What: 1984 Audi Sport quattro
Color: Tornado Red (tornadorot; LY3D / G2; non-metallic; Audi)
Chassis: WAUZZZ85ZEA905037
Mileage: Undisclosed
Auction Price Estimate: $400,000 – 500,000 USD
Location: RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auction, Monterey, CA
Sales listing: Link
If you’re watching the Audi Sport quattro market, and specifically the American Sport quattro market, then you’ll want to take note that another one of the Beddor family’s Sport quattros One of five Sport quattros imported into the U.S.A. by Audi Club North America founder Frank Beddor, and one of three to be put up for auction by the Beddor family in the last year.
Beddor and Auction Background
Back in 2024 during the first auction, I caught up with Frank Beddor’s son Steve to talk about the family history with Audi Club and also with these cars. That’s all part of Audi Club’s former Unfair Advantage Podcast, archived also on this site HERE.
At the time, Steve shared that his father had been working with then head of Audi Sport in the USA Jo Hoppen. Hoppen and Frank devised a plan to help elevate the image of Audi whereby Beddor purchase five of the then slow-selling and exceedingly expensive Group B homologation specials. They’d be legally imported into the United States via Andial, with several upgrade to include components from Audi Sport racing suppliers including Lehmann engines in several.
Last year, the first car to go up for auction went onto Bring a Trailer with reserve, was bid to $446,000 and finished no sale. That car, one of 128 Tornado Red examples to be built (chassis number WAUZZZ85ZEA905057), was one of the upgraded cars and Frank Beddor’s personal car.
The second car to go up for auction was one of 48 Alpine White examples that were built (chassis number WAUZZZ85ZEA905035), with interior converted to white leather. It was also one of the upgraded cars and largely belonged to Steve Beddor. Part of RM Sotheby’s Arizona Auction, that car bid up to $758,500 without reserve and was sold.
The Monterey Sport quattro – “The Red Devil”
This third car headed for sale, another Tornado Red example known to the Beddor family and their circle of Audi-loving friends as “The Red Devil”. This car (chassis number WAUZZZ85ZEA905037) was used by Frank’s son David in competition and remained in the family’s ownership since new.
Here again, the car was upgraded in similar fashion to the other two cars offered for sale. Upgrades included an engine by Audi Sport engine builder Heinz Lehmann – ported-and-polished head, cams, a Bosch Motronic ECU, K27 turbocharger, exhaust and intake manifolds. In such condition, the car reportedly produces 145 hp more than a stock Sport quattro, now 449 hp and 466 Nm of peak torque.
The car was used in period from 1986 to 1998, most notably winning the 1991 Virginia City Hill Climb by Ferrari Club of America, and also held the course-lap record at Minnesota’s Brainerd International Raceway for a period.
See a full photo gallery and the original lot description including greater detail of the history on the car below. You can also find the listing for the car as part of the RM Sotheby’s 2025 Monterey Auction HERE. The Auction will be held as part of the 2025 Monterey Car Week.
PHOTO GALLERY
RM SOTHEBY’S LOT DESCRIPTION
[source: RM Sotheby’s]
Following its second World Rally Championship title in three years, Audi sought to translate its motorsport dominance into US road car appeal. That opportunity arrived in a letter from Frank Beddor Jr. of Chanhassen, Minnesota—racer, Audi Club of North America founder, and head of a family that lived and breathed speed. Beddor proposed a partnership: his family, each member a seasoned driver, would represent Audi’s racing spirit in America. The ask? Five Audi Sport quattros—one for Frank Jr. (60), his wife Marilyn (50), and their sons Frank (26), Steve (24), and David (22)—to match their need for speed and showcase the brand’s performance pedigree.
Driven extensively—and with record-breaking success— by David Beddor between 1986 and 1998, “the Red Devil” is today offered from the Beddor Family’s continuous ownership and is surely among the most fascinating examples of Audi’s revered homologation special.
One of only 164 Sport quattro produced, Hoppen organized the Red Devil’s delivery to Andial’s Dieter Inzenhofer for federalization in March 1986. Legendary Audi Sport engine builder Heinz Lehmann was subsequently charged with providing the car with suitable motivation. His modifications included a ported-and-polished cylinder head, hotter cams, a Motronic ECU, optimized K27 turbocharger, as well as proprietary exhaust and intake manifolds which improved the car’s maximum torque to 466 newton-meters at 5,400 RPM and 449 horsepower—more than 145 horsepower over the stock unit!
Always regarded as the most naturally talented Beddor brother regardless of the competitive endeavor at hand, Jo Hoppen elected to send David for training with rally legend and Audi Sport works driver, John Buffum. Hoppen’s logic tracked that David, on account of his raw talent, would be best positioned to receive Buffum’s teachings, adapt his driving habits accordingly, and then effectively relay them to his brothers.
The results of Buffum’s training course—and Hoppen’s sounds logic—speak for themselves. From 1988 to 1998, David Beddor and the Red Devil terrorized Audi club autocross events throughout the Midwest. Nearly every event was a Beddor family exhibition where the operating question became, “Which one could go fastest?”
But the Red Devil’s most notable showing came during June 1991 at the Ferrari Club of America’s famous 5.2-mile Virginia City Hill Climb. Against a comprehensive entry list of Maranello’s finest road cars, the Red Devil surprised everyone by finishing 1st—12 whole seconds ahead of a Ferrari F40, and four seconds ahead of brother Steve Beddor’s white Sport quattro, “the F40 Killer.” Later that year, David and the Red Devil broke the lap record at Minnesota’s Brainerd International Raceway, with a time of 231.788 seconds.
In retirement, this phenomenal Sport quattro has been sparingly driven and maintained by marque specialists. Supplied with a fascinating trove of Audi correspondence and technical documentation, the Red Devil is a tremendous prize to be cherished but also enjoyed—in anger—at hill climbs, autocross events, and road rallies. Modified from new by some of the most important gurus in Audi motorsport history, the Red Devil brought to bear the unprecedented effectiveness of the quattro all-wheel-drive system, humbling some of the period’s most capable supercars in spectacular fashion.