2001 Brilliant Silver Audi S4
Owner: funkadelic
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: http://www.funkadelic.org/
This month's featured car belongs to Car and Model's very own Norm (aka "funkadelic"). When he's not coding away on Car and Model, he's probably tinkering with his S4.
The Audi S4 comes with a 250HP bi-turbo 2.7L V6 (one turbo for each cylinder bank as opposed to sequential turbos) so it's a very potent car in stock form. Norm has taken a methodic approach to upping it's performance while subtley upgrading the exterior. He definitely has focused his efforts on the performance side, and has spent many a days at Thunderhill Raceway and Sears Point (aka. Infineon Raceway) honing his driving skills on the road course & maximizing the use of his performance mods.
| How's it going? So tell us how you ended up with the S4? | | 
My previous car was a '97 Acura Integra LS hatchback. A few months after i bought that, I was regretting not paying the $2k more and getting the VTEC engine. I wasn't going to let that happen again when I bought my next car. Unfortunately this time it was like $10k more going from the Audi A4 1.8T to the bigger engine of the S4. LOL.
| Wow. That's a big difference. Any regrets ponying up for the S4? | |
Not at all! I love this car. Four doors, all-wheel drive, a huge trunk...haha...it's a great all-around performance sedan.
| Cool. So you haven't done much to the exterior. Is that intentional? | |
Yes. People that know me know that I'm a pretty low-key kind of guy. I'm not much of an attention-getter and that carries over to how I mod my S4. That's why i ended up with Brilliant Silver instead of Imola Yellow or Nogaro Blue. There are only a few visual clues that there lies more underneath. :)
| You go do a lot of track days...what are those like? | |
They're awesome! I first got hooked when i did a few auto-cross events, which then lead to my first track event at Thunderhill Raceway up in Willows, CA. I've got perhaps 10 track days under my belt since then. It's a great way to learn your car's limits in a safe and controlled environment, *if* you leave your ego in the pits and not bring it onto the track. It's also a great way to go through tires real fast haha.
| So do you fill up on 100 octane at the track as well? | |
Yep. I'm addicted to 100 octane! My APR chip has multiple programs and one of them is a 100 octane mode, which advances timing to take advantage of the extra octane, giving me a nice bump in horsepower. Too bad the closest 100 octane at the pump is 25 minutes away otherwise I'd be running to on the street occasionally as well. :(
| Any other mods scheduled for the near future? | |
No more mods, I'm trying to buy a house! :) Well, if my turbos ever go south I'm going to do a Stage III K04 turbo upgrade instead of replacing with the stock K03 turbos, but in the near term the only thing I might go for are larger intercoolers.
| Awesome. Well thanks for taking some time out of your day to answer our questions. Now get back to working on the site! | |
Haha ok, man. New features are on their way. :)
Audi Performance and Racing (APR) EMCS ECU (91 and 100 octane programs)
Spec Stage II clutch
APR bi-pipe
OEM downpipes with pre-cats gutted out
Forge Motorsport Bypass Valves
UUC Motorwerks VM3 exhaust
Autospeed Intelligent Intercooler Misters
AMS Polymount engine "snub" mount
Bosch Platin F5DP0R spark plugs
Redline motor, transaxle, and differential fluids
H&R Street Coilovers
Neuspeed 19mm rear swaybar
18x8.5 BBS CH w/ 225/40-18 Bridgestone S-03's (street)
17x7.5 Stock AVUS rims w/ 225/45-17 Kuhmo Ecsta V700 (track)
APR Stage III 332mm front brakes & stainless steel braided brake lines (front & rear)
Motul RBF 600 brake fluid
RS4 grill
Canadian-spec lower bumper inserts (removed fog lights because of IC misters)
SolarGard HP Charcoal 32% tint
Modified OEM shifter (shorter throws)
Supreme Power Parts 52mm boost gauge A-pillar
RS4 "air-leather" shift knob
Hardwired Valentine1 radar detector
Custom Nokia 8890 cellphone integration
Custom headrest camera mount (for track day video)
Garmin iQue 3600 GPS PDA w/custom mount
| In-Car Entertainment (I.C.E.) |
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The sound of the UUC VM3 exhaust ;)
My girlfriend: for tolerating all my car shenanigans.
The Audiworld.com S4 forum: for without them I'd have a whole lot more money left in the bank. ;-)
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