from standstill in a scarcely believable 3.4 seconds, and to a top speed of 333 km/h.
The SLR also spawned several variants like the Roadster, and even some special and extremely limited models like the "722", the 722GT, and the "Stirling Moss" which is a SLR sans windscreen and roof - a tribute to British racing driver Stirling Moss.
A total of 2157 cars were produced during its production run between 2003 and 2010. The SLR retailed at over $300,000, with the special editions commanding even larger premium.
After the SLR was discontinued, McLaren commenced a special program in 2011 inviting a select number of SLR owners to further enhance their prized possessions, with modifications that would tighten up the car's bodywork. Mclaren also offered customisations specified to the owner's tastes. A similar program was introduced by McLaren again in 2021 called MSO (McLaren Special Operations) which allowed a select number of owners to further tweak and enhance their cars to their specifications for a fee exceeding GBP 120,000.
Values of the regular SLR, if you could even call it that, have more or less remained the same, while the special edition 722 and Stirling Moss variants can be found on sale for well north of 1 million USD.
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BMW M1
In the mid-1970s, BMW had developed an itch to compete in motorsports and show its arch rivals, Porsche, a clean pair of heels. The motorsport disciple in question was Group-5 racing, which meant BMW were expected to make 400 road-going versions to meet homologation requirements of Group-5 Motorsport.
The Chief of BMW's racing program, Jochen Neerpasch, stressed that the race-car proposed for such motorsport had to be mid-engined, if they harboured any thoughts of being competitive, especially against the likes of Porsche.
Since BMW was not equipped to develop and manufacture 400 examples of a mid-engined sports car capable of competing in motorsport, they commissioned Lamborghini to do the needful.
Lamborghini received a large advance from BMW towards the project, and immediately began work on developing the tubular steel space-frame chassis and the all-important tooling for the project. However, shortly after this, Lamborghini found themselves at the brink of bankruptcy as their financial position had severely deteriorated. A long drawn legal battle ensued between Lamborghini, BMW and other third party stakeholders, and it was later discovered that the money BMW had advanced to Lamborghini for the M1 project was immediately funnelled into Lamborghini's own side project, the LM-002 military-spec vehicle.
Before formal administration proceedings commenced, it is widely believed that BMW executives stormed the offices of Lamborghini and took away large bundles of critical documents, blueprints, drawings, etc. as well as the necessary tooling for assembly of the M1, and began assembling the car themselves.
However, the delays in producing the M1 and subsequent changes to the rules of Group-5 racing meant that BMW were forced to use the M1 for Group-4 motorsport only.
Since the M1 was at risk of becoming a still-born project, certain individuals who had previously worked with Lamborghini and had founded a company called Italengineering (located about 10 km from Lamborghini's facilities), offered to complete the project for BMW.
The fibreglass bodyshell was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro and handmade by Italian outfit TIR (Trattamento Italiano Resina), located in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The chassis was completed by a firm based in Modena called Marchesi, and was then shipped to Italdesign in Turin where the bodywork and interiors were to be completed.
The WIP cars were then delivered to German specialist Baur, where the all important finishing touches were applied by hand. The finished products were then shipped to BMW in Munich where final inspections took place before deliveries.
BMW's M division developed and supplied the 3.5 litre naturally aspirated twin-cam straight-six engine. This engine received several motorsport-derived goodies including individual throttle bodies, a Magneti-Marelli ignition system and mechanical fuel injection. The engine was mated to a ZF derived 5-speed manual transmission supplemented by a 40% locking differential, sending about 275 horsepower to the rear wheels and propelling the M1 to 265 km/h.
Only 453 BMW M1s were ever produced, of which 53 took part in motorsport, making the M1 one of the rarest and most sought after BMWs in existence. Values of well looked after M1s have skyrocketed over the years, and some were sold for over $700,000!