Audi's R8 masterpiece
How's 0 to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 301km/h? Concept cars are one of the great things about motorshows. They allow designers to let their imaginations run wild and they also capture car fanciers' imaginations and allow us to dream about what we might be driving - or lusting after - in the future.
While many never evolve into production cars, not so the sensational Le Mans concept that Audi revealed back in 2003 at the Frankfurt motor show. Three years later it morphed into the R8 production sports car and it became an immediate motoring masterpiece. In fact a classic was born. The R8 has given the booming German brand a car with which it can go head-to-head with the likes of Porsche and Lamborghini - both of which are in the same corporate family - and even Ferrari.
Getting back to the R8's classic status, the car has already won the sports car category of the German magazine 'Motor Klassik' readers' poll "Classics of the Future 2009". Most of the more than 16,000 participating readers chose the R8 as the current sports car with the greatest potential for becoming a genuine classic in the future.
The car also achieved a double victory at last year's World Car of the Year awards, winning both the World Performance Car and the World Car Design of the Year awards by a judging panel representing 24 countries, including Australia. Around 230 V8-powered R8s have made it to Australia so far and the car has done great things for the booming Audi brand in this market.
It has generated rave reviews from the motoring press and the car turns heads and captures the public's imagination whenever it is spotted out there in motoring land. The Audi brand is going from strength to strength in this country and Audi Australia boss Joerg Hofmann's strategy of bringing to our market every exotic car his German masters produce is part of the secret - as is a great model range. Consider the stand-outs. The W12-powered A8 luxury saloon, the V10-powered S8 and S6 sports saloons, the V10 S6 sedan and wagon, the now off-the-market RS4 and the R8.
What Hofmann has done so successfully is make its brand one of the sexiest and most desirable around and it rubs off on the sales performance of every other model in his extensive line-up. As he says, the R8 is and will continue to be instrumental in further boosting Audi's brand image and awareness in the Australian market.
The V8-powered R8 is powered by a direct-injection 4.2litre V8 and while it is basically the same as the power-plant found under the bonnet of the wonderful RS4 sedan and wagon, the R8's has a dry sump. This V8 is without doubt one of the world's great engines. It can spin to a dizzy 8250rpm and its 309kW of peak power arrives at 7800rpm and maximum torque of 430Nm is on tap from 4500 to 6000rpm. Not that anyone who buys an R8 would lose sleep over it but the combined fuel-consumption figures for the car are 14.6-litres/ 100km for the manual and 13.6-litres for the R-tronic. The secret to the car's superb balance and on-road stability is that the engine is mid-mounted - that is it sits just behind the cabin but in front of the rear axle.
Because it's a mechanical work of art, Audi puts the engine on show under the hatch-like rear window. It's like looking at an historical treasure under glass at a museum. The test car was mated with the optional R-tronic automated manual transmission that like the six-speed manual version has six gears. You can run the car in normal automatic mode around town or flick it up and down with the console mounted stick or what is more fun is to use the steering wheel mounted shifting paddles.
Speaking of the paddles, they are a tad small and fiddly.
The R8 runs Audi's renowned quattro all-wheel drive system that has a centre viscous coupling and because of the kind of car it is, engineers recalibrated the system to endow it with a predominantly rear-wheel drive set-up. In fact, only between 10 percent and 35 percent of the power is delivered to the front wheels and to ensure maximum cornering grip, there is a limited slip differential at the rear.
Price-wise (including GST and the luxury car tax but excluding dealer delivery and statutory charges), the R8 manual kicks things off at $277,200 and the R-tronic starts from $293,100. Pricing includes GST and luxury-car tax but it excludes dealer delivery and statutory charges.
The manual version tips the scales at 1560kg (the R-tronic is 5kg heavier) and the car borrows its lightweight chassis from its Lamborghini Gallardo cousin. Size-wise, the R8 is 4431mm long, 1904mm wide, 1252mm high and it runs on a 2650mm wheelbase.
The car's aluminium space frame also uses lightweight magnesium and it weighs in at just 210kg. Aluminium and plastic also helps keep the R8's weight to a minimum. Most of the suspension bits and pieces are forged aluminium and the set-up has double wishbone arrangements for both the front and rear. A magnetic suspension damping system that reads road conditions comes standard on Australian R8s and there is fully switchable electronic stability control.
