Like last week’s installment in our Made to Drive series, we are back in France, only this time at much higher elevation as we power slide through the snowy roads of the Courchevel ski resort perched high in the Alps. With his skis affixed atop and a preference for counter-steering, Mark Birch is using his 1994 RS2 exactly as it was intended. Sure-footed Quattro paired with a classic Audi turbo five under the hood is a recipe for the ultimate snow day as far as we’re concerned, and though it never received any motorsport attention, it sure does a good job of aping its WRC relatives as it carves sideways ruts into the churned-up powder behind it. If you haven’t done so already, you can view the full film here. To avoid rehashing the connections with Porsche and telling the same RS2 “origin story” for the umpteenth time, you can read more about the model here.
Right, back to Mark’s ’94 example. With the rising popularity of sports and specialty cars built at the end of the 20th century, we’re starting to see more and more of these cars stashed away as investment items. Add to that the typically inverse relationship between a car’s value and its use, and you get a scenario where you don’t see too many cars like Mark’s Audi caked in dirty snow. But what options do you have if you’re a ski instructor with a penchant for quick cars and long rooflines? His attitude toward this RS2—that it’s the perfect form of everyday transport—fits our motto to a T, and we can only dream of having such a perfect commute.
It’s been a long time coming too, with Mark pointing all the way back to his dad’s Tornado Red Passat GT as the genesis of this “fascination.” He brought it home when Mark could still count his age on his hands, and a trip down to Silverstone to have the motor enlarged and a hotter cam fitted saw Mark getting plenty of seat time in similarly-souped VWs at this formative age. Something definitely stuck in his mind, because once he started driving his own cars his portfolio was full of GTis and of course, a few hot Avants.
He recalls when the RS2 was a brand new car too—a new car that cost the equivalent of well over €100,000 in today’s terms—and how he’d chance across them in Audi dealerships, always marveling at the compact turbocharged wagon that more or less created and then continued to define that market segment from that point onwards. It seemed like a dream car back then, but fast forward roughly 15 years and he was sitting behind the wheel of a bonafide RS2. His friend Rob had offered to let Mark take his car for the weekend, and so he had another formative experience in a fast wagon made by VAG.
He fell for the car (how could you not?), and skipping ahead five more years, he was again in the driver’s seat. This time his name was on the paperwork in the glove box.
Drive Tastefully®
