Audi is well represented at the Festival of Speed in Goodwood from 29 June to 2 July 2017. For example, Audi Tradition takes five Le Mans cars, three of which have won the 24 hour race. A number of them are part of a special exhibition in honor of nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen. Visitors to the Festival of Speed can also see the Audi prototype Group S Rally in action for the first time this year and the Audi RS 5 DTM 2017 and Audi R8 LMS are also present. Especially the presence of the aforementioned Audi prototype is special.
Tom Kristensen can look back on a long and successful racing career. He won the legendary 24 hour at Le Mans nine times, including seven with Audi. At the Festival of Speed this year a special exhibition is devoted to Kristensen, containing the most important racing cars from the career of the 49-year-old Danish driver (he will be fifty on 7 July 2017). For this Audi Tradition brings the Audi R8 LMP (Le Mans winner in 2000), Audi R10 (winner in 2008) and Audi R18 (winner in 2013).
Flying Finn in unique prototype
Hannu 'the Flying Finn' Mikkola is another Audi legend. He won the Group B rally championship in an Audi Rallye quattro in 1983. At the Festival of Speed, Mikkola is behind the wheel of the Audi Group S prototype. This vehicle was developed for the 1988 rally season, but when Group B was banned in 1986 (after a serious accident in the Portugal rally), the subsequent Group S class also disappeared. The Audi Group S prototype, with a middle engine that generates more than 1000 horsepower, has therefore never raced. Last year, however, Audi Tradition decided to remove the prototype from storage, to prepare it and to demonstrate it at the Rallye Festival in Daun. In Goodwood, the Group S rally prototype can only be seen in public for the second time in action.
Audi Sport
At the Festival of Speed, Audi not only shows older racing cars, but also a number of brand new models from the Audi Sport series. In addition, the Audi RS 5 DTM is present, as well as the Audi R8 LMS from the Audi Sport Land team. The latter still bears the 'scars' of his previous race on his body. In May he won the 24 hour at the Nürburgring, with Connor De Phillippi behind the wheel, among others. The same driver will demonstrate the Audi R8 LMS to the visitors during the Festival of Speed.