Needless to say, a car with the performance credentials of the R8 needs brakes to match and the front wheels use huge 380mm rotors and eight-piston callipers. The rears are 356mm and there are four pistons. If you want to be really serious in the stopping department you can specify ceramic rotors but you'll pay more than $20,000 for the priviledge. Around town, the standard brakes were a bit touchy and you have to apply the pedal with a fair amount of reservation.
The great-looking light alloy wheels are of the 19-inch variety shod with seriously low profile 235/35 boots at the front and massive 295/30s at the rear. The tyres are Pirelli P Zeros and their grip is as good as it gets. While it's not surprising for a car of this kind and with such low profile tyres, the R8 didn't much like rough bitumen surfaces that tended to bounce you and the car around somewhat. In the performance department, the Audi R8 simply sizzles. How's 0 to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds and a top speed of 301km/h?
For those lucky Germans with their flat-out autobahns, the R8 can reach 200km/h in just 14.9 seconds and high speed over-taking is a breeze. For high speed cruising, the R8 sports a subtle but effective rear-mounted spoiler that pops up automatically. Designers have also given the car a complex under-body diffuser system that adds greatly to the car's stability and grip on the road. From every angle, the R8 is a thing of purpose and beauty.
It's the most head turning car I've ever driven and during the week we shared together, I lost count of the number of times car fanciers pulled out their mobile phones to photograph the svelte Audi. The test car was white with bream coloured leather trim and its side profile was dominated by what Audi calls the side blade. It's a vertical panel that is mounted immediately behind the doors and as well as making a bold styling statement, it serves as the ducting to deliver air to the engine.
On the test car, the side blade was carbon-fibre and while it's a $5000-plus option, it looks great. Because the engine is mid-mounted, there is room under the front bonnet for a small but handy 100-litre luggage compartment. There is also a bit of space (Audi claims 90-litres) behind the seats but this diminishes significantly if the seats are right back for a tall driver or passenger.
Standard kit includes Audi's MMI or multi-media interface system that comes with satellite navigation, Dada Dot vehicle identification, an alarm, leather trim, a leather wrapped, flat bottomed sports steering wheel with various controls, a six-stacker CD player and a reversing camera. The MMI control button is dashboard mounted and not set on the centre console as it is on some other Audi models and for a tall driver with the seat pushed well back, it's a bit of a stretch to reach the knob.
It is without doubt the finest expression of motoring magnificence Audi has ever produced, and considering this is the first time the innovative German brand has tackled a car such as this, it's a great achievement. The thing looks breathtakingly beautiful and it emits a V8 generated staccato snarl that tickles the eardrums and makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Out on the road and when punting with a degree of enthusiasm, you can't help but smile and feel smug that you're the lucky driver behind the wheel.
The steering is beautifully weighted and combined with the car's suspension set-up it delivers poised and precise handling. While the V8 is superb, it doesn't make the R8 a supercar. That has changed since the arrival in Australia of the V10-powered version with its Lamborghini sourced but Audi tweaked engine that for the R8 has grown from five litres to 5.2 litres.
The 5.2 FSI quattro manual's pricing starts at $351,000 and the R tronic version is $366,900. Audi says the FSI direct-injection engine is good for 386kW of peak power at 8000rpm and 530Nm of torque at 6500rpm. With this kind of grunt under its rear hatch, the R8 V10 can sprint to 100km/h in a seriously slippery 3.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 316km/h. Armed with the R tronic transmission, the car can return a combined fuel consumption figure of 13.7 litres/ 100km. Audi boss Joerg Hofmann, says that while the new car is very much a niche model, it will nonetheless significantly boost the brand's cache in the sports-car segment.
The new V10 version looks rather different from its V8 sibling and this is particularly noticeable at the front and like the V8, its distinctive side blades feed air to the engine. The new car rides on stylish 10-spoke 19-inch alloy wheels shod with 235/35 tyres at the front and 295/30s at the rear. And if the V8 and V10 R8s are still not enough, Audi has built a V12 turbo-diesel version that uses an engine based on the Le Mans-winning powerplant. While the car is being evaluated for possible series production, my guess is that Audi won't be able to help itself and that's exactly what will happen.
I can't wait.
Ian Crawford
Source: JUST CARS, October 2009, Collectors Issue #164
