Audi Sport Quattro Replica Makes Wonderful Sounds Lapping The Nurburgring

Germany’s LCE High Performance builds modern, road-legal replicas of the Audi Sport Quattro from the 1980s. This video catches one getting some development time at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Check out the 1:26 mark in the video to watch the machine’s exhaust spit flames in slow motion.

You can easily hear the whistle from the turbo while the retro-looking Audi speeds around the track. The engine note adds a rumble to the symphony of automotive sounds.

LCE offers its Sport Quattro replica in several variants with prices starting at €140,000 ($147,413 at current exchange rates). The company uses the two-door Audi 80 from the early 1990s as a starting point. The donor machines then receive a body and other modifications to make them like the classic coupes.

LCE’s entry-level Sport Quattro build makes 220 horsepower (164 kilowatts) and has a five-speed manual gearbox. It borrows several components from the early 1990s Audi S2, including the axles, differential, brakes, dashboard, and seats.

The next level of tuning comes standard with a 2.2-liter, 20-valve turbocharged five-cylinder engine making 350 hp (261 kW), carbon-fiber body kit, Brembo brakes, a revised dashboard, and Recaro Sport seats. An upgrade package includes a 2.5-liter version of the engine producing 450 hp (336 kW), a six-speed gearbox, and front brakes from a 996-generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

A step up the range is a version of the Sport Quattro packing up to 750-hp (559-kW) version of the turbocharged inline-five. It comes with the six-speed transmission and 911 GT3 RS brakes.

LCE also sells these replicas with bodies that look like Audi’s classic rally cars, complete with the appropriate livery and revised bodywork.

In 2020, LCE built one of these Sport Quattros that it called the Turbomonster. The name was appropriate because the tuned, turbocharged engine makes up to 1,081 hp (806 kW). The powerplant was a combination of the Audi A6 2.5 TDI, the crankshaft from a South African VW T4 diesel bus, and a modified Audi S2 cylinder head. Ken Block even checked it out and bought the car.