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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