...but not quick enough apparently.

I swore I'd never post one of these but what the hell. I got the red mist, what can I say?

I was at a stop light, in the far right lane which exited onto a freeway about a block or two down the road. I was admiring an RS4 which I had followed down the road for a bit--cool looking exhaust tips, flared wheel arches, etc. It's a muscular looking car, with nice tidy compact proportions IMO. I rather liked it.

When the light turned green, I took off like I normally do but heard the distinct sound of tires chirping (an impressive feat for an AWD car). I glanced to my left and saw the Audi surging forward. On pure impulse I buried the throttle, wound up first gear, went to second, and I think I got a little bit into third. By this time the Audi was only 50% in front of me--his back door only made it to my front bumper (more or less).

At any rate he failed to completely pass me. I saw his car dive and shoot backwards, then he tucked directly behind me, rather abruptly I might add, right as the freeway on-ramp began.

The on-ramp has a constant-radius arc and since I was in a FWD car with a limited slip diff and stability control (not that I needed it in this situation), I just kept the throttle buried and ended up in 4th gear before reaching the merge point. The Audi didn't stay close behind--he backed off before the "apex" of the ramp. Anyone can go fast in a straight line, but I'm amused at how scared most people are the moment they feel anything resembling a lateral G. Anyway... I suppose I didn't hold him up afterall :P

I coasted down to a somewhat less insane speed and merged. He roared up behind me, stayed on my rear bumper for about 2 seconds, then shot over to the left and sped away. I could hear his engine, a glorious sound, even with me going somewhere near 80 (in 6th gear at this point). He seemed aggravated, but at that point I had no interest in playing anymore, especially at high speed.

With enough road, he naturally would've put a nice gap between us, but that little display just goes to show that a ~130hp advantage doesn't always mean you're going to completely outclass another car of similar mass.

 

Nice.....

Yup Agreed, those newer Audi's look sick as hell

My neighbor just got a Black 2011 S5 Holy crap you should hear that sweet sounding engine coming out of his garage!!

 

 

Curves are a little more risky to chance than straightaways, particularly on largely imperfect public roads (as opposed to a well maintained and somewhat controlled conditions of a road course).

 

Actually, those RS4's are only a couple turkeys shy of two tons, so they're considerably heavier than a TL. I'm really surprised you were able to stop his pull, especially considering he got the jump on you. Those cars are good for a mid 4 second 0-60 and traps close to 110. Do you have anything done to your car?

 

Wikipedia and Wikicars both show curb weight of the RS4 4.2 sedan as ~3638 to 3704 lbs. My 150 lbs estimate stems from the guess that my car's curb weight is probably a tick over 3500 lbs.

Sure add in a driver, especially a typical bacon munching American, and the "as tested" weight of the RS4 may end up being close to 4000 lbs. All things are just-as-equal though if the TL has a driver of similar mass.

My car is bone stock except for the tires and brake pads, oh and synthetic oil. I'm only 165 lbs. Maybe he was a fat ass and that shifted the balance more in my favor?

Realistically though, what I witnessed was actually pretty close to what should be expected. I'm sure if I had an automatic, the results would've been very different, right out of the gate. The short and plentiful ratios of the 6 speed mercifully ensure that the engine stays closer to its peak output, especially at lower speed.

 

I don't know where Wiki gets their numbers, but Audi claims 3957 as the RS4's curb weight. The V8 and Quattro add a ton of weight. Hec, an A4 with Quattro and a V6 weighs 3870. They're pretty porky cars.

And no offense, but what happened is not what should be expected. An AWD 13 flat @ 108-110 mph car getting the jump on a FWD low 14 second, 100mph car, he should've had half a dozen car lengths on you by the time you got into third. I think you beat the driver!

 

It also depends on how old that Audi was. Direct injection engines generate a lot of carbon build up. I read an owners complaint that included dynos and pics. After only 20k miles his hp dropped from ~330 to ~270. He put up pics of them cleaning out the engine, the amount of carbon build up was pretty bad (smokers lungs).

 

I don't think that he went wot.. if anything he did a hard launch but lifted when he got up next to you.. I've done that a few times were I launch hard at a light but don't stay in it thru the intersection.. I had a dude in a 3.6L CTS think that he smoked me once just because of this... I even ducted in behind him (the same as the RS4 did to you) just so that I wouldn't have him tempting me into wasting my gas when there wasn't any real challenge...

 

Oh, not saying that the TL isn't a challenge but when talking about the RS4 its a different kind of beast. I'm even sure that my car wouldn't be much of a challenge even on her best day without a few more mods...

 

RS4 is no slouch. I raced an RS4 in my 550i. I barely kept up. Of course it didn't help that I have about 4 heavy desktop computers in the trunk along with a spare wheel.

 

hmm...

you sure it wasnt an A4 with RS4 kit and badges?

 

Hmmm... id love to take a shot at your 550i man... I had one try and play with me a few months back but I had my son in the car so that was a no go..

 

OP is confused haha

RS4 will easily eat up a TL-s

 

Anytime. I'm sure you'd probably win though. The 550i only really shines in the twisties when you take it over 100.

I've taken it up past 130 and I only felt like I was doing 50-60 mph. The car was on rails; solid and planted. Minimal body lean.

Thats why, coming from the TL-S, I highly doubt a TL-S can beat an RS-4, much less even keep up it.

But hey, I wasn't there..so who knows what happened...

