There are road trips…and then there are electrifying adventures.
My latest test-drive assignment took us from downtown Denver across Interstate 70 to Limon before heading south on US 287 toward Lamar. Along the way we would photograph a beautifully restored steam locomotive, pose beside a vintage airplane at Southeast Colorado Regional Airport (SCRA), spend the night in the Historic Cow Palace Hotel, and speak to city, county, airport and college leaders about the future of aviation, transportation and mobility.
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The only thing that didn’t fit the century-old scenery was our transportation.
Parked beside locomotives that once represented the pinnacle of technology sat Audi’s newest technological masterpiece, the 2026 RS e-tron GT Performance, a nearly $192,000 electric supercar capable of embarrassing virtually anything that pulls alongside it at a stoplight.
Sometimes history and the future meet in the same photograph.
Out on the long, lightly traveled highways of eastern Colorado, the Audi seemed almost surreal. The dual electric motors deliver power with the kind of immediacy that only electricity can provide. There is no waiting for gears to downshift or turbochargers to spool. Press the accelerator and the scenery simply begins arriving much sooner than expected.
This isn’t merely quick.
It’s the sort of acceleration that briefly rearranges your internal organs.
Yet what surprised me most wasn’t the breathtaking performance. It was how civilized the RS e-tron GT became after the initial adrenaline rush. Adaptive air suspension, all-wheel steering, massaging sport seats trimmed in fine Nappa leather, acoustic glass, and one of the finest Bang & Olufsen sound systems I’ve experienced transformed nearly four hours of driving into something approaching grand touring luxury.
Our destination wasn’t simply another scenic drive. Along with aviation consultant and longtime colleague Tim Fritz and his wife, Mindi, we were headed to Lamar to meet with city and county leaders, airport officials, business representatives and Lamar Community College (LCC) to discuss ways Southeast Colorado Regional Airport (SCRA) can become an even stronger economic engine for the region.
There’s a certain irony in arriving to discuss the future of aviation in one of the world’s most technologically advanced automobiles.
The conversation centered on airports.
The Audi quietly became part of that conversation.
In the afternoon we photographed the Audi beside a beautifully preserved steam locomotive downtown.
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Later it stood wingtip-to-door with a classic aircraft at the airport.
Steam powered the nineteenth century.
Piston engines dominated much of the twentieth.
Electric propulsion is rapidly shaping the twenty-first.
Driving impressions:
Audi engineers somehow created a machine with split personalities.
Select Comfort mode and it settles into a refined grand touring sedan that could happily cross several states in a single day.
Rotate the drive selector toward its more aggressive settings and the RS e-tron GT Performance suddenly behaves like a machine wearing a racing license.
Adaptive air suspension firms.
The steering sharpens.
The two-speed rear transmission helps unleash astonishing acceleration.
Every on ramp becomes an invitation.
Every passing zone becomes effortless.
Fortunately, Colorado offers long stretches of highway where it is easy to appreciate the Audi’s remarkable stability and engineering. During our evaluation, the Audi RS e-tron GT demonstrated performance reserves that extended far beyond anything legal or practical on public roads. Even at interstate speeds, the car felt remarkably composed, suggesting there was always considerably more capability waiting beneath the driver’s right foot.
As we left Lamar and pointed the Audi back toward Denver, I couldn’t help reflecting on the photographs we’d collected.
A silent electric supercar beside a steam locomotive.
A 912-horsepower technological marvel parked next to a vintage airplane.
A century-old hotel welcoming guests arriving in one of the most advanced production automobiles ever built.
Those images tell a larger story than this Audi ever could by itself.
Transportation has always been about moving people forward.
The vehicles to achieve that simply keep advancing.
Saturday Drive Supercar Specs
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The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.
