The brake discs might be bespoke, but they look dinky. In
fact, the rear ones, when the optional open-spoke wheels are mounted, are so tiddly, they leave a grandstand view through to the new
four-link rear suspension designed for quattro drive.
But then this isn’t a heavy car, and – at least in the context of the greasy
roads under me – the brakes clamp away the speed solidly enough. In fact,
they’re a bit over-servoed at the top of the pedal,
especially as the layout is a bit awkward, so I can’t heel-and-toe. Which is grievous, because that video of Röhrl’s
footwork in the 1985 Portuguese Rally was the single thing that cemented the
original S1 as one of the legends of my car youth.
The Audi S1
features heavily sculpted front seats
Is Audi being naughty and plundering history here? After
all, it’s taking a car that’s modified from a VW Polo
and appending the name of a machine fit to be mentioned alongside the Porsche
959. But then… Point one, if anyone has a right to do
what they want with the name it’s Audi. Point two, the Sport quattro and S1 were derived from a contemporary Audi 80,
which was a Passat twin. Point three, the S1 is simply following the
long-established naming convention of all the hot Audi road cars from S3 to S8.
Get over it.
In this weather, on these narrow twisty roads, the S1 is
just the tool. It’s the right size and it’s forgiving, quick and delightfully
garrulous. I’m seriously getting into it. We peel across these low-lying hills,
rain lashing down but spirits high. The phone rings off the hook. It’s the +49
number of Audi’s car wranglers. I don’t pick up – I’ve inexplicably got no
signal.
The Audi S1’s
engine turns in an impressive all-round performance
We swing down to the shore, finding our gated causeway. (I
later discover the gates are installed to bar predatory animals from an island
that, pre-causeway, had been protected by the water. They’re opened by nothing
more supernatural than a metal detector picking up the car.) We cross and mosey
down to what is definitively the end of the road. We get out and peer off down
the clammy distance of the fjord. The smell of seaweed pervades the air. Rain
penetrates every crack in our clothes, and the cold swiftly chases it, but
given this is the same latitude as Iceland, I shouldn’t complain. Dusk is closing
its fingers over the already dim sky.
I’ve just got enough fading light to chase back across the
best of the byways, grinning inwardly at the unexpectedly tight harmony of car,
driver and road. Then it’s just a lengthy stint following the fat girders of
xenon down the highway trek towards the car’s impatient owners. By night, it’s
a comforting place to be, decked out in Audi’s usual perfect red and white
internal illuminations and immaculate touchpoints.
But it’s also a simple place. The A1, after all, is an old car now, and it’s
based on a family of even older VW Group cars. The S1 represents quite a
serious bit of hacking about, mind – fitting the 2.0 wasn’t the work of a
moment, and the special rear suspension meant a whole new rear floor.
Well-designed
exhaust system make the Audi S1 look aggressive
Anyway, that seniority is worth celebrating. This is a trip
through a landscape that’s weathered any number of geological eras, so it’s
appropriate the car feels that way too. Sure it’s a brisk and compact road car
not a blitzing rally head banger, and its layout and purpose are entirely
different from that original S1. But there’s a common theme. The new S1 is
uncomplicated by 2014 Audi standards, and it doesn’t distance you from the
process of driving. Perhaps it’ll be the last of the old-school quattros. Which would make it an
acceptable bookend with the car that spawned that first fire-spitting S1.
