Red Bull Motorsports
WRC
The sweet sounds of the WRC
Treat your ears to five of the best sounding rally cars ever.
In World Rally Championship mythology, the sound of a rally car is almost as important as the way it looks. Out on the stages, and sometimes minutes before they actually see the cars, rally fans hear the engines popping and crackling invisibly up the road until finally the car comes into view and, whoooom, is gone again. It’s the engine noise that sends that T-Rex fear feeling tingling down our caveman spines, and it’s magic.
Audi Quattro S1
Engine: 2.1-litre turbocharged five-cylinder
The iconic Audi’s exhaust note is not just one of the greatest in the WRC – it’s one of the greatest of any racing car, ever. The sound is almost buttery, the turbo-charged five-cylinder never sounding stressed as the driver goes quickly up through the gears, purring the car’s 600bhp onto the road.
While the volume of the noise and the speed of the car may make it intimidating when you’re next to it on a rally stage, the Quattro’s engine note is a beautiful rounded bellow rather than a deranged banshee scream.
Watch an Audi Quattro S1 getting ragged around a track in Tasmania in the video below.
Subaru Impreza
Engine: 2.0-litre boxer four-cylinder
Autosport magazine’s Rallies Editor David Evans once wrote about the sound of the Subaru Impreza and its connection to Colin McRae: “Separated, they’re gin without tonic; butter but no bread. The uneven warble of the Impreza’s flat-four boxer engine was the soundtrack to Colin’s career.”
It was also the soundtrack to rallying in the mid-90s as McRae battled his way to become the youngest WRC champion of all time. Not a beautiful noise, but the Subaru's deep, purposeful rumble is instantly recognisable.
Enjoy a master at work in the video below as Colin McRae wrestles the Impreza during the 1996 season.
Lancia Stratos HF
Engine: 2.4-litre V6
When asked once what his philosophy to building cars was, Enzo Ferrari replied: “I make engines and attach wheels to them.” So when it came to making the engine that would power the car Ferrari had built to honour his deceased son, the Dino, the great man made extra sure his engineers came up with something special.
And, boy, did they deliver. The 2.4-litre V6 that those engineers dreamt up for the Dino was a peach, the exhaust note a symphonic hornet’s nest rasp. And when Lancia stuck that engine into their stunning Bertone-designed Stratos and sent it out on the stages, rally history was made. Sweet music!
Check out RedBull.com-approved legend Björn Waldegård testing a Lancia Stratos below.
Ford Escort Mk II
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder
A Ford Escort Mk II RS1800 is pretty much Rally Car 101. And while you’d struggle to call the sound that came from its 2.0-litre engine beautiful – it's a monstrous, snarly bark, the revs always kept high as the driver stomped the throttle, spinning the rear wheels to oversteer the car through the corners – it is arguably THE iconic rally engine noise.
Take a look around Volkswagen WRC driver Jari-Matti Latvala’s home and watch as he takes his Ford Escort RS1800 out to play.
Related
Porsche 911 SC RS
Engine: 3.0-litre flat-six
Some people will never forgive the 911 for having its engine in the back; others don’t like the fact that Porsche insisted on using air to cool that engine for 35 years.
Whatever. We’ve always loved the buzzy roar of the 911 SC RS’s flat-six, and to hear it powering its way through a rally stage, the sound reverberating off the trees as that rear-mounted engine shoves the car’s weight backwards and down onto its hind quarters is a full-on sensory experience we’d defy any rally fan not to go gooey over.
It's Colin McRae time again! Below the Scot demonstrates the Porsche 911 SC RS and compares it to a more modern Subaru Impreza.
