quattro Magazine Feature: Foxes and Four Rings
[by: Vasko Naumovski]
The Tri Cities area in Kane County Illinois encompasses St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva. The cities straddle the Fox river, as it flows and eventually joins with the Illinois river. These quiet, charming, upscale bedroom communities make up a portion of the Fox Valley between bigger cities like Elgin and Aurora.
Main Street in St Charles passes over the Fox River, just south of the St. Charles Dam. It continues in front of the Baker Hotel, the Arcada Theatre and the Municipal Center. Four bronze fox statues complement the balustrades of the Main Street Bridge. Legend has it that these are the four sons of Charlemagne, designated to remain in the Fox Valley, as monumental guardians of the community, to carry on the spirit of civilization into the new era of the St. Charles settlement.
On a crisp fall morning, after some overnight rain, the Chicagoland Chapter met at Euroquipe, one of our prestige sponsors, in St. Charles. The location served as a starting point for a Fall Drive.
It was hard to miss the conspicuously parked skittles-colored Lamborghinis in front. You immediately get the sense Euroquipe is not your typical European repair shop. Sure, the usual suspects can be found on lifts or in the lot. A BMW in for an oil change, a Mercedes basking in the morning sun, waiting to be picked up after a recent service. Euroquipe does all the modern stuff with ease but also doesn’t shy away from classics and exotics.
They strive to be a one stop shop for everything European, especially Audi. From tires and oil changes to full restorations and race cars. In house engine and transmissions, rebuilds, as well as OEM coding (including key programming) without needing outside companies to come in. Because of that, they keep a very tight quality control program and guarantee all repairs, even above and beyond regular OEM warranties.
They also offer car collection management and can assist with auction preparation. ECU tuning and track setup services are offered as well. On top of that, they are 20V 5-cylinder turbo experts and do A TON of Audi/VW TDI work!
Euroquipe was founded by Tim Kautz more than 20 years ago. That’s about the time Adam Kosela was in his mid-teens, and had acquired his first car, a 1990 Coupe quattro. Adam has owned his share of 5 cylinders, including an urS6 that had gone through a tip to tail restoration and was the recipient of one of Adam’s hand-built motors.
Adam spent some time working for 034Motorsport and eventually landed at an Audi dealership in 2014. He’d accomplished every certification Audi offered, achieving Audi Master Guild Technician. Looking for new challenges, Adam went to work at Porsche and a few other brands before settling down at Euroquipe. In 2021, Adam acquired Euroquipe and is responsible for its operations. Under his dutiful watch, the shop has expanded into two facilities.
After Adam greets us, we make our way to grab a cup of coffee. Up on one of the lifts is a familiar RS 3, which belongs to a member of the Chicagoland Chapter. The rear differential, removed from the car, sits on the bench, the casting cracked open like a walnut. Apparently, the drive shaft had seized, causing the gears in the differential to stop gearing. It’s kind of ironic, considering Adam did a tech session on sport differentials and maintenance the last time he hosted our chapter for an event.
As we make our way to the back of the building, we discover this is where some of the rarities are kept. Car covers desperately try to disguise the treasures underneath. The silhouettes of Audis are clear, but you have to look close to notice the widebodies, on both avants and sedans.
A recently acquired ’85 Euro-spec Ur-quattro is currently as Adam puts it “under the knife”. The car was acquired on Bring a Trailer and came from Portland Oregon. Adam literally “brought a trailer” and went to pick the car up himself, 2100 miles away. His plans include building the engine, installing a six-speed transmission, converting to a B3 suspension, upgrading to Porsche brakes and a whole host of other upgrades. Adam says the body is mint, and with his high standards, We believe him. Ultimately, the goal is to build the best rally car he can.
Another in-house project involves a 2002 RS 4. It started with a brand-new shell, and a true AZR 3.0L stroker engine with all the goodies, TTE turbo’s and a true no-budget build. The interior is period-correct RS 4, but the rest is a different story. The car features a B7 RS 4 transmission, Porsche brake calipers and mountains more.
Adam, like most of us is also a fan of the B5 chassis. In fact, he has a few, including a B5 A4 with an RS 4 widebody kit that is currently undergoing a V6 TDI transplant. Another Casablanca White Pre-facelift A4 is undergoing a fully built 1.8T engine swap and 6 speed transmission conversion.
The shop tour lasted well into our second cup of coffee, and we didn’t even touch on their Porsche projects and 24 hours of Lemons race car. Maybe we’ll save those details for a follow up article. At this point, it was time for us to line up for our drive.
The engines of the eclectic parade rumbled to life. The unmistakable note of a twin turbo, V10 track-prepped R8 gets everyone’s attention. Not to be outdone, an RS 6, RS 7 and a highly tuned S4 make sure they are also noticed. The rest of the group modestly take their turns queueing. Adam has elected to take it all in, serving as the tail for our cruise, from the comfort of the ultimate autobahn cruiser, a D2 S8.
We make our way north through some of the forest preserves and woods of unincorporated St. Charles. We are a little early for peak foliage season, but nevertheless we do our best to shake some leaves off the trees.
We then turn and head south, along the east bank of the Fox River, ending up at the Fabyan Windmill for some photos. After a brief stop, we crossand head upriver, as we make our way to the end of the route for a group lunch.
Our route did not take us over the Main Street Bridge. Maybe next time. We bet the four sons of Charlemagne would appreciate their very own four rings parade.
To see this story and more, click here to access the Q1_2026 digital issue of quattro Magazine.
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