Watch an Audi S1 EKS RX race its tiny RC car twin

Audis large and small compete at mystery base

    In an industrial complex stocked with tremendously rare Cold War machinery -- bonus points to those who spot Ural and IFA trucks and an Ikarus bus outside -- Audi has staged a race unlike any other. A 600-hp Audi S1 EKS RX rally car driven by touring car champion Mattias Ekstrom takes on its remote controlled doppelganger, remotely piloted via an onboard camera by German junior champion Micha Widmaier.

   The larger Audi S1 is one of the cars that Ekstrom pilots in the FIA World Rally Cross Championship, and seeing both in action we're not really sure which car we'd prefer to have in our garages. The larger S1 is certainly quick, but some of our garages are currently occupied by domestic classics and could only accomodate a smaller, remote-controlled Audi S1.

    Ultimately, the video raises more questions than it answers. First, where is this warehouse filled with minty-looking Skodas, Wartburgs, and Barkases from the 1960s that also contains a KamAZ truck? Second, how many remote controlled Audi S1s were flattened in the making of this video? Third, why can't we have nice things like stock Audi S1s in the US? And finally, how much does a remotely controlled Audi S1 with an onboard camera cost? Because we feel we need one for our office. For research purposes of course.