Night Watch: Michele Mouton on the sound of the Audi Quattro
In the YouTube clip embedded after the jump, former Audi driver Michele Mouton briefly reminisces about her time behind the wheel during the crazy Group B days.She talks about some of the things that were the most emotionally stirring and tells the documentary crew," If I have some emotion, of course it's the noise of the Quattro. I mean, nobody can forget the noise. Even today, I think we miss this kind of noise."From there it cuts to around 30 seconds of the Quattro at full tilt, making that glorious roar peppered with the occasional backfire pop. If that sound can't get a rise out of you, you're a soulless corpse. Watch (and listen) after the jump.
[Source: YouTube]
Oh, and a note to our British readers, here's something I found while digging around for video: Michele Mouton will appear at next month's Race Retro event at Stoneleigh Park next month. She'll get behind the wheel of the Audi S1 she won the Pikes Peak Hill Climb with in '85 and drive it on the event's rally demonstration stage. That sounds like something clearly worth the price of admission. We'd go if not for that whole ocean-between-us thing.
Enjoy more of the Quattro's noise in the clip below, which shows highlights of her winning Piles Peak run in '85, along with footage of Bobby Unser in '86 and an all-too-brief glimpse of Walter Röhrl in '87.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
_opt_thumbnail.jpg)
_thumbnail.jpg "2011 Audi A8: Live from Miami")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
chuck goolsbee 12:25AM (2/03/2007)
Mechanical Music Indeed!
--chuck
Reply
Dustin 2:36AM (2/03/2007)
this vid makes me want to play Rallisport Challenge (well, it really makes me want to race up Pike's, but an xbox is easier to get :)
Reply
JayP 6:10AM (2/03/2007)
I have the whole Secrets of Speed: Unfair Advantage around here somewhere... The TransAm cars were just as fun to watch.
Reply
Jason 6:50AM (2/03/2007)
Almost nothing sounds better and bone-chilling than the roar of an Audi five-cylinder engine at full tilt.
Reply
Quattrofan 8:48AM (2/03/2007)
As teenager growing up in Europe, I don't know if I had a bigger crush on the car or the driver. I still think that was a very sexy combo - hot young Michele in that monster of an S1. Wow, here is one for sale:
http://www.carclassic.com/stock.asp?StockID=100009
Reply
bathtub gin 9:23AM (2/03/2007)
Marvelous. I am going to get some better speakers for my computer so I can hear that Audi whooping up thru the gears again.
Reply
why not the LS2/LS7? 1:55PM (2/03/2007)
Dustin:
I hope you mean Rallisport Challenge 2. Rallisport Challenge 1 was not a very good game. But Rallisport Challenge 2 is very good, and the S1 is in it and sounds pretty close to that.
Reply
dom 7:04PM (2/03/2007)
630 hp in a 1986 Quattro S1 ! Nothing is better. And I don't speak about Michèle...
Reply