Audi R8 GT Packs More Power, Less Weight

The Audi R8 5.2 FSI is already one of the most desirable cars on earth. I mean, come on - it's a combination of Lamborghini craziness with Audi civility and beautiful design.  It makes a sound like God playing a trumpet, accelerates like it's just been rear-ended by a runaway dump truck, and will make beautiful four-wheel powerslides with one hand on the wheel.  The interior is immaculate, it's got an external-gated 6 speed, and... well, I could go on for days.  It took up where the NSX left off; offering supercar performance with everyday civility in a perfectly engineered package.

And now Audi has seen fit to add a little spice to the recipe, and it looks like it's about to get a little more exciting.  Meet the R8 GT - a lightened, more powerful, more exciting derivative of the already enticing R8 V10.  It's equal parts Colin Chapman (add lightness!) and Jeremy Clarkson (Powaaaaaaaaah!).  The R8 GT is 100kg (220lbs) lighter than the standard R8 V10, bringing kerb weight down from 3,582 to 3,362lbs.  This primarily comes from body modifications - thinner windshield, perspex side windows and rear glass, as well as some carbon fibre reinforced plastic components.  The interior drops weight too - for one thing, the carpeting is 18 pounds lighter.  This almost makes me think there is no carpeting; but maybe the regular carpeting really WAS that heavy.  The seats use GRP shells to drop 70 pounds, and numerous other less interesting changes (like the battery being 7 pounds lighter) add up to the 100kg savings.

On the other end of things, the R8's Lamborghini-derived V10 grows from 525bhp to 560, meaning it actually makes more than the engine in the LP560-4 Gallardo - an interesting marketing choice!  Audi's keeping tight-lipped about where the extra power's coming from, saying the additional horses are a result of electronic programming changes.  Maybe it was just de-tuned electronically before, and they hit the "undo" button?  At any rate, it's a monster of an engine: a 90° 5.2L V10 with direct fuel injection, a 12.5:1 compression ratio, and an insane 8,700 rpm rev limiter.  Sadly, the R8 GT will only be available with the 6-speed R-Tronic transmission - a single-clutch automatic gearbox which Lamborghini calls e-Gear.  It's a chuntering, unrefined thing that's better suited to a racetrack than the road.  C'mon, Audi - where's the 7-speed twin dry clutch DSG 'box?  You can put it in the S4 but not in the top-of-the-line R8?  Thankfully, there's launch control...

...which allows the R8 to reach 100km/h in a scant 3.6 seconds.  Now, 10 years ago that would've been a "you're kidding!" sort of figure, but when you've got $75,000 GT-R's doing 0-60 in 3.4 seconds without launch control, and 911 Turbo S's that'll do 3.2 seconds with launch control and PDK, it's...  Oh, who cares.  Anything in the mid to low three's is absolutely insane, and arguing over tenths of a second is a lesson in missing the forest for the trees.  This car is a rocketship no matter how you slice the cake.

On the handling side of things, the R8 GT gets some suspension tweaks to make it even more of a road vacuum.  There are manually-adjustable coil-over shocks with higher static negative camber rates for increased grip and turn-in response.  The ride height is about 10mm lower than the standard R8 V10.  Wheels are massive light-weight 19" alloys at all four corners, 8.5" wide in the front and 11" in the rear.  Tires are massive 235/35 front and 295/30 rear, with the option of wider 305-width rear tires on wider rims in the back, as well as Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires (basically DOT-legal race slicks) as an option.  Can you imagine the kind of grip this thing has?

Braking is taken care of by fancy carbon-ceramic rotors (380mm front/356mm rear) clamped by six-piston calipers in the front.  These are another point of contention in reviews of various Gallardo derivatives, so hopefully they're not the same units that are praised for their track efficacy but panned for their total uselessness on a road car.  Still, 380mm rotors - that's humongous.  Finally, the R8 GT's stability program has been re-calibrated to allows - the exact words of the Audi press release - "spectacular, but safe, oversteer when exiting a corner."

That's about all  you had to say, Audi!  The R8 GT will be limited to a production run of only 333 units, and will be priced at €193,00, or $256,00.  No word yet on whether Audi will ship any over to the 'states, but with their record of failing to do this (RS6, TT-RS) I wouldn't bet the farm on it.  To those lucky 333 owners - can I take a spin?