Audi ur-Quattro

I didn't go to this year's Race Of Champions, but during one of the many intervals in last year's tournament, was a moment I won't forget. The last time I had been to Wembley was to watch Arsenal-Fiorentina. All I remembered was how it, to me, was just a urine soaked dump.

Awful.

Now, class-leading stadium architecture, roomy surrounds, better catering....I could go on. I noticed they now had the obligatory stadium cam. If you've ever watched Highlander, one of the opening scenes has a camera zoom all through the MSG before it arrives at Christopher Lambert's face. This system was invented by Garrett Brown, and subsequently used for the NFL. And now Wembley has it.

So I'm busy watching the SkyCam work. Then......a fantastic bellow. A primeval roar. An Audi Sport Quattro S1 entered stage left and tore the place up. That's rallying. Fire belching, be-winged, unruly cannibals of cars. It's a rallying wives' tale, but Henri Toivonen was said to have lapped his Delta S4 fast enough round Estoril to place second at that year's Grand Prix. Ian Callum helped design the enigmatic RS200. A car that still makes people wonder 20 years later. At an XJ220's heart beats a throbbing, cackling Metro 6R4. All these cars, elevated Group B rallying to be some of the most incredible and fascinating sports spectacles ever. And ironically it was the spectators and their lust to be close to the action that did more to kill off this high-water mark of high octane racing that is the most tragic aspect. Audi, with their landmark Quattro, ushered in that new era of rallying. Nothing was the same after it entered the fray, winning on it's first outing. Everything was immediately rendered old. The ur-Quattro. Around 1000 models were produced each year from 1980-1990, so it's not pressingly rare, but slowly I'm spotting and soaking up all the cars I want to see. Easily one of my favourites.....