Behind the Build

Andrii Musiienko's Audi RS5

Nobody builds a competition drift car out of an Audi RS5. There's no body kit you can buy. No suspension parts on a shelf. No playbook to follow. TSH Auto and Andrii Musiienko built one anyway, and it's the first of its kind to run pro competition drift in North America.

Welcome to Behind the Build.

The Car With No Roadmap

When TSH Auto set out to build Andrii's RS5, they ran into a problem before they even got to the fun parts. Nobody makes a body kit for this car because nobody drifts this car. So the team had to learn how to make their own molds and lay their own carbon fiber panels from scratch just to get a starting point.

That wasn't the first attempt either. The first version of this car ran a stock transmission and a smaller engine, and it ended up far too heavy. At the LZ World Tour stop in Canada, the car weighed in around 3,600 pounds, a number that simply doesn't work in competition. The team spent an entire winter relearning how to build molds and panels from the ground up, a process Andrii says nearly broke them. What came out the other side is a full carbon-Kevlar body, far lighter, and entirely shop-built.

Today the car sits at 3,150 pounds, a number Andrii is genuinely happy with. Every part on this car, the brakes, the knuckles, the brackets, was designed and machined in-house because the aftermarket simply doesn't exist for an Audi platform built to drift.

The Engine: A VR6 Doing Its Best V8 Impression

Pop the hood, and the layout looks unusual at first glance. It's not a V engine, and it's not quite an inline either. It's a VR6, a 3.2-liter six-cylinder with the cylinders offset by just 15 degrees, packed into a single narrow head. Originally found in the 2009 Audi TT, the architecture is more widely known from the Volkswagen Golf R32.

Stock compression on these engines normally lands much lower, but this build runs 10.5:1 compression on the stock forged crankshaft, which is a testament to how strong the factory internals already are. The engine retains dual variable valve timing, which keeps it responsive despite the unusual layout.

Power comes from a Garrett G35-1050 turbo paired with a 50-shot of nitrous, putting the car right around 800 horsepower to the wheels. For this application, that's more than enough. Andrii's favorite part of driving the car is the engine itself, describing the torque delivery with nitrous engaged as feeling almost like a V8. The torque is strong enough that he can hold third gear through most of a course and simply slip the clutch to manage rotation, rather than constantly working the shifter.

Engine Components:

VR6 3.2L (originally Audi TT/VW Golf R32 architecture)
10.5:1 compression, stock forged crankshaft
Dual variable valve timing
Garrett G35-1050 Super Core Turbocharger, Standard Rotation
Turbosmart WG50 Gen V Pro-Gate 50, 14psi
Turbosmart BOV Race Port Female Gen-V, No Weld Flange
Nitrous system (50-shot)
SERIALNINE JZ Engine Mounts
Vibrant Small 0.75L 2-Port Catch Can Assembly
Vibrant 3in O.D. Aluminized HD 2.0 Clamp Assembly
SETRAB 48-Row Series 9 Oil Cooler with M22 Ports
CSF Universal Triple Pass Dual Core Radiator with AN Fittings
Dodge power steering pump

VIEW THE ENTIRE COLLECTION

Fuel System: Relocated for Balance

One of the biggest changes between the early version of this car and the current one was where the fuel lives. Originally the tank sat in the back, which contributed to the weight and balance issues the team was fighting in the first build. The fuel cell was moved inboard to centralize mass and improve how the car transfers weight, which Andrii credits directly with how the car stops rotation exactly where he wants it, rather than continuing to slide past the mark.

Suspension: Custom Everything, Twice

Front and rear suspension both run FDF, but getting there wasn't simple. The front angle kit went through multiple full generations before the team was happy. The first iteration had significant bump steer. A revised knuckle helped, but the way it steered still wasn't right. The current generation, designed by FDF's Josiah specifically for this chassis, is the one Andrii calls perfect. It was the first angle kit FDF ever built for this specific car, and Andrii notes it's so well sorted that the car practically steers itself.

Interestingly, the same front angle kit geometry that underpins this RS5 is also used on TSH Auto's Porsche Macan drift taxi, despite the two cars sharing almost nothing else. Same kit, different subframes, different bolt patterns, completely different vehicles. That's how dialed in the platform knowledge has become at TSH.

The steering rack itself comes from a BMW E46, chosen because it integrates cleanly with the custom wishbone front end. The rear runs FDF suspension as well, with fully shop-built aluminum knuckles, because, again, nothing exists off the shelf for this chassis. Every bracket on the rear end was designed in-house.

The car currently runs with its sway bar disconnected entirely. The team only reconnects it for tracks with significant banking. With the current suspension geometry, running the sway bar actually slows the car down on flat technical courses, so it stays off unless the track demands it.

FDF Raceshop Universal Dual Master Booster Delete
FDF front angle kit (custom, designed specifically for this RS5)
FDF rear suspension, fully custom shop-built aluminum knuckles
BMW E46 steering rack
All custom brake hardware and knuckles, CNC machined in-house at TSH Auto

Drivetrain: H-Pattern by Rule, Not by Choice

This is one of the more unusual choices in the build, and it comes straight from the rulebook rather than preference. Pro spec competition drift rules don't allow sequential gearboxes, so the car runs an H-pattern dog box instead, built by Samsonas rather than the more commonly seen G-Force units.

Andrii notes the gearing is on the short side, particularly in third, which means driving the car at full pace requires working the clutch and gear selection more actively than a longer-geared car would. It's not a complaint so much as a characteristic he's learned to drive around. The quick-change differential out back was recently upgraded to a new Speed Tek unit.

Electronics: Full Link ECU Stack

The engine management and dash setup runs an all-Link ECU ecosystem, which Andrii notes is what most of the field is running at this point. The system is drive-by-wire, which he describes as very responsive, and the car has no vacuum brake booster, in keeping with the weight-saving philosophy throughout the build.

Interior: Light Where It Counts

The interior follows the same philosophy as the rest of the car: strip what you can, keep what works. The doors are noticeably light enough that they can be removed entirely, something Andrii pointed out mid-walkaround as making filming inside the car significantly easier. ND Performance seats and a Golov handbrake round out the driver-facing equipment, paired with the H-pattern shifter from the dog box.

Sparco 4.25 Liter Electric Steel Extinguisher System
DND Performance racing seats
Golev hydraulic handbrake

Driving Philosophy: Heavy Has Its Upside

Andrii is candid about the fact that weight is his least favorite thing about this car. He's a firm believer that lighter cars are simply faster and easier on drivetrain components. But he's equally candid about the one place the RS5's mass works in his favor: durability.

He recounted a hard impact into the corner of a wall during a session, the kind of hit that would have ended a lighter chassis like a BMW outright and forced a tow. In the Audi, the subframes held their position, and only the body panels needed attention. For a one-off chassis with no replacement parts on a shelf anywhere, that durability matters as much as outright pace.

The RS5 is the first car of its kind to compete in pro-level drift competition in North America. Every part of it, from the carbon body to the CNC brake brackets to the custom knuckles, exists because the team chose to build rather than wait for an aftermarket that was never going to show up. Andrii drives a car nobody else can replace, and he's made peace with what that means, on the track and in the shop.

That's what Behind the Build is about.