Bricking it: How to build your own Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO
It’s hardly a scientific assessment, but the most successful Lego sets are those based on boxy vehicles with straight lines and angular edges. The Land Rover Defender, Caterham Seven, and Mercedes-Benz Unimog provide the evidence to support our case.
Which might explain why the Lego Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO has caught our eye. It’s as though its oh-so-1980s shoulder pads-style arches were built with plastic bricks in mind. Its sharp-cornered body is almost a visual metaphor for the way the 710-hp monster treated bends. Why slow down when you have this much grip at your disposal?
For a brief and exhilarating period, the Audi 90 Quattro dominated America’s IMSA GT Championship, winning seven races to finish second in class in 1989. Audi would almost certainly have won the constructors’ championship had it not elected to miss the opening races at Daytona and Sebring.
Audi moved to the IMSA series after the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) banned the use of all-wheel-drive in the Trans-Am series. The Audi 200 Quattros driven by Hurley Haywood, Walter Röhrl, and Hans-Joachim Stuck dominated Trans-Am in 1988, winning eight of the 13 races.
“We were so good with our traction, they banned us from Trans-Am. So the next step was IMSA,” Stuck told Road & Track.
The race car shared little with the production Audi 90—only the wheelbase and roof remained. The rest of the car boasted tubular spaceframe construction, a first for the company. With a massive KKK turbocharger fitted to its 2.2-liter five-cylinder engine, the 90 Quattro GTO could hit 62 mph in 2.7 seconds before going on to reach a top speed of 195 mph.
Stuck, who won four consecutive IMSA GT races in 1989, said: “This was one of my favorite cars … The weight and power ratio and all-wheel drive system. The sound. We had this pressure valve before the turbocharger, which gives the pssch-chirp-chirp! And then the ability to do with this car what you wanted… It was like being in heaven.”
Audi pulled out of IMSA after the 1989 season, moving to DTM to race the V-8 Quattro, so we’ll have to assume that the 90 would have dominated the 1990 series. A case of what might have been.
This isn’t an official Lego set. MOC stands for ‘My Own Creation’ and it enables you to create a Lego kit on commission from unused Lego parts. The 90 is the work of US creator JMPmodels, who says it’s “the most realistic and accurate version you’ll find and is mainly aimed at experienced builders”.
The 358-piece kit costs around £100 ($121) after you’ve bought the PDF instructions. Details include the five-cylinder engine, exhaust, dashboard, and seat for one Lego minifigure. Just add ‘pssch-chirp-chirp’ soundtrack and flames from the exhaust.
As for the next MOC, does anyone fancy coming up with a design for the Ineos Grenadier?
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When I was a young lad and had Legos, there were only about 20 or so different kinds of blocks. You had to use a little more imagination to come up with something interesting
The other thing I learned is that if you leave too many of them on the floor and mom steps on them in the middle of the night you eventually end up without legos
I recall this and the Trans Am car. The Trans AM car was more impressive as it really was an Audi Sedan under the skin. I recall both running Mid Ohio. I can still recall Hans Stuck yodeling after the win.
If you want a cheaper Lego Audi they did a Rally Car in the Speed Champion Series. It is discontinued but still can be found.
Thanks for the mention, Gavin. I must say myself it’s a brilliant little model and a proper tribute to one of the most iconic racecars of all time. With all the different brick shapes available today, there are more ways to build realistic models than ever before. The bricks may be expensive, but it’s still cheaper than owning a real one!
PS: I’ve designed the 200 TransAm in brick form as well 🙂