For the first time since 1974, the ice races at Zell am See in the Austrian Alps have been run. The GP Ice Race 2019 event drew some of the world’s most iconic cars, both street and racing types. Names like Joachim Stuck, Walter Röhrl, Jochi Kleint, Romain Dumas, and more took to the track in a parade of vehicles that are internationally worthy. Cars like the Lancia 037 Rally, the KTM X-Bow, an Auto Union Type C and the twin-engined Volkswagen Golf 2 Pikes Peak racer from 1987, among others in the full 130-vehicle lineup, could be seen playing in the snow with the absolutely gorgeous backdrop of the Alps in the distance. We aren’t knocking cars like the Lancia or the Austro Damiler ADR 6 Sport Torpedo, or an Audi RS5 DTM car having a go. But this video we couldn’t pass up.
You are no doubt familiar not only with the story of the Audi Quattro and it’s rally days. Audi takes a turbocharged, four-wheel-drive coupe to rally races and proceeds to hand just about everyone their backside with a lovely, handwritten note that says, “Wir sehen uns nächstes Jahr!” Throughout the entirety of the Group B era, Audi was the one to beat, the turbocharged five-cylinder howl becoming the siren song. Behind the Quattro, however, is quite possibly it’s polar opposite: a NASCAR, in this case a Toyota Camry that has been fitted with headlights and taillights and, we hope, a tire with enough metal studs to keep some semblance of traction as the car desperately tries to put the power down. It’s an interesting combination, this pairing: one a technical masterpiece of it’s day, the other the automotive equivalent of a sledgehammer, both on display in a postcard setting.
The Quattro must have been on summer tyres.