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From YourSITE.com Feature Cars For Richard Tait, life is lived like a game. And if it is a game, one could argue Tait has earned his share of points. This displaced Scotsman was a star at Microsoft and named employee of the year by that esteemed software company (roll again), climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (jump two spaces, roll again), and finally founded his own wildly successful board game company Cranium (pass go and collect… no wait, wrong board). Tait is a quintessential out-of-the-box thinker and a wildly successful entrepreneur who also just happens to have a taste for fine cars. Porsche 911s are reportedly one guilty pleasure, though when it came to finding something a little more suited for runs to the grocery store, Mr. Tait took a bit of a different tact and picked up an Audi S4 Avant. And, with that aforementioned out-of-the-box mental outlook, do you think that he was going to leave it well enough alone? Mmmmm… no.
Guidance of the project fell under project manager Dan Reiss and fabricator Jamie Clendenen. These two and their Speedware team were charged with building a highly-potent yet subtle driver, well beyond the already high sleeper quotient of an S4 Avant… or “station wagon” as they’re called outside of Audi circles. At the heart of the project build was the implementation of an MTM supercharger. Today, cars built with MTM’s supercharger have begun to pop up, mostly in Europe. However, in 2004, no Audi powered by the company’s 4.2-liter engine had yet been fitted with MTM’s supercharger system on this side of the Atlantic. This would be the first American car to sport the MTM blower, with horsepower reaching over 450.
Being the first on the block is great for bragging rights, but it does have its disadvantages. Having never been fitted to a North American 4.2, Speedware had their work cut out for them fine-tuning the German system to work properly on this Yank S4. Fuel delivery and management were altered, adjusting the program mapping and timing curves. Wiring was added to the ECU for continued run time on the cool-down water pump for the integral after cooler, and then there was the placement of the additional cooling radiator. As gases exit this charged motor, they pass more readily through a complete Miltek exhaust for freer flow and one throaty tone with plenty of baritone.
Dialed in, the resulting jump in power is most impressive. The S4 can now rip from a rolling 20 mph start in second gear, shift to third, then to fourth and hit 140 mph in no time at all, leaving fifth and sixth for those with more points on their license than their I.Q. While the jewel is certainly under the hood, the build of this S4 didn’t end there.
Handling is much-improved through the addition of several key components. KW Variant III coilovers have dropped the height of the car to a menacing stance and, combined with Hotchkiss sway bars, tightened up the car’s cornering abilities. 19-inch Hartmann RS 4 DTM wheels shod with Kumho Ecsta MX tires sporting lower sidewalls (235 35 19) also do their part to minimize roll in corners, while subtly increasing the car’s aggressive appearance. Of course, those familiar with coilovers will tell you that the system is not complete without proper corner balancing and alignment. For this, Speedware dialed in the KWs for the driving style of Mr. Tait.
To help bring the car to a stop from the newer, higher speeds of which it is now capable, bright red Brembo calipers with large drilled rotors were added not just at the front, but also at the rear. In order to maintain the emergency brake functionality, Speedware fabricated a stand-alone caliper. And with that, the project was complete. Other than adding Bluetooth phone functionality to the car, Richard Tait’s supercharged S4 Avant has been kept decidedly simple – a sleeper in the truest sense, with the power to put those who don’t know what lies under the hood to shame. In the end, that’s just part of the game.
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