James' Widebody Audi S4
If you asked me what the one thing I am more than happy to see the back of over the last two years, my answer wouldn’t need a moments hesitation.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying the poxy virus that’s ruined the best part of 18 months for us will not be missed, however, another pandemic comes in at a very close second on the list of things I’m happy to forget. Facebook competition pages.
I’m not sure what sparked that craze off but whatever it was, I’m glad the ship has somewhat sailed. As a result, the classic and enthusiast car market has skyrocketed through the roof and prices soared for absolutely no reason. Suddenly a rotten Corolla was worth 30 grand but it didn’t matter cos it only cost you a few snoop.
However, for some, it was a virus they were more than happy to contract. Take James for example, who cashed in a mere 25 pound and won the world famous, widebody Audi S4 you see here. The jammy ba*****!
I first came across this car in 2016 when its creator, Jules Loose, completed the build by the skin of his teeth a few hours before leaving for Worthersee. At the time, I remember being in a random Facebook groupchat with him and a few other English guys and watched as this car came together in the days before we all left for Austria.
Five years later and the car lives on, now in James' opportunistic hands in Waterford, Ireland. Rest assured, the cars soul has remained, it's still very wide and it's still very fast.
While there's now a few wide-body S4's in Europe, this was one of the first (maybe it was the first?) and the pumped RS4 rear arches absolutely transform this car. I'm a big fan of how a regular B5 sits but this is B5 on steroids by all accounts.
The whole front end is robbed from a RS4 and a US spec bootlid lives out back. There is considerable internet points on offer if you can guess where those bonnet vents came from too.
The car was 'sold' to James on coilovers but he didn't hang around before converting it back to Airlift 3P and tucking a set of 20" OZ Superturismos up under those arches.
The party piece for me is in the braking department where, up front, a pair of 4-pot Audi R8 calipers clamp around sizeable 380mm carbon ceramic rotors and at the rear, a 356mm Audi RS6 setup can be found, also carbon ceramic. Because, lets face it, why would you have anything less.
The V6 power-plant lays about 450hp onto the tarmac through twin K04 turbochargers, cooled by Wagner Tuning intercoolers and is helped along by a dose of meth thanks to an AEM methanol injection system. MRC software with built in launch control and flat shift ties the whole system together.
James pilots this rocketship held firmly in place by Recaro CS wingbacks and the interior is higlighted with a healthy dose of carbon fibre and alcantara.
Big thanks to James' for taking some time out of a long journey home to meet me for some photos. We managed to film a short feature too, which you can check out in 4K above.
Owner: @jamesdoherty95
Location: Kildare, Ireland