'Clubsport' Audi TT Unveiled
2012 GT4 concept demo'd at Shanghai DTM event
Audi has taken the wraps of a TT-based GT4 racer that will form the basis of its 'affordable motorsport' offer in 2012.
The production-based racer features motorsport-friendly upgrades like a roll-over cage and safety-optimised fuel tank and Audi says modifications will be identical for all future customer sport versions.
The car gets a TFSI engine delivering about 340 hp, and the front apron, rear apron and the rear wing have been developed from the production Audi TT RS. The hood, doors and boot lid are made of CFRP and the windows of plastic, and customers will get S-tronic transmission with a differential lock, modified production suspension with adjustable dampers, plus 9.5 x 18 inch light alloy wheels.
The Audi TT GT4 is planned to sell for about 120,000 euros, they tell us, and the car was launched in Shanghai because the regular TT has just gone on sale there.
Five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela did some demo laps in the new Audi TT on the street circuit in Shanghai during the DTM weekend just gone, hence the window stickers.
Would it really cost £80,000 to take a normal TT to competition standard?
What the Audi offers for the money is, hopefully, a turn-key car that is competetive straight out the box, reliable, and with factory backup to call upon.
Would it really cost £80,000 to take a normal TT to competition standard?
What the Audi offers for the money is, hopefully, a turn-key car that is competetive straight out the box, reliable, and with factory backup to call upon.
Not much techy info to go on, but from what I read into the article it has:
Surprised I didn't see 'torques' mentioned
Any more techy info available?
Would it really cost £80,000 to take a normal TT to competition standard?
What the Audi offers for the money is, hopefully, a turn-key car that is competetive straight out the box, reliable, and with factory backup to call upon.
Not much techy info to go on, but from what I read into the article it has:
Surprised I didn't see 'torques' mentioned
Any more techy info available?
Look at it this way, the cost breaks down as follows:
- Now parts that cost more than the road car - brakes, dampers, engine mods etc.
- Testing of new parts to ensure reliability - at something like £600-1000 per day, per engineer.
- Designing the thing - at the same day rate costs.
- Chassis set-up / handling - circuit hire time + cost of dev driver + cost of engineers.
The costs are reasonable.
To make an Aston Martin Vantage, a Lotus 2-Eleven or the Audi TT competitive in GT4 against a purpose built racecar requires allot of high quality part upgrades in a very intelligent way over the base car cost. Then you have to consider that this has to be fitted by hand. You can guarantee any of the road derived cars have allot more parts on them in general to add time required to build it.
Also frankly the likes of Audi and Aston carry allot more kudos in general so I think the typical new GT4 car cost of £100K+ is quite acceptable for what goes into them. The G50 is an exception by its very nature.
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