Photo of the day: now that's a proper rear wing

We don’t know if the vast appendage behind – or rather atop – this little Audi racer serves any functional purpose. Certainly any additional grip it provides seems as likely to be thanks to its weight as any aerodynamic downforce.

Frankly we don’t care. In the world of wings, bigger is always better, and they don’t come any bigger – relative to the host car, at least – than this monster.

In fact, to the best of our recollection, we have never before seen a rear wing bigger than the car it sits upon. Porsche 911 GT3 RS, up yer game.

This bewinged racer is the product of one of four university teams sponsored by Audi, all competing in this year’s Formula Student Germany (which turns out, sadly, not to be a race series in which tiny jockeys ride hulking German students around the country's finest circuits).

We’re unsure in which particular FSG discipline this oddball is competing – judging from the photo, presumably the ‘evading randomly scattered cones on an airfield’ event – with Audi making only mention of prizes for ‘lightweight construction’ and ‘efficiency’.

We’re no experts in aerodynamics, but we can’t help thinking the wee Audi would be (a) lighter and (b) more efficient without that extensive bookshelf up top. Not that we’re complaining, mind…