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This year's Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race will feature perhaps the most wicked Audi R8 yet: a lightweight, custom-built racer that makes the road car look tame by comparison. To comply with the requirements for participation in the race, the stock 4.2L V8 donates its block and is rebuilt from there. The race-spec motor's displacement drops to 4.0 liters but it delivers a hefty 530 horsepower and 353 lb-ft of torque. The R8's stock front and rear bodywork is replaced by new, widebody carbon kevlar panels. Those outboard intakes in the nose are replaced by blanks, and out back, the custom exhaust's dual outlets poke through the spot where the license plate would reside on the production car. Other obvious additions are the front splitter, large rear wing, rear diffuser, and multiple cutouts in the aft bodywork to help with engine cooling. The entire package weighs in at just 2,755 pounds -- this thing should absolutely haul. German magazine Sport-Auto has been covering the car's development. We'll see how the car fares in competition next week.
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[Sources: Sport-Auto, German Car Scene]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Josiah @ May 17th 2008 9:13AM
Excellent, I'll take two.
tekman94 @ May 17th 2008 9:23AM
That is just an awesome car through and through
lloydh @ May 17th 2008 9:36AM
The effect of the wide body kit on the rear 'shoulders' combined with the racing wheels and tires is simply awesome!
Jed Trenton @ May 17th 2008 9:37AM
Wow - that's sweeeeeeeet.
Austin @ May 17th 2008 9:40AM
Now that's a wing!
MemphisNET @ May 17th 2008 9:55AM
Awesome, can't wait to drive it in Forza 3 or GT5
Dustin @ May 17th 2008 10:37AM
Why not use the stock 4.2 litres?
nagmashot @ May 17th 2008 11:17AM
The 24h race is sperated in displacment classes..
highest class
SP8 4.0-6.5l minimum weight 1300kg
Viper, Gallardo, Corvette, LF-A, Aston Martin Vantage
makes no sence to race a 4.2l car in a car class with up to 6.5l displacment..
so they reduced the engine to 4.0l to race the
SP 3.5-4.0l minimum weight 1250kg
race class...
This way they safe 50kg weight
nagmashot @ May 17th 2008 11:20AM
BTW the engine is mostly stock
stock engine block
stock valves
etc.
they only changed
different cranckshaft
different camshafts
FSI is deleted
the oil system was improved to reduce the oil from 8 to 7liter
the rest was classic n/a engine tuning.
mrfiat @ May 17th 2008 10:55AM
looks cool. The body is almost the same as one of the wide kits in NFS Pro Street.
broosewee @ May 17th 2008 11:05AM
OMG... sick!
Mobius_1 @ May 17th 2008 11:25AM
This car just needs its looks to overtake as the drivers in front move out of the way in awe of the car (especially if they've seen Iron Man). My God, what a stunning cool car!
With the possible exception of the Astons, of course
Harrison @ May 17th 2008 12:36PM
This better be in Gran Turismo 5.
iBSOD for iPhone @ May 17th 2008 1:08PM
the ad decals just made it look ugly :( but I guess that's what they do in motor racing...
Daniel @ May 17th 2008 1:15PM
Is the Nurburg 24 hrs on US tv?
speedball3 @ May 17th 2008 1:20PM
I'm not entirely sure those "exhaust pipes where the license plate would go" are really exhaust pipes... they look closed. Plus, I remember seeing something similar to that on another car and ppl were saying it was to allow for quick refueling.... anyone have more insight on this?
Tom Winch @ May 18th 2008 3:38PM
Those aren't the actual exhaust pipes, they're the holes where the pipes exit the bodywork. If you check out
http://www.sportauto-online.de/multimedia/fotostrecken/sport_auto_special/
You can see pics of the car in development. It looks like the engine, or at least the exhaust has been removed from the blue R8.
zach @ May 17th 2008 2:17PM
I'd love to see them make a variant for GT2 in the ALMS
blumx357 @ May 17th 2008 3:11PM
Does it still have awd?
JD @ May 17th 2008 3:11PM
Man, did anyone else wonder why they were racing the old R8 instead of the R10 at first? I've always thought that R8 was sort of a strange name for the road car since it would get mixed up with the legendary Prototype.