VIDEO: The Smoking Tire tests supercharged Raptor Audi R8


Click the image above to view the video after the jump

With 420 horsepower, the "base" Audi R8 is a borderline supercar. But that wasn't good enough for some customers, so Audi began offering the R8 with the Lamborghini Gallardo-sourced 5.2-liter V10 powerplant with 520 ponies.

That's a lot of OEM horsepower even when considering the $150,000 price tag, but the aftermarket -- as always -- has another solution. Performance Outfitters Group in Connecticut has created the R8 Raptor by fitting the R8's 4.2-liter V8 with a supercharger that heaves five pounds of boost into the bent eight, giving the blown engine 550 lusty horsepower. The R8 Raptor was reportedly built for Bull Run duty, so this elite Audi has been fitted with all kinds of police-style lights, a bull horn, a stowable laptop and even an iPhone integrated into the sun visor.

Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire took the R8 Raptor out to the New Jersey Motorsports Park for a quick-and-dirty test and his crew distilled it into a six-minute review that you can check out after the jump. We have no idea if the R8 Raptor is faster on the track than Audi's V10 option, but looks like it would at least put up one Hell of a fight.

[Source: YouTube]

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