It might not look all-new on the outside, but Audi has given its second-generation R8 everything beneath the skin except turbochargers
It’s arguably the world’s most accessible supercar and we’re finally about to see its second generation.
Audi’s new R8 will bring with it more power, higher speed, a better interior and an increased focus on grip, but it’s almost more notable for what it won’t bring.
It won’t bring a V8 engine with it across to its second generation, there is no manual gearbox anymore and, even more pointedly, Audi has refused to fit the R8 with a turbocharger – yet.
McLaren’s second life as a car-maker has been all turbos and Ferrari is just about to switch the 458 across to the twin-turbo 488, but not for Audi – nor its supercar brand, Lamborghini.
Instead, the early versions of the second-generation R8 will come with the most powerful V10 production engine in Audi’s history, breathing all by itself, to deliver 461kW (610hp) in its most powerful R8 Plus form.
The V10 will be fast enough to make the all-wheel drive coupe smash to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds and from rest to 200km/h in 9.8 seconds. Supercar enough? All that, and a top speed of 330km/h, too.
The entry-level 'standard' R8 uses a slightly lesser version of the same V10, developing 408kW (540hp) and it still flits by 100km/h in a healthy 3.5 seconds and has a 323km/h top speed, though it drops 1.5 seconds to its Plus brother in the sprint to 200km/h.
The cars have had a torque upgrade, too, with the stock V10 posting 640Nm and the thumper getting 560Nm.
Both versions of the R8 share the same 5.2-litre V10, a version of which is also used in Lamborghini’s Huracan, and Audi has it revving out to 8500rpm with the same bore and stroke dimensions of its predecessor.
While Audi hasn’t released the precise figures, its fuel economy is expected to take a big step forward, too, thanks to the introduction of a switchable idle-stop system and a 'coasting' function on overrun in taller gears. It is admitting to a target of 12.4L/100km on the NEDC cycle, which equates to CO2 emissions of around 289g/km.
If the bodywork of the second-generation R8 isn’t exactly the brave step forward of the original, well, that’s how Audi wanted it to be.
“The interior is a big step forward, but the exterior is a development,” Quattro head Heinz Peter Hollerweger admitted.
“There has been the possibility to change the exterior completely but the markets all said ‘no’ and the markets are not so wrong, usually.
“Maybe some people will say the visual step is not big enough, but when we have a well-accepted design we can’t just change that completely.”
While it loses the old car’s signature 'sideblades', that’s about as adventurous as Audi got with its exterior sketchwork as its designers sought to increase its visual length rather than the old car’s more vertical profile look.
Unlike the visually challenged second-generation Q7, there is no facelift on the books for the R8.
“Maybe we will take some pieces and ideas from the race car at some point, but there is no facelift. This is how it will be for the full cycle,” Hollerweger said.
The massaged look starts with the most aggressive single-frame grille in the Audi line-up, then takes some large air intakes and subtle aero work before finishing with a larger rear diffuser. The R8 Plus carries a fixed rear wing, while the standard R8’s wing pops up above 120km/h.
After sneaking into the very tail of the first-generation R8’s production life in the R8 LMX, laser headlights will be optional on both R8 versions, with each light using a single laser module to drive four high-intensity laser diodes. Audi claims the lights deliver twice the range of the R8’s standard LED high-beams, which will contain 37 LEDs per light.
Some of the most radical work has been done inside the R8’s cabin, where it took the TT’s new fully digital, high-resolution instrument cluster and ran with it.
“The technique for the dash is from the TT, but we developed it by ourselves for the R8 and it has several new features,” Hollerweger said.
One of those is that everything the driver could realistically want to do can be controlled on the steering wheel.
The wheel itself is dominated by a huge Start button and the fun stuff hangs down from the horizontal spokes. Firstly, there’s a button with an exhaust tip on it, which ups the sound density from the V10 by opening its bypass valve. Or there’s an even-louder optional Sports exhaust system.
Secondly, there’s another button on the other side with a chequered flag on it. This is the do-everything-at-max-fast button, regardless of the weather. It even has a mapped do-everything-at-max-fast-mode for snow, so you can expect the wet weather one to do pretty well, too.
The instrument cluster can be fiddled to include a real-time tyre temperature and pressure readout, a g-analyst, a power gauge and a torque gauge on top of the standard stuff. It also holds the navigation, sound system and multimedia options, while the R8 borrows another TT idea to put the climate-control functions in the middle of the vents.
With the manual gearbox utterly out of favour at the top end of Audi’s range, the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is the flavour of the month and will have the key job of transmitting all that power to the new, faster centre diff. It’s no longer a viscous coupling unit and acts more like a Haldex V, complete with a similar layout.
The front differential is expected to get so much work that Audi has had it water-cooled, while the rear gets a mechanical lock (25 per cent on throttle, 55 per cent off throttle) to help fire it into and out of corners.
But the big step forward is the body structure, which shares the hybrid carbon-fibre/spaceframe aluminium system the family first showed in the Huracan. In the R8, it means a 1470kg dry weight (or 1555kg on the EC scale including the driver), and 52 per cent of that is over the rear axle.
Lighter and 40 per cent torsionally stiffer than its predecessor, the chassis now has a rear bulkhead, tunnel and floor structure made of stiff, strong carbon-fibre moulding.
This is attached to a spaceframe aluminium front and rear structure, while the engine bay is now reinforced with diagonal alloy cross braces and the engine sits so low in it that it’s now in the line of the centre of gravity. It carries a slightly longer wheelbase than the Huracan, largely to provide more interior space and more progressive handling.
Unusually for Audi, its latest raft of works driver contracts included each driver spending time on the development team for the road car as well as the race car.
“We learnt a lot from GT3,” Hollerweger insisted. “We won the ‘Ring and ADAC and Spa and all the great enduros, so in the second generation it made sense to work closely together as a team for all the cars.
“The same development team did the race cars and the road cars and we had the same drivers in the development, and that’s a new experience and very interesting to do.
“We got a lot of interesting feedback and thoughts from the race drivers, in particular, the front-end precision and aerodynamics and the rear-end progressiveness were all due to input from the race drivers.”
The standard car will ride on 19-inch Pirelli rubber, though the 20-inch versions fitted to the Plus will come from Michelin. The faster car runs on 245/30 ZR20 front Michelin Pilot SportCup2 ROI boots, with 305/30 ZR20s at the rear, while Cup tyres will be available as an option.
“We now have an AO (Audi Original) mark on the tyre to show that it’s been matched to the car by the development team,” Hollerweger boasted.
Inside those wheels and tyres sit standard steel brakes, though a set of full carbon-ceramics will be on the options list.
The car is suspended by aluminium double wishbones all round, while a magnetic ride damping system will also be optional.
