Wednesday 9th April 2008

Audi Planning Lightweight R8/TT?

R8 and TT Sport models could get weight reduction and power boost

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Audi just won’t let their development departments with ‘TT’ and ‘R8’ written on their doors rest these days.

If it’s not news about RS models of both cars, we are being inundated with talk of the diesel-powered R8 supercar that doesn’t look too far away.

But instead of adding more bits on to the TT and R8 it appears that Audi might now be thinking about doing the opposite to produce lighter versions of their coupes.

According to reports Audi's Quattro GmbH development chief Stefan Reil has dropped a hint to journalists that lightweight sport versions of the TT and RS are on the cards, which will be produced in limited numbers.

What we can expect is a slight power increase, tauter suspension, lightweight bucket seats and the binning of a few creature comforts.

With the R8 a few key components could also be made out of lighter materials and it is likely power would be increased to around 500bhp.

There could be a wider use of carbon fibre and possibly an option to delete the climate control and audio system.

Insiders suggest that these models could appear it late next year.

[Mr Whippy]

Stop planning, start doing.

It's not hard.


PS, on the cards, not on the cars... bit of a typo.

Dave

[900T-R]

Sounds like the TT Sport they did of the former model... 237 bhp/240PS from the 1.8T, bucket seats and no rear seat... oh, and a black roof.

[GTRene]

Good news, I love "lightweight" special versions, they give more driver involvements and the power to weight will be better, also if they make it 500hp they will make it better up against other sports cars, and the R8 can handle that sort of power...so its more then welcome

GTRene

[Baffled Spoon]

Would be good if they could leave the R8 lite as rwd only. Would make a very interesting rival to the Porsche gt3.

[PhantomPH]

"There is no suggestion of when these models would appear but insiders suggest that it will be at least late next year."

Oh what a wonderful piece of writing. (j/k)

I wonder why the R8 leaves me so cold? Same with all Audis I suppose. My neighbour has an RS4 and it sounds soooooo good...but I would not want one.

Have I had an emotion-removal operation???

P~

[Ravell]

R8 RS Lightweight? Bring it on!

Now if they just made it RWD...

[posterboy]

Ravell said:

R8 RS Lightweight? Bring it on!

Now if they just made it RWD...

Isn't the Hadex system was 70% rear and 30 front? Perfect IMHO

[Terry Barr]

Ravell said:

R8 RS Lightweight? Bring it on!

Now if they just made it RWD...

Yes, and that might encourage Porsche to produce a lightweight Caymen CS.

[Polarbert]

Maybe they should try binning other 'creature comforts' like the safety devices and all that palarva. Bet that would save more than 50kgs.

Also, do they not understand that if you make something lighter, you don't need to give it more power?

[900T-R]

Polarbert said:

Also, do they not understand that if you make something lighter, you don't need to give it more power?

Ah, but it would be churlish to complain about that surely...

[Night Flier]

Terry Barr said:

Ravell said:

R8 RS Lightweight? Bring it on!

Now if they just made it RWD...

Yes, and that might encourage Porsche to produce a lightweight Caymen CS.

Will never happen. Even giving the Cayman a LSD would make it a match for the Carrera.

Still, no lightweight Audi will ever sound as good as the E46 CSL

[andyturner]

"...and possibly an option to delete the climate control and audio system"

Can't you just leave the existing R8 parked up in Liverpool for a bit?

[amare32]

To make it worthwhile, they need to junk at least 200kg from the standard models - adding BHP will be nice but you'd expect the cost to go up too ala Porsche RS models...

I'm currently running a Mk2 TT 3.2 coupe which is a nice cruiser with a peachy V6, would love if Audi can apply a 90% torque to the rear wheels.

Still, car manufacturers releasing 'lightweight' specials are usually a half arsed excercise anyway. They should take a leaf out of motorbike makers where the litre bikes weight / power is now getting closer to 1:1 ratio.

My GSX-R600 will crack 0-100mph in a smidge over 6 secs for £5k! Now that's value

[Vagabund]

While we're discussing good news on the Audi front I checked how much my year 2000 RS4 was gonna be to tax in the coming years (http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/road-tax). This year and next: £185 for 12 months. 2010: £200 for 12 months. Ah, God bless performance cars registered before 1 March 2001. If it had been registered after that date I'd be looking at £455 a year come 2010, so she looks like a keeper now...

[900T-R]

amare32 said:

They should take a leaf out of motorbike makers where the litre bikes weight / power is now getting closer to 1:1 ratio.

Yeah, but it tends to vary a bit more when taking the rider into account...

[JohnGoodridge]

900T-R said:

amare32 said:

They should take a leaf out of motorbike makers where the litre bikes weight / power is now getting closer to 1:1 ratio.

Yeah, but it tends to vary a bit more when taking the rider into account...

A partnership between Suzuki and Weightwatchers would be one of the more interesting product tie-ins of recent years

[flattotheboards]

Lose the 4WD that will save weight, i like audis thinking though.

[amare32]

900T-R said:

amare32 said:

They should take a leaf out of motorbike makers where the litre bikes weight / power is now getting closer to 1:1 ratio.

Yeah, but it tends to vary a bit more when taking the rider into account...

Thanks for pointing that out, can always strap on a turbo to iron that problem out

[corcoran]

900T-R said:

Sounds like the TT Sport they did of the former model... 237 bhp/240PS from the 1.8T, bucket seats and no rear seat... oh, and a black roof.

i had a black one with err.. a black roof.. which made it not so obvious.. it was a real hoot - especially against 225 drivers who just thought you had bigger, pouncier wheels! :P oh and the velcro-rip-off seat covers came in really handy when i left the drivers window open once and it rained! :P

[900T-R]

amare32 said:

900T-R said:

amare32 said:

They should take a leaf out of motorbike makers where the litre bikes weight / power is now getting closer to 1:1 ratio.

Yeah, but it tends to vary a bit more when taking the rider into account...

Thanks for pointing that out, can always strap on a turbo to iron that problem out

I always knew PH'ers are a resourceful bunch. Alternatively one could lay off the pie... oh fuggeddaboudit.