For Audi Club’s European driving programs abroad, the COVID pandemic caused a pause on all overseas adventures. With international travel restricted, this meant the incredible Dolce Vita R8 tours from Germany to Italy and popular winter driving school in Seefeld, Austria simply couldn’t happen. Finally, for 2022, these programs were able to resume and the inaugural R8 Dolce Vita program got some bonus RS appreciation with a fortuitously timed gathering at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.
A few months ago, a contact at Audi shared news of this annual gathering of RS cars that would be kicking off again in May. Lucky for the first wave of Audi Club European travelers, it would occur on the very same Saturday the group was scheduled to visit museum mobile at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.
When the group finally arrived at the Audi Forum around 10 AM, the parking area of the central piazza was empty. With forecast rain all through the weekend, the possibility that the show had been cancelled was very real. Thankfully a local Audi Deutschland employee who had joined our group was able to do some calling around as the group toured the museum. Unfortunately, we learned the event was set to begin closer to 2 PM when the group would be shuttling back to the host hotel in Münich. As we were leaving for our lunch destination, the Audi driving experience center in Neuburg, an immaculate RS2 Avant rolled in and was detailing up for the incoming gathering.
During the lunch stop, I took some time to chat with our bus driver to see what could be done about returning to Ingolstadt for the event. No thanks to a language barrier, I wasn’t able to convince him to assist. Next, I tried asking the staff at the Audi driving experience center who had organized our tour. Again, no luck.
Lucky for me and our group of twenty, David Sarabi was on our tour and had spent the last few days brushing up on his German over pints and brats. With some charm and fresh marks, the group loaded up early from lunch and headed straight back to Ingolstadt where the once-empty lot had filled out with an ample mix of RS models ranging from RS2 all the way up to RS Q8, and everything in between.
The in-between being things like: a Piedmont Red TT RS Mk2, Sepang Blue TT RS Mk3, RS 4s in both sedan and Avant variants from B5 to B9, some on static suspension and others kissing pavement, a Sepang Blue S1 (love it or hate it), an ur S6 Avant, several rally replicas in full livery, RS 6 Avants, both the prized C5 and newer C7, their C8 S6 brethren not far behind, a Kyalami Green RS 3 and matching RS Q3, a District Green RS 4 Avant, and did I mention RS2s from Laser and Ruby Red to Nogaro Blue and more?
Despite the downpour of rain that rolled through for about 15 minutes, the crowd did not falter and continued to enjoy the company of their fellow enthusiasts and RS machines. After all, this is quattro weather.
For the Dolce Vita crew, this was just the start. The day after this Ingolstadt RS Treffen, they took to the Autobahn and headed south for Italy at the wheel of a fleet of V10 R8 Spyders.
Working with Audi Deutschland and the German market Audi driving experience, Audi Club is able to offer any number of driving programs like Dolce Vita throughout the year.
If you’re interested in enjoying a driving vacation abroad, join our waitlist here https:// surveyhero.com/c/drivingexperiencewaitlist
