Unfair Advantage Podcast by Audi Club

Walter De Silva is a legend in automotive design. As former design chief for Audi and eventually the Volkswagen Group the Italian design icon created the Audi Singleframe Grill an helped rocket the four rings to the forefront during the 2000s and 2010s with cars like the R8, Q7, Mk2 TT and eventually touched nearly every other Audi, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, Volkswagen, SEAT, Skoda and more. We caught up with Walter and his son Alexandre at Monterey Car Week to recount his career at Audi and the VW Group, chat about his book Il Codice De Silva and some of his other new ventures.

Steve Beddor doesn't just own a real Sport quattro with Audi Sport rally era upgrades, he's also selling another identical car that was his father. And his father wasn't just any father, but also the founder of Audi Club North America who imported no less than five of the short-wheelbase Group B homologation cars in period (1986). Steve covers all kinds of ground you won't want to miss, including tales of the missing fifth Sport quattro, watching Walter Röhrl compete at Pike's Peak, driving Ruf's prototype CTR1 Yellow Bird and competing himself at Pike's Peak.

Nish Pillai has become a notable expert on the RS 6 and the community around it. His Nogaro Blue Tribute has been on the cover of quattro Magazine, and he's an active leader on RS 6 owner group chats and Facebook Groups. We caught up with him to talk about the new RS 6 GT.

During Audi Club Nationals 2023 at Tail of the Dragon, we caught up with Charles Shackelford, the YouTuber known best as Humble Mechanic who was on location to take part in the event.

Freeman Thomas is best known in Audi circles as the designer behind the first-generation Audi TT. That car and its Bauhaus style simplicity influenced Audi design and that of the greater automotive industry for years to come. He also had a hand in cars like the Porsche 964, VW Concept 1, and stints at Ford and Chrysler before landing at his current role as partner in the rebirth of Meyers Manx. Freeman took a pause for a long chat on all of that, and of course we went super deep on the TT back story.

In the final podcast of our women takeover for the summer Q3_2023 issue of quattro Magazine, Lucy and Lia Block join Leanne Kopras and Mina Achorn to talk about rally from the perspective of a 16-year-old (Lia) and a mom (Lucy). They also chat about current projects including Lia's ur quattro restoration, Lucy's e-tron Sportback, Blockhouse Racing, American rally, taking on Pike's Peak and of course the 43 Institute that they've started to honor Ken Block.

Continuing in our women takeover series, Leanne Kopras catches up with Amie Palo to talk about her pursuit of drag-racing a forced induction R8, her move to upgrade to an R8 LMS GT4-based Build, plus being a woman and a mom in motorsport. Check out our feature about Amie in our Q3_2023 issue of quattro Magazine out in July 2023.

As we continue our women's takeover series to support the summer Q3_2023 issue of quattro Magazine, Talia Pakkala catches up with Montana Throne to discuss the role of women in STEM, the challenges of being a woman in the traditionally male-dominated auto industry, and digs into her projects at Integrated Engineering (IE), most notably their new app and how that will change the tuning experience for IE customers.

As a prominent European automotive parts distributor, FCP Euro is already a leader in the car parts business. That they're also a leader in employment diversity only makes them that much more impressive. Audi Club New Jersey's Louli Kourkounakis catches up with FCP's Nicole Batista, Andrea Penta and Christine Pfleckl (and also Nathan Brown) to catch up on FCP and also discuss the unique challenges of operating as a female in the often male-dominated automotive industry.

Erin Vogel is an Audi Club legacy. She started her performance driving hobby attending Audi Club Southern California High-Performance Driving Events (HPDEs) with her dad, and has quickly progressed from student, to instructor, to aspiring racecar driver. She's an example for ALL Audi Club North America members who may aspire to such a path, though she's especially relatable for women for whom she has made a conscious decision to help elevate. As part of the women's theme for the upcoming Q3_2023 issue of quattro Magazine, Audi Club staff members Leanne Kopras and Talia Pakkala catch up with Erin to cover all of that and more, plus things you might not expect such as airline perks and the relevance of band kids to racing.