THE ONE-OFF STUNT CAR
Audi S1 e-tron quattro Hoonitron
Audi's six-month electric tribute to its Group B rally heritage, built for Ken Block's Elektrikhana stunt film.
Before the Hoonitron, there was the Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2 — one of the most feared cars of the Group B rally era. A short-wheelbase, turbocharged, 600-horsepower all-wheel-drive missile with aero add-ons that looked almost cartoonish. When Group B was banned at the end of 1986, Audi repurposed the S1 for hillclimbs, and in 1987 Walter Röhrl took it to Pikes Peak — the 20-kilometre, 156-corner road up a Colorado mountain — and drove to the summit in 10 minutes and 47.85 seconds, the first competitor ever to go up the hill in under 11 minutes. That run is the car the Hoonitron exists to honour.
In late 2021 Audi asked its design studio to build a one-off electric tribute for Ken Block's upcoming Elektrikhana stunt film. Six months later, the Hoonitron was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show — an all-electric homage to the 1985 S1, with two motor-generator units (one per axle) producing a combined 500 kW (around 680 hp), a carbon-fibre chassis, a 57.6 kWh battery running at 800 volts, and full FIA-grade safety cells. Some enthusiast outlets quote peak output figures as high as 1,400 hp off the spec sheet — the launch-day Audi release gives 500 kW as the continuous number. Either way, it's a lot for a car that weighs what this car weighs.
Ken Block filmed Elektrikhana in Las Vegas in 2022 — a closed-strip stunt film in which the Hoonitron drifted, smoked and spun through a deserted Vegas boulevard. The video became one of the most-watched automotive releases of the year. The Hoonitron is a unicorn — there's exactly one of them. It exists for a specific film, a specific driver, and a specific tribute. But it also answered a question the car world had been quietly asking: can an electric car be theatre? The Hoonitron said yes.
- Powertrain
- Twin motor-generator units, one per axle
- Power
- 500 kW (~680 hp) continuous; reported peaks much higher
- Battery
- 57.6 kWh, 800-volt architecture
- Chassis
- Carbon-fibre, FIA-grade safety cells







