The Sport version of Audi's sensational Quattro was launched in the autumn of 1983, three years after the original's unveiling at the Geneva Salon had taken the motoring world by storm. It had a shortened wheelbase and was fitted with a new, lighter version of the five-cylinder engine boasting an aluminium block and a twin-cam 20-valve cylinder head, while anti-lock braking made its first appearance on a Quattro-equipped Audi. Running on Bosch HI-Jetronic fuel injection, the extensively revised engine developed a claimed 306bhp and gave this quite remarkable road car a top speed of around 155mph. Audi built 214 examples of the Sport, though only 164 were actually sold to customers.

We are delighted to be able to offer Keith Edward's legendary 800+bhp, SWB, Audi S1 which is on the market for the first time. It was initially purchased by garage owner and rally driver Keith as a family road car but there were always lots of cars around and the Audi was eventually hardly used. Passionately interested in motorsport, Keith was staring at the car one day and considering selling it, but then he thought that it might be fun to prepare it for a bit of hill climbing at local club level. There simply is not space here to cover the next 30 years of the Quattro's history but a lot of it is available on some, much-watched videos, YouTube and magazine articles. Success at club level led to the car being developed further and further, Keith is a talented and innovative engineer, until it was so competition-focused that it was no longer practicable to run it as a road registered car.

Developed, developed and developed over the years, there followed about 10 years in the British Hillclimb Championship, a further 4 or 5 enjoying invitation events around Europe, and finally the ultimate accolade, an invitation from Pikes Peak International Hill Climb to take part in 'The Race to the Clouds'. But we get ahead of ourselves.

Keith has a legendary attention to detail and, throughout the two decades of development, every nut, bolt, pipe and bracket was given consideration in terms of its weight, fitness for purpose and aesthetic merit with shaving tenths of a second the criteria. There came a point, however, when the only way to make the car more competitive was to shorten the wheelbase, as had been done by the factory in late 1983, and Dialynx of Swindon, renowned Quattro specialists and builders of SWB cars and Sport Quattro 'Group B' replicas, were tasked with the job.

The body was stripped of its panels, reduced in length by removing 320mm between the B and C posts, and rebuilt using Kevlar-composite panels and mouldings (copied directly from Audi UK's own Group B car), with most of the glass replaced by Perspex. Only the original roof and doors remained and even the doors were pared down to about 4lbs in weight. Shortly afterwards, the 10-valve engine was replaced by a 20-valve unit which was extensively modified by Dialynx. Details of these engine mods are academic as the engine has been further developed by Keith himself since then (current spec below). The car's adventures in Europe in this form are all documented in the enormous history file and on a number of YouTube videos.

The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an invitational automobile hill climb to the summit of Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain in Colorado and is held on the last Sunday in June. From the start at 9,400ft, the 12.42 mile course has 156 bends and finishes at 14,115ft, a climb of over 4,700ft, not far short of a mile vertically. If you were in an unpressurised aeroplane at that height you would have been wearing an oxygen mask for some time, so setting up an internal combustion engine to run on reduced oxygen levels can be complex.

The invitation to run the car at Pikes Peak is a major honour within the hill climb community and was proudly received by Keith. The Audi was shipped to Colorado Springs in both 2018 and 2019, however, neither year was to bring fulfilment with the car overheating in 2018 (subsequently sorted after testing at Blyton Park, pre-COVID) and, despite good practice runs in 2019, the cloud closed in on Race Day and that was that. The full story is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouUKidNmcYs. Whilst intending to return in 2020, COVID regulations, increasing costs and lack of time mean that Keith has, sadly, made the decision that after 30 years, having accomplished everything else, he and his beloved Audi will have to part

We imagine that the Audi would be welcome again at Pikes Peak and the 'Hundredth Running' of the event takes place this year on June 26th 2022, however, timing might be a bit tight to make it this year.

This car has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube and has been magazine featured all over the globe. It's accompanied by 18 box-files of history, entry forms, programmes, results sheets and 30 years of correspondence, MSA paperwork, log books etc.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence" said Vince Lombardi, after whom the Superbowl is named. To suggest that Keith has pursued perfection is no understatement, he has undoubtedly achieved excellence.

Basic spec;

Engine

2.266-litre, in-line 5-cylinder, cast iron block, Aluminum cylinder head with 4 valves per cylinder. Farndon crank, custom connecting rods, Wossner custom forged pistons, Supertech + 1mm oversize valves, mechanical pushrods, custom ported head, Piper cams custom profile, Porsche throttle 75mm (conversion to electric by EPS), custom intercooler by Webster Engineering, intake manifold from Audi S4 / S6 V6, Rochester injectors 1600cc /min, 2 x Bosch Motorsport 044 petrol pumps, custom Aluminium rad, Garrett GTX3582R Gen 2 turbo with custom impellers from PTM Turbos, external wastegate of Turbo-smart 50mm, multipliers from TFSI, Custom Webster engineering exhaust 76mm, dry crankcase of VRS, Motec M150 control unit, wiring and EPS programming, custom water cooler rear with 2 fans and a custom surge tank

Transmission: DragPower Bulgaria six-speed sequential gearbox,Tilton disc clutch set 7.5in, custom Aluminium ruffles, Bailey Morris centre axis, EPS custom LSD

Body-Interior: Custom Carbon/Kevlar 'Group B' body work by Dialynx Performance, Sparco seats, Webster Engineering roll-cage (CrMo Drag Spec), Multi-instrument Motec, ATL racing tank and a custom fuel surge tank

Suspension- Brakes : Bilstein custom coil-overs, Audi S1 copy scissors custom Dialynx Performance, AP Racing six-piston calipers with 369mm front discs, four-piston calipers with 350mm rear, custom brake circuit by Edwards Motors

Wheels: Speedline Motorsport Magnesium wheels 11.5J x 16in. Avon Slick tires