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Audi S3 Understeers Its Way to Nurburgring Crash that Leads to Steering Disaster

One the aspects that reinforce the Nurburgring's Green Hell status has to do with the weather at the infamous German track, which is more unpredictable than a rockstar on smiley faces pills.
Audi S3 Nurburgring crash 4 photos
Photo: Youtube screenshot
Audi S3 Nurburgring crashAudi S3 Nurburgring crashAudi S3 Nurburgring crash
The grip changes generated by the capricious weather mean that, throughout the 12.9-mile (20.8 km) course, things can easily go haywire for a driver-car combination that would've easily made it to the finish line in one piece under stable dry or wet conditions.

One of the most recent examples of this comes from the piece of footage at the bottom of the page, which shows an Audi S3 understeering its way into mechanical misery.

The S3, a second-generation machine, might mix its 265 PS with quattro all-wheel-drive, but keep in mind that the heavy front bias of the system fitted to the car is clearly visible.

The hot hatch driver can be seen hooning his way into the turn that saw the car crashing. And while the man may have misjudged the entry speed for the wet corner, he seems to apply just the right amount of lock once he noticed the vehicle starts sliding towards the barrier on the side of the circuit.

Truth be told, an Audi R8 that passes through the same bend a few moments before the S3 and also goes through a slight understeer experience, shows the configuration of the track determines cars to slide onto the outside of the circuit in wet conditions, so perhaps we shouldn't blame the FWD-biased quattro system of the S3 that much.

Despite the driver's efforts, the Audi ended up hitting the guardrail. And a crash that could've led to some panel/rim damage and nothing more ended up taking a serious toll on the car.

As you'll be able to notice in the clip, the wheel that hit the barrier was bent, leaving the S3 stranded on the track. In many such cases, the steering rack is affected and, as anybody whose had such issues know, we're not talking about an affordable fix here.

Oh well, at least this doesn't appear to be the kind of impact that could've harmed the driver...

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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