 

seems like very many are confused but it is not the op. gearing played a big roll in this race. it wasnt a full on dead even stop so the rs4 had a disadvantage and was probably in that tall ass 3rd gear they have while the tl-s was in 2nd. im sure the rs4 wouldve won had the race continued passed the middle of 3rd but the on-ramp caused the audi to slow down.

i say its credible but its not exactly a fair race due to the circumstances

 

I'd say a full I/E TLS 6mt could beat an s4 on a roll but def. not an RS4...but this wasn't really a race so....

 

OP maybe it was S4, but RS4 is out of the question imo

 

The RS4 will stomp all over the TL-S given equal drivers, the RS4 is a manual trans car and not everyone knows how to drive manual well. I have spent a ton of time at the dragstrip over the years and seen this scenario play out hundreds of times. Great example: I have lined up next to countless C6 Z06's with my C5 Z06 (which only has a set of headers, donaldson intake and a dyno tune... I make 389rwhp and 378rwtq) and spanked them.... all I did was beat the driver, not the car.... a C6 Z06 bone stock makes ~450rwhp and is good for bottom 11's (a couple of guys have cracked the 10 second barrier using only a set of drag radials).

A properly driven RS4 is good for bottom 13's-high 12's around 110mph and a stock 6 speed TL-S is good for ~14 flat at 99-100mph.... a full second lower ET and a difference of 10mph trap speed is a slaughter when you see it played out at the top end of the track.

So I will say "nice driving" and congrats on your kill but you simply beat the driver not the car.

 

nice and thats why I prefer handling over outright power, its much more confidence inspiring.

 

^ I hope you didn't mean the TL-s handles better than the RS4. It's public road, safety first.

 

I'm sure the RS4 would out handle the TL-S too...

 

From personal experience, the TL-S is not even a remotely close match to the RS4. If it was actually an RS4, and not a re-badged A4 or S4 , no matter what you did you wouldn't be able to stop his pull. I raced one (unofficially) off the green light and all I saw was his taillights gaining distance away from me. (might I mention the sound of that engine gave me goosebumps).. He RIPPED off the green light and made me look like I wasn't even trying.

So I don't know man, I think it might have been an S4 Redline with RS4 Badges and/or wheels... Either that, or the driver of the car doesn't deserve to be behind the wheel of any manual transmission car, let alone an RS4.

 

That's what I was getting at. An AWD car that's good for 4.5 seconds to sixty will absolutely rape a mid 5 second car, especially when the former gets the jump. By the time the TL driver catches on that they're racing, puts it to the carpet, fights massive first gear wheelspin and gets into second gear, the RS4 is already at 60.

 

Trust me, an RS4 will absolutely DESTROY a TL-S. It was probably a rebadged 3.2 with a kit to be honest - my B6 S4 will put a buslength on my TL/6MT.

 

very true. I agree taking chances on street roads is ill advised.

Oh most definitely but I was referring to how good handling is confidence inspiring allowing the driver to drive more boldly.

 

Ewwww.... please tell me your local? Id love to get a run at your B6 S4 man....

 

Really? I didn't think the B6s were all that fast. They have a lot of torque though.

But I agree an RS4 should leave a TL-s wondering where the S went...

 

^The B6 should win but there certainly wount be any buslegnths pulled.

 

^ we shouldn't assume his B6 is factory tuned.

 

yeah i think you beat the driver....the RS4 is badass hungry car (all the bacon talk OP did got me hungry).....

i was in a similar situation when i raced a 2011 ford gt v8 420hp car....we did a 60-110mph pull and we were dead on until i let go of the gas at 110mph....i dont think he gunned it right....i was in my 5AT....not even a damn 6MT....

 

you raced one of these


or one of these?

 

Im sure he was talking about the new 5.0 mustang GT

 

i did mention 2011 but forgot the mustang LOL....my bad....

and you had to post grabber blue....my fav color on that beast....

 

As bad-ass as the new Stang is, the styling is weak. That is a cool color though, and I normally hate blue cars with a passion.

 

Sorry to get back here so late.

Fair enough - maybe not an ENTIRE bus length.

The B6 is a heavy bastard but there's literally NO wheelspin whatsoever in first. Even in the rain you can launch the car without traction issues.
The 4.2L V8 pushes 345 horsepower. It just pulls and pulls and pulls. Gobs of torque are available with the slightest tap of the foot. The gearbox is absurdly close as well, keeping you as close as possible to the 7,000 RPM redline (where peak HP is achieved).
"There's no replacement for displacement".

The TL is no slouch - it shocks me how fast the car is sometimes. I actually drove it today and was pleasantly surprised to find second gear pull me up an on-ramp MUCH faster than I had anticipated. However, the S4 could have propelled me up that same stretch in third and effortlessly walked away.

I may have overstated the Audi's abilities somewhat by using "buslength" to describe a hypothetical race, but it would surprise me if the TL was much closer than that distance. Regardless - I love both cars with a passion.


Side note: Both cars are stock, short of a few interior modifications (RS4 pedals, B5 RS4 steering wheel, and an RS4 shift knob).

 

I hope you know that they're AWD cars right?

 

highly likely that he already knows that the car he owns and drives is AWD

 

You guys are all forgetting that the OP may have a factory freak and sweet driving skills!

Although it does sound more like the RS4 driver launched hard to get in the right lane in front of him, noticed that he was racing, laughed a little, then let off and got behind him and took the ramp at a safe speed.

I notice you're located a couple of hours away... you should bring that beast down to Rockingham for some legal racing, would love to race a 6MT TL. My car is slow, though, definitely couldn't beat a RS4 from a stoplight after he got the jump

 

...wow