Skip to main content

Audi Doubles Down On Its ‘Drift Mode Is Silly’ Stance

Many automakers are now offering a dedicated ‘drift mode’ on their performance vehicles, but Audi refuses to buy into the juvenile trend. The German automaker said late last year that it wouldn’t put a ‘drift mode’ on any of its cars and recently doubled down on the stance when speaking to Motoring.com.au.

“No drift mode. Not in the R8, not in the RS 3, not in the RS 6, not in the RS 4,” said  Stephan Reil, Audi Sport’s development boss.

Audi’s not interested in drift mode as it doesn’t really jive with the brand’s image. The automaker is known the world over for its refined all-wheel drive systems, so it’s easy to see why it wouldn’t want its cars strapped with a system that promotes sliding all over the place. Drifting is a rather slow way to get around a racetrack, as well, further pushing the brand away from ‘drift mode’ type features.

“I don’t like them,” Reil added. “I do not see the reason for them. We do not see the sense in sitting there burning the back tyres. It’s not fast.”

“It’s much faster the way we do it, and drifting also does not really suit the architecture of our cars.”

Audi’s disdain for drift mode doesn’t mean the brand is anti-fun, however. Audi Sport’s cars have an ESP Off setting that neutralizes the traction and stability control and allows drivers to perform all the drifts they want, just don’t expect the electronic systems to step in and save you when you run wide or the vehicle swaps ends.

“You can do it yourself with the ESP off, if you hold it for three seconds,” said Reil.

“Then it will not intervene for you even when it (the car) is fully out of control, because that’s what you asked it not to do.

“You wanted the full control by pushing that button. You got it.”

[source: motoring.com]

The post Audi Doubles Down On Its ‘Drift Mode Is Silly’ Stance appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2o3OZ4V
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway

Waterfest 24 will be held at Atco Dragway, in Atco, New Jersey. The summer event will take place at its new venue on July 21 and 22. Long held in Englishtown, New Jersey, the festival has been such a large part of the VW scene that the latest iteration of the Golf even comes with optional “Englishtown” wheels . The new venue, however, is an NHRA drag track a scant 52 miles southwest of Englishtown. The ¼ mile drag track opened in 1960, which makes it the oldest drag strip in New Jersey. The announcement came today on a social media post that announced the new location. Waterfest is North America’s largest VW/Audi show. As many 20,000 people show up for the annual show, making the second largest show in the world—with Worthersee being number one. 2018 will be Waterfest’s 24 th year in existence. The post Waterfest Moves to Atco Dragway appeared first on VWVortex . from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2GQjkuc via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Macau Gets Messy with 16-Car Pileup

The Macau Grand Prix is always good for an accident or two or 16— you may remember Audi’s race ending crash last year —and this year’s event didn’t disappoint. It didn’t take long for things to get messy on the tight road circuit. On the opening lap of the qualifying race a 16-car pileup caused the race to be suspended. Things kicked off when Daniel Juncadella hit a wall on the exit of Police bend, one of the tightest parts of the already tight circuit. The following car of Raffaele Marciello was able to avoid the carnage, but Laurens Vanthoor, who was in the upside-down Audi that ended the race last year, could not avoid Juncadella and together they blocked up the road pretty much completely. “I couldn’t see him [Juncadella] at first. Then I saw the car standing still,” Vanthoor told Motorsport. “I tried to brake but it was just understeering and I couldn’t do anything. There’s room for one car there and you’re blind.” Fourteen more cars would eventually crash into the corner c
Post a Comment
Read more

The First of its Kind: Integrated Engineering Releases Highly-Anticipated IE450T MK6 Golf R Turbo Kit

After two long years of development, the team at Integrated Engineering has finally announced the release of their IE450T kit for the MK6 Golf R. With their turbo kit bolted on right out of the box, the sport AWD hatch is transformed into a 450bhp monster, with hardly any noticeable increase in spool time. In fact, 435 ft-lbs of torque are achieved at all four wheels, at a mere 3300rpm! By now you are probably asking yourself how this is even possible on a 2.0L engine that made nearly half that power from the factory. By employing true twin-scroll technology into the cast turbo manifold and pairing it with a state-of-the-art BorgWarner EFR turbocharger, IE was able to keep spool time at a minimum and bring the fastest-spooling big turbo setup to the market. “We wanted to offer a kit that would dramatically increase the power output without making the car lose its amazing street-friendly drivability,” mentioned one of the IE engineers. We are told the IE450T leaves the car driving jus
Post a Comment
Read more