TTS Twin-supercharged Audi R8: PH Blog

Well when a car's been "dialled back" to 750hp, you know it's going to be exciting!

There's much to recommend about the original Audi R8: it still looks good, the dynamics were a revelation for Audi, and the standard manual gearbox was rather nice too.

Familiar R8 from here...

That all this came alongside a glorious, high revving V8 made the package all the more compelling. But what if 420hp isn't enough? Well, there's the V10 version too, with another 100hp. Beyond that? Well you need to get in contact with TTS, who can twin-supercharge your V8.

The car you see here is the development car for TTS, the R8 used to develop the kit that TTS has now sold a dozen of. Richard Albans from TTS came along with his car, a car he uses for regular journeys and which has covered 30,000 miles with him.

Now being given anyone's car to drive with them in the passenger seat is a daunting experience, let alone one with 750hp. Fortunately this car is as docile as any other manual R8 you care to mention, albeit with a slightly firmer ride (thank the KW springs on this car) and quite absurd torque. Indeed you can pull away in second with barely any throttle, and urban driving very seldom requires a change out of fourth. It seems almost a shame with such a tactile and satisfying manual gearbox, but such are the reserves -560lb ft - available from just above idle that there really is no need to shift.

It's when what's behind you starts hissing and gargling that things are starting to get serious. In the installation here you can see 'Rotrex' on the chargers behind in the engine bay, but there really is no time to be looking back in this car. The joy of having this supercharger installation is that the characteristics are drastically enhanced rather than entirely transformed. This is an extreme case, but the R8 is still a car that delivers its best performance at high revs. When the opportunity arrives, of course. The full 16psi of boost comes in at maximum revs, by which point the R8 is going ballistic. If a McLaren 720S is quicker than this I'd be amazed. Richard has apparently run a 10.8-second quarter-mile in this car, which feels eminently achievable with this ferocious speed. Don't forget that's with a manual as well. The standard clutch is still used too...

... not so much from here though!

In all honesty, this level of performance is more than anybody really needs - and is usable - on the road. But as Richard says, if the demand is there for people to go faster then he is more than willing to cater for it! In addition to the pair of Rotrex C38 chargers, the kit features two charge coolers from the V10 RS6 (the RS6 only used one of them!) and a larger front-mounted radiator. Water methanol injection is used in addition, which is said to help with the coking issues associated with this engine and the lower quality of fuel found in other markets.

The price? £13,500 for the parts, £4,500 for installation and then VAT on that. A fair chunk of money given early R8s are now around £40K. On the flipside, of course, it's not much for a car faster than all sorts of hypercars. If speed is your thing, the twin supercharged TTS R8 should be enough for even the most loopy. And if it's not, work is progressing on a similar kit for the latest V10...

Matt

Watch the TTS Facebook video here.