Sure, it costs about as much as a nice house, but it looks properly mean and claims a better power-to-weight ratio than the Ferrari SF90. There's a goliath knocking on the door. It's been gone for some time, but now it's set to return a bit changed. Homologation Specials Reimagined, or HSR for short, just revealed the Type 859, a properly raucous, restomod version of the Audi Sport Quattro intent on sowing chaos.
HSR's version isn't a simple scan of the original with a few modern add-ons. Instead, HSR will start the process with a period-correct donor chassis from the Audi Coupe B2, which it shortens by 12.6 inches from nose to tail. The wheelbase is then stretched, with the front axle moving forward 0.4 inch and the rear moving the same distance backward to reduce the high-speed instability of the original. An integrated roll cage to reinforce the chassis is then built into the structure for safety, and then the whole thing is wrapped in carbon fiber panels to save weight. All told, the Type 859 will reportedly weigh somewhere around 2645 pounds, which equates to a plenty rowdy power-to-weight ratio.
View Price on AmazonFor power, HSR opted for Audi's turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder DAZA engine—the same engine found in the previous-generation RS3. Only, HSR decided that the output from the RS3 wasn't sufficient, so it rebuilt the block with forged internals and a motorsport dry-sump system. The result is driver-selectable performance ranging from 500 to 600 horsepower. Oh, and HSR slotted the whole thing into the engine bay longitudinally, according to Top Gear.
The engine is mated to a reinforced version of Audi's old OB4 six-speed manual gearbox (found in the S4 sedan). There's a Torsen center differential, with power sent full-time to every corner on a 40:60 rear-biased split. While the website claims that exhaust gases are routed through an active system that dumps on either side, rather than out the back, the clearly AI-generated renders on the site tell a different story.
Now for the bad news. HSR says it will only build 84 examples of the Type 859. The number doesn't come from production constraints, but rather serves as a nod to 1984, the year Audi won the World Rally Championship with the Quattro A2. Prospective owners need to apply and earn an application from the manufacturer. According to Top Gear, pricing for the Type 859 starts at $570,822 at current exchange rates and goes up from there.
Source: caranddriver.com
