Wednesday 4th March 2015

Audi - Geneva 2015

A GT3 race car with road car service intervals? Only Audi could do crazy/sensible so convincingly...

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Teased under 'disguise' and then seen in official shots before the show - not to mention unveiled it at the VW night - there wasn't a huge amount of surprise left with the new R8. Beyond being able to get up close to it that is.

Even in bright orange the R8 looks sensible

In screaming orange with contrasting black blades and aero parts the V10 Plus Rupert Stadler brought to group night looks suitably tasty, if a little, well, sensible pants compared with the madness surrounding the Audi stand. Suffice to say when you've got Lamborghini, Porsche, McLaren, Pagani and associated bonkers coachbuilders and tuners all within sight it takes more than a coat of lairy paint and a V10 engine to make an Audi stand out.

Turn your back on the crazies and it looks pretty slick though, if hardly a massive step on from the previous one. Devil's in the details though and it looks sharper, more focused and very well proportioned. Very Audi, in other words. Oh, and the interior is very smart. Natch.

Second-gen R8 LMS has big boots to fill

Pricing has been confirmed too; the entry level 540hp V10 R8 starts at £119,500 which, by one of those weird twists of fate, is just over a £1,000 less than a 520hp Porsche 911 Turbo... The 610hp R8 Plus starts at £137,500, a 911 Turbo S ... £142,120. Spooky, eh? Meanwhile McLaren confirmed to us here at the show that the carbon bodied Sports Series "will kick off at 911 Turbo money", meaning some pretty serious competition for the R8 from the get-go. Other candidates for your £120K might include the Mercedes-AMG GT S, a car Mercedes has at the show in GT3 form.

Leading us neatly to the R8 LMS. As revealed in our pre-show interview with R8 project head Roland Schala the customer race car version of the new R8 has been developed alongside the new road car and is ready to follow in the successful tyre tracks of its predecessor. How successful? The 130 LMS models Audi has sold have, it says, racked up "26 GT3 Championship wins between 2009 and 2014, plus 23 titles in other classifications and seven overall victories in 24-hour races." Not a bad record.

Looks mega; see it race at the N24 in May

To help its cause 30kg has been stripped out of the chassis compared with the last car while stiffness has been increased by 37 per cent; overall the car is 25kg lighter despite boasting a load of new technology. Much of this is safety related, Audi recognising it's good business to make sure 'gentleman' racers can compete at the sharp end without risking life and limb. A new crash structure up front and carbon fibre crash element at the rear meet LMP rules over and above GT3 requirements. And, in another first for this level, a roof extraction system developed for DTM means drivers can be removed from the car vertically, reducing the risk of complicating potential spinal injuries.

Meanwhile the 5.2-litre V10 engine, which will run around 585hp, is built on the same line as the road car engines and has an incredible 20,000km service life before rebuilds. There's a new six-speed electro-hydraulically shifted gearbox too, this and the traction control systems overseen by a new and improved ECU.

Oh, and it looks the absolute business. Expect to see it in action for the first time at the Nurburgring 24-hour in May.

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Click here for the PH Geneva news hub!

[Nors]

Is there a reason why this has less BHP than the Plus model?

[Zadkiel]

Nors said:

Is there a reason why this has less BHP than the Plus model?

Assuming you are referring to the GT3 version, then this is because most GT3 cars have inlet restrictors to restrict their horsepower. This is part of GT3s parity rules which use a bunch of measure to ensure that although the cars have a large variety of engines and weights, they are still all relatively competitive with each other. It just shows how crazy powerful road cars are these days that race cars have less power.

[cookie1600]

"A GT3 race car with road car service intervals?"

No, the headline is misleading I'm afraid as you go on to say the engines may need rebuilding every 20,000kms - not something I'd want on my road car thanks.

[Axionknight]

cookie1600 said:

"A GT3 race car with road car service intervals?"

No, the headline is misleading I'm afraid as you go on to say the engines may need rebuilding every 20,000kms - not something I'd want on my road car thanks.

It'll be right there on the service plan list, under "Oil & Filter change".

[graeme4130]

Axionknight said:

cookie1600 said:

"A GT3 race car with road car service intervals?"

No, the headline is misleading I'm afraid as you go on to say the engines may need rebuilding every 20,000kms - not something I'd want on my road car thanks.

It'll be right there on the service plan list, under "Oil & Filter change".

'Interim service to your R8 GT3 sir ? That'll be £30k please, so take a seat and we'll get you a coffee and a copy of Audi Magazine'

Although, 20k between rebuild is blimmin impressive considering most others are rebuilt every 2 or 3 races

[mdianuk]

Come on PH, it may not be ground breaking, but you don't even mention the RS3 in this 'Audi' piece. Granted it isn't anything special compared to the new R8, but it does introduce a huge amount of power and an appealing package.

[soad]

It's like a puffer fish - this is how the GT3 car makes you certain that it's meaner than its R8 brother.
You know, jut in case the wide-body and mahoosive wing didn't give it away...

[Dave Hedgehog]

i think the new R8 is a step backwards, no blade (USP) and no manual ....

and the pic of the orange one looks just like a TT ..

porsche would be getting my 140k

[dlockhart]

I have always thought that the DTM TT looks too fussy, this looks like a class act.

[Ahonen]

graeme4130 said:

Although, 20k between rebuild is blimmin impressive considering most others are rebuilt every 2 or 3 races

It's stunning how far things have come. We used to have to send the Ferrari 430 GT2 engines back to Michelotto after 5000km - or after a 24-hour race, in other words. To be able to run 4 24-hour races between rebuilds is astonishing.

GT3 engines generally have pretty good life spans at around 15000km, but this is a huge step forwards.

[Nors]

Zadkiel said:

Nors said:

Is there a reason why this has less BHP than the Plus model?

Assuming you are referring to the GT3 version, then this is because most GT3 cars have inlet restrictors to restrict their horsepower. This is part of GT3s parity rules which use a bunch of measure to ensure that although the cars have a large variety of engines and weights, they are still all relatively competitive with each other. It just shows how crazy powerful road cars are these days that race cars have less power.

Thanks for the explanation!

[ManOpener]

Detailing on the rear of the LMS reminds me a little bit of the IMSA 90 Quattro


I like it.