Walter Röhrl drove an Audi Sport quattro S1 to the top of Pikes Peak in 10 minutes and 47.85 seconds in July 1987. Audi says that was the first time anyone had climbed the Colorado mountain in under 11 minutes. By Audi’s figures, the car’s five-cylinder engine made 598 horsepower.

The run also capped three straight overall wins for Audi at the hill climb. Michèle Mouton won in 1985 and Bobby Unser in 1986, both in Sport quattros. Röhrl’s time then took more than 21 seconds off Unser’s record.

Here is the car, the course and the climb that set the mark.

The Audi Sport quattro S1 (E2) by the numbers

Audi MediaCenter lists the 1987 Pikes Peak car with a 2.1-liter five-cylinder engine. It made 440 kW (598 hp) at 8,000 rpm and 590 Nm (435 lb-ft) of torque at 5,500 rpm. Audi’s history of its quattro competition models puts the Pikes Peak car’s weight at around 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).

That was a big step up from the S1’s rally trim. In Group B rallying, Audi says, the aluminum, 20-valve five-cylinder officially made 350 kW (476 hp), though the real figure was probably over 500 hp. By comparison, the rally car weighed 1,090 kg.

Aerodynamics also played a part. Audi’s history describes massive wings at the front and rear that pressed the body to the ground on the fast sections. Before the event, Röhrl spent weeks fine-tuning the S1 in Liguria, according to Audi.

Thin air and loose gravel

Audi’s MediaCenter caption puts the 1987 course at almost 20 km (12.43 miles), with 156 bends and 1,439 meters (4,721 feet) of climb. For decades, the event ran on “a combination of pavement and loose gravel,” notes Audi Club North America. Today, the road is fully paved, Audi’s magazine adds.

The surface was hard work too. That same anniversary account describes a track of reddish sand and gravel over a solid clay base. It was six meters wide on the straights and up to 15 meters in the corners, and there were no guardrails.

Altitude was the other problem. Audi’s 20th-anniversary account of the run, as published by AudiWorld, says only about 330 kW (around 450 bhp) was left at the summit. That account also lists a KKK K28 turbocharger, a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox and three locking differentials.

The climb started at Crystal Creek, at 2,866 meters, and finished on the 4,301-meter summit, the account says. As a result, the engine lost roughly a quarter of its power on the way up. Meanwhile, the car kept its front-mounted, longitudinal five-cylinder and wind-tunnel-developed wings, plus side air deflectors.

Röhrl’s sub-11 Pikes Peak run

Audi Club North America calls Röhrl one of the greatest rally drivers of all time. At Pikes Peak in 1987, his 10:47.85 produced a new course record, according to the club. Meanwhile, Audi’s MediaCenter caption describes the run as both a win and a record.

Second place went to Ari Vatanen, who drove a Peugeot. Audi’s history says Röhrl beat him by nearly seven seconds. The AudiWorld account gives Vatanen’s time as 10:54.38 in a Peugeot 205 T16.

Röhrl kept his verdict short. “It was the very pinnacle of what can be done with a rally car,” he later said, according to the AudiWorld account.

By then, the S1 had no rally championship left to chase. Audi withdrew from Group B rallying in 1986, according to its history, so the 1987 climb came after the car’s Group B rally career was over.

The sub-11 claim comes from Audi’s own magazine. It says Audi “broke into the sub-11 minute mark for the first time” in July 1987.

Three straight wins for the Sport quattro

Audi’s run of outright wins began with Mouton. She won the 1985 event in a Sport quattro with an 11:25.39 run, according to Audi’s magazine. Audi Club North America says she became the first woman to win the event outright.

A year later, the S1 arrived. Unser won the 1986 climb in 11:09.22, which cut 16 seconds from Mouton’s time, the magazine says. Audi’s history calls Unser a local driver and his time a new record.

Then came Röhrl, and the record dropped again. On the caption Audi still uses for its 1987 Pikes Peak photo, the time reads 10 minutes and 47.85 seconds.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.