1986 Audi 5000 CS Quattro speed record prototype surfaces for sale

A heavily modified 1986 Audi 5000 CS Quattro sedan driven by three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser in a successful speed record attempt is up for grabs.

After spending decades in a private collection, the speed record sedan will be one of the featured lots at an upcoming Bonhams sale in Paris scheduled for Feb. 6. Bonhams expects the car to sell for between $100,000 and $210,000. That would be an astronomical sum for an ordinary Audi 5000, but this car is far from ordinary.

By the mid-1980s, Audi had already conquered the World Rally Championship with its Quattro coupe, boosting the brand’s image in Europe. But racing success didn’t have the same impact in the U.S., where the sedan known as the Audi 100 was marketed as the 5000—and was the subject of reports of unintended acceleration. So Audi came up with a star-spangled motorsport publicity stunt.

The car now up for sale was modified with aerodynamic tweaks and upgrades to its 2.2-liter turbocharged inline-5, boosting output to 650 hp. On Mar. 24, 1986, Unser drove the sedan at Talladega Superspeedway, reaching a record-setting top speed of 206.3 mph over a 46-second lap of the 2.6-mile oval.

According to Bonhams, Unser, who parlayed the Talladega record attempt into a successful Pikes Peak campaign with Audi later that year, said the 5000 felt like “it was superglued to the road. Even when I got over 200 mph.”

Job done, the 5000 record car was returned to Germany, where the current owner and his father saw it during a factory tour while picking up a newly-purchased Audi V8 Quattro sedan. The tour was conducted by Dr. Werner Laurenz, who then worked on development of Audi racing engines. The current owner’s father and Laurenz became friends, who arranged to sell the car to the family when Audi attempted to scrap it. It’s been in their collection ever since.

The record attempt and Pikes Peak run (in which Unser set a record at the legendary hill climb) were overshadowed by a damning “60 Minutes” report the following November on the 5000’s alleged unintended acceleration. Audi remained invested in motorsports, returning to Pikes Peak in 1987, then dominating the Trans Am and then IMSA racing series.