Riding With Race Legends: Tom Kristensen And The Audi RS E-Tron GT At Laguna Seca

It’s not every day you get to drive the legendary Laguna Seca race course, and it’s even more rare to experience the track in an all-electric performance car. But as long as we’re talking dream scenarios, how about we drive Laguna Seca in the all-new Audi RS e-tron GT with Tom Kristensen, the most most winning race driver in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

That was the combination of rarefied circumstances I found myself in at this year’s Monterey Car Week. Laguna Seca is probably my favorite road course on the planet, with plenty of twists, turns, elevation changes, and the world-famous Corkscrew that brings them all together in roller-coaster adrenalin rush. I’ve driven this course in everything from a Mazda Miata to a Ford GT, but I’d never driven it in an electric car.

And if you’re going to make the switch from internal combustion to electric motors the Audi’s RS e-tron GT makes for a compelling mount. With dual motors, one powering each axle, and up to 637 horsepower on tap there’s no lack of forward thrust, even under track conditions. The RS e-tron GT is capable of zero-t0-60 mph in less than 3 seconds, and it can be outfitted with all-wheel steering, plus an active suspension that constantly modulates body roll based on speed, steering input and lateral Gs.

We experienced all of those forces as racing legend Tom Kristensen lead us through Laguna Seca’s 11 turns. Tom didn’t have us running at full speed, but neither were we meandering. Maneuvering the RS e-tron GT’s 5,100 pounds around a course like Laguna Seca could potentially feel ponderous, but the instant response of 612 pound-feet of torque combined with a low center of gravity (love that carbon fiber roof), active suspension technology, and confident carbon ceramic brakes deftly managed the sporty sedan.

The RS can generate up to 1 g of later force, aided in no small part by sticky Goodyear Eagle F1 tires mounted on 21-inch wheels. We likely didn’t hit 1 G during our track time, but we did experience the car’s two-speed transmission when coming off low-speed corners, along with paddle-shifter-induced changes in regenerative braking when not employing traditional brake pedal application. It’s certainly not your traditional track experience, especially with the RS e-tron GT’s unique drivetrain sounds (think spaceship versus race car), but after a very short learning curve we were enjoyed the rapid acceleration and confident dynamic response as much as any traditional performance sedan.

Ideally we would have had more seat time, but this opportunity came during lunch in the middle of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. With an extremely tight race schedule it only allowed for limited track time before our leader, Tom Kristensen, had to lead yet another procession, as the Grand Marshal heading a parade of 24 Hour of Le Mans-winning cars and drivers. A fitting role for the nine-time winner of the world’s most famous endurance race, and a powerful reminder of how fortunate I was to follow this legend around my favorite track for a few laps in Audi’s RS e-tron GT electric car.