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While the development of both the prototype and the destroyed Quattro can be considered classified information, the prototype was built under the highest possible level of secrecy. It was so unbelievably covert that it didn't even have a name – because it technically didn't exist. Roland Gumpert refers to it as the "Group S Prototype," - but it's also known under RS 002.
The RS 002 was built in such a covert way that even now, Roland Gumpert speaks of it as a world leader would speak of their war strategies - and by that, I don't mean post them all over Twitter. We know that it was built away from Audi's primary design center in Ingolstadt, three were built – of which one was destroyed, one was hidden, and one was lost – and the 2.1L Turbocharged 5-Cylinder engine was tuned up to produce around 700bhp!
The RS 002 gave a crowd-pleasing run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2017, filling the surrounding environment with an exhaust note that sounded like the very embodiment of power itself manufacturing and unleashing unrestrained fury. If anything, the sight and sound of its run underscored the tragedy of its wasted potential in the face of automotive bureaucratic tyranny. Heaven only knows what it could've done had the stars aligned differently.
Source: drivetribe.com article by Angelo Uccello
Images: wheelsage; autoevolution
