30.05.2022Walter Röhrl's crime from Pikes Peak 1987

Safety aspects led to an end of the memorable hp-monster in the rally-world championship in 1986. But it wasn't the end for the pairing of Quattro S1 and Walter Röhrl.

In 1987, the Audi team risked the climb of the Pikes Peak together with Röhrl, who came to Colorado as a rookie. The mountain race in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and not far from Colorado Springs has been taking place since 1916. The team from Ingolstadt was able to win it twice in a row. The last time was in 1986 with ten-time winner Bobby Unser at the wheel, who assisted Röhrl as an advisor on his debut in the "Race To The Clouds". “Walter can adapt his driving style to the new conditions from one day to the next. That means he has my greatest respect,” said Bobby Unser, describing the collaboration with Röhrl. 

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is a race on a nearly 20 kilometer road, which has to be dealt with 156 curves and over 1,500 meters height difference. This climb from 2,800 to 4,300 meters in just a few minutes was the Audi's undoing. The turbocharger suffered from the thin mountain air and the car did not perform well and, above all, continuously in the practice sessions and tests just before the race. The Sport quattro, further developed to perfection by the Audi engineers, threatened to fail due to the air conditions at Pikes Peak.

The competition was just waiting for the Audi squad to make a mistake. The Finn Ari Vatanen in his Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 managed to qualify ahead of Röhrl in first place. Just a blink of an eye behind were two other opponents in the Peugeot, namely the Italian Andrea Zanussi and Shekhar Mehta from Kenya. All three were ready and able to beat Röhrl on his way to the top of the mountain.

In the end, the Audi team managed to get the turbocharger problems under control and get the almost 600 hp rally car to start. Improved aerodynamics, as well as a button on the gear stick that actuated the clutch mechanically, so that Röhrl could concentrate solely on actuating the accelerator and brake with his feet, helped the then World Rally Champion to master the car perfectly. At up to 190 kilometers per hour, Röhrl meandered the Audi in perfect perfection over the steep sandy stretch to the top of Pikes Peak, even letting the helicopter with the cameras fall behind him.

His unique style and skill lead Röhrl achieving a new record time of 10:47,58 minutes as a rookie at the Pikes Peak and thus was about six seconds faster than US-Cowboy Bobby Unser the year before. The three Peugeots also hat to admit defeat and were placed behind Röhrl with positions two to four. "They came, they saw, they conquered - and that's actually all we had planned", so the conclusion of the winner interview in Colorado Springs. It was a further rally-crime à la Walter Röhrl. 

Manufacturer CMR released the legendary Audi Sport quattro S1 E2 +1 now in scale 1:43 in the highest detail work exclusively for ck-modelcars.

RRP 26,95€, item number: WRC018

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Audi Sport quattro S1 E2 #1 vincitore Pikes Peak 1987 Walter Röhrl 1:43 CMR

26,95 €