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From YourSITE.com Feature Cars Like a snarling dog, the four exhaust pipes make known their displeasure as I slip a cog and start my return run down the autobahn. Changing from fifth to sixth in a car like this is an unharmonious experience. A blip becomes a bark as revs rise and adrenalin pumps. Punk rockers would feel right at home.
The car isn’t exactly user friendly: the S4 Clubsport has rock hard suspension, unforgiving bucket seats and a four point harness that fits so tight around your privates, transsexuals would cancel the op and head for this instead. They’d find it a lot more fun I’m sure... Attending the annual Tuner Day at the famous Hockenheimring recently, I had the opportunity to see for myself exactly where MTM are going with their tuning programme. Available for my driving pleasure was this S4 Clubsport (formerly a common or garden S4 Avant until Roland Mayer had his way with an angle grinder and a laptop) and a Bentley Continental GT. Let’s deal with the Audi first…
Visually, the S4 Clubsport is something of an enigma. Part DTM, part Fast and Furious, part Robocop-meets-Jerry Springer, the car is arresting from all angles. It’s a crime against styling. It is purpose redefined and you know what? I bloody love it. At the centre of this car is Audi’s superb V8 powerplant that has been given a sizable tweak by MTM. Briefly, this consists of a rechip (which remaps the fuelling and delimits the engine), a supercharger, new exhaust manifold, metal carbide clutch and an exhaust of which Thor himself would approve. The result? Over 500bhp and a 0-62mph time of 4.8 seconds. It’s the quickest way to get your shopping home, that’s for sure.
The car has been lightened considerably, and all unnecessary bits and pieces have been removed, including the bonnet. This has been replaced with a vented one made from carbon-fibre. An aerodynamics kit completes the look, and this consists of special flared wheel arches, sills and front bumper. A thread chassis and full roll cage completes the theme. So come on then, what’s it like to drive? In a word: savage. It’s much quicker than, say, a standard RS4, but to extract the same amount of performance demands so much more. Whereas the RS4 will flatter even the most incompetent driver, the S4 Clubsport would tear up your driver’s license and set fire to it. The power is prodigous, intoxicating and addictive. The torque is so plentiful thanks to the engine remap, and this is helped no doubt by better airflow to the engine. Couple this to the supercharger complementing the already plentiful supply of horses down below, and you’ve got a whole lotta fun. At 2000rpm things are already getting interesting. Another thou and all that power is pumping faster than the blood supply to my heart.
But with the sheer brutality of the car comes a special thrill. To tame the S4 Clubsport demands a lot from the driver but once in tune with its character the rewards come thick and fast. Very fast. Lowered suspension, road legal racing tyres, a stiffened chassis and racing dampers give this car a totally different feel from the standard S4. Combine all that grip with phenomenal acceleration and you have a package that is quite simply stonking for a car of this size.
I fell in love with this car the moment I saw it. I’ve never been a fan of the subtle and this car presses all the right buttons in my book. It’s loud beyond words, and cabin chatter between driver and passenger (and whoever else is clinging on in the back…) is kept to a minimum as the revs rise. The exhaust boom is at its most deafening at 3000rpm but the cacophony subsides slightly as the revs rise and the gasses escape quicker. First gear is nothing more than an excuse to engage second, carefully, as the clutch bites harder than a Rotteweiler. Once up to speed the car becomes a fluid driving experience on track. It would be a very different story on streets and B-roads, however. But MTM never intended this car to be used for the trip to Tescos. It’s a modern-day interpretation of the infamous Volvo 850 T5 that was used in the UK touring car scene back in 1994. It brings out the racing driver in some, and the devil in everyone. For those with anger problems, here is your solution.
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