LEGO Audi Sport Quattro S1 (2020) & Michèle Mouton minifigure

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LEGO has experienced such a boom in popularity over the past 10 or 15 years, and the company has for many years been the most valuable toy brand in the world (value: US$7.4bn, as of 2023). Part of the reason, I think, is that what was once aimed solely at children began to transform into an adult collectible from the late 1990s, onward. During those years, LEGO began new lines focused on popular movie tie-ins (like Star Wars) – creating a level of crossover cultural appeal. And today, LEGO seems to be on a quest to explore ever more niche cultural icons and topics, at times even positioning sets as modern art products.

Of course, you can still buy plenty of cars, castles and spaceships. But there are now also sets about iconic retro appliances (cameras, typewriters), flower bouquets, and even things like the lovely ‘Tales of the Space Age’ – a series of minimalist art displays that depict humanity’s journey to space. These and many other sets are for display, not play, and tend to emanate from LEGO’s sub-themes like the ‘Icons’ and ‘Ideas’ series.

I’ve collected LEGO on and off since I was a child. And I often keep an eye on new sets, especially if they commemorate something retro or nostalgic. One such set was their Audi Sport Quattro S1 (#76897) which was released a few years ago, and which is now retired. It was really cool to see a specific retro rally car in LEGO, so I just had to grab it…

The real Audi Sport Quattro S1 had been developed during the Group B rally era and it debuted in the 1984 season. The LEGO set’s version is the one with large front and rear spoilers and “#5” as the number. The back of the box features this photo below of the real car – showing the legendary Walter Röhrl driving it in 1985.

Walter Röhrl winning the San Remo rally in the Audi Sport Quattro S1, in 1985.

The set came with one male minifigure as the driver. But it did not depict any particular real rally driver as far as I can tell. Just a generic driver. But still, a really nice set – and I think the blocky angles of LEGO works fairly well with the blocky designs of those mid 1980s rally supercars…

The set was easy to build – the only tricky part being the stickers. Many of the LEGO cars released as part of the Speed Champions series (like this one) do feature more stickers than usual, due to various logos and branding. It was interesting to note how modern LEGO both has more printed pieces (due to improvements in manufacture), but also more stickers (due to more sets based on real-world vehicles) than when I was a kid.

When I recently wrote about the Nikko Audi Quattro, I also mentioned another rally driver, Michèle Mouton. And while building this LEGO set, I came across another connection to her…

Whilst Michèle did not win any championship rallies in the Audi Sport Quattro S1, she did have famous success in another rally event in the USA – the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. After coming second at this event in 1984, she returned in 1985 and won it in the S1 – becoming the first woman ever to win the event. And setting a record for the fastest time in history (at that time) in the process.

The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is an event consisting of some 156 turns, some that leave the cars teetering on the edge of steep inclines. Prior to her run, Michèle was actually fined $500 for some trivial actions deemed “dangerous driving” with the car, and was banned from driving on any roads – other than the hill climb course itself. This caused her team to literally have to push her Audi to the starting line, rather than drive it there. “They knew my time from the practice and didn’t want me to win, so they find something they believe really can be a big penalty.”, she said.

Michèle Mouton winning at Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the Audi Sport Quattro S1, in 1985. (Image courtesy: http://www.historyracingpedia.com/stories/nl/the-pikes-peak-1985-climb-to-the-clouds-michele-mouton-audi.html)

“…not everyone was happy that we had come back to Pike’s Peak. A European car that drives circles around the competition, and with a woman at the wheel – that went against the grain of some people. With these games they probably wanted to make our lives difficult, wanted to prevent us from being so successful again. Not with me though. If you put pressure on me, I will only become stronger. That was the biggest motivation for me.” – Michèle Mouton

Now, you might be wondering why I brought her up.

Well, in an interesting twist to this LEGO set, Audi Spain collaborated with LEGO on a limited run of minifigures specifically depicting Michèle Mouton, as a tribute to her rally achievements with Audi.

As I mentioned earlier, LEGO’s foray into sets and figures based on cultural icons is fascinating. And now even includes a specific Group B rally driver from the 1980s.

As you can see below, the figure is named after her, with a historical summary on the rear side.

They even produced a short promotional video (which I have captured and saved below, just in case it disappears from elsewhere on the web) as part of the competition to win one of the figures…

According to the website BrickEconomy.com:

Only 50 were given away in prize drawing by Audi in March 2020. It was an Audi promotional giveaway in Spain as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Quattro and honoring the only female winner, Michele Mouton, of a World Rally race. To win one of the 50 available sets, individuals needed to post a photo of set 76897-1 on social media along with a the hashtag #ElPilotoEsElla.

After reading about this, I thought it would be cool to track down one of these limited minifigures, to have an authentic driver with my Audi model. The only problem? Their extremely limited supply, and the general popularity of LEGO, meant that new in the packet examples of such a rare figure were only available for upwards of US$1000, on eBay. 😨

At the time of writing, new-in-packet Michèle Mouton minifigures are extremely expensive.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I wondered if the Michèle Mouton minifigure actually contained any truly unique pieces. After all, a LEGO minifigure usually consists of just 4 main pieces: face, hair, torso and legs.

I realized it didn’t. But locating the correct pieces would also take time. Especially with the hundreds of different faces LEGO has made over the years. There are literally dozens of slightly different smiley faces…

So, after some effort of research, below is my completed Michèle – identical to the version in the packet. And it ultimately only cost me a few dollars. Which sure beats paying $1000! And if I wanted to recreate the packaging, I could always print out a little tribute picture…

As per the photo on the back of packet, the figure recreates Michèle as she posed beside the winning Audi and in front of the pine trees, during the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, USA, in 1985…

And here she is, reunited with her Audi…

A really fun LEGO set and project, about one of my favourite cars and drivers.

Michèle Mouton is now 72 (at the time of writing). And has long since retired from motorsport. But I think she’d be delighted to know there’s a LEGO tribute of her.

For further reading:

• Michèle Mouton won 4 WRC rallies in her career, and remains the only woman to have won WRC events or the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. You can read more about her career here on Wikipedia.
• Shattering the Glass Ceiling at 14,119 Feet: Michèle Mouton & Her Record Run at Pike’s Peak 35 Years On

As always, happy collecting!