Audi

Homage to the rally Audis of the 80s

However, the Hoonitron is not comfortable. For the sake of performance, no frills were added. At least there is a windscreen wiper. But that's about it. The seating position is unusual for motor sports laymen. This is partly due to the positioning of the battery, which in turn ensures an extremely low centre of gravity. Audi does not allow itself to look too deeply into the technical cards. This much can be revealed: two electric motors, 800 volts of voltage, all-wheel drive, power in abundance, a chassis made of carbon fibre and the full safety standard of the supreme motorsport authority FIA – these are the key data of the vehicle.

Extreme forces enable extreme drifts

It is also known that the electric power distribution between the front and rear axles is fully variable. And that the electric motors reach maximum speeds of 28'000 rpm, which is why a gear ratio of about 12:1 was defined for the drifts. If you can do the math, you will come to the conclusion that around 3000 Nm of torque are at work per axle. These extreme forces in combination with the short overhangs make spectacular drifts possible. And this at a wheel speed of more than 200 km/h. Even Michael Knight from the cult series “Knight Rider” would have been jealous, despite the activated “Super pursuit mode”.

The spirit of Ken Block lives on

This one-of-a-kind racing machine was actually supposed to be driven by Ken Block. The news of his sudden accidental death in January 2023 stunned the motorsport world. The US American was the uncrowned king of the transverse cars. He was considered one of the best rally drivers in the world. With the “Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron” prototype developed especially for him, his dream came true. Together with Audi, Ken Block wanted to show that you can also have extreme driving fun and deliver top performance with a purely electric drive. This vision has now been revived under the motto “Racing for Ken Block” on the Flüela Pass in Davos, as the new video shows.