1997 Audi A4 2.8 Awd on 2040-cars

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The real reason Audi races

The world has watched Audi have its way with endurance racing since 1998. What started as an intriguing race winner in 2000 that could be rebuilt so quickly that the ACO oversight organization changed the rules to slow Audi mechanics down, slowly morphed into a unique assassin, employing novel engineering methods to achieve series domination with its R18 E-Tron Quattro. Until recently. It's strange, then, that for all these years we didn't fully comprehend Audi's stated approach to motorsport. And so we sat down with Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich, head of Audi Motorsport, and Chris Reinke, head of Le Mans Prototype development while in Austin, TX, for the Lone Star Le Mans and World Endurance Championship race for answers. BMW, Corvette, Porsche, and Ferrari have healthy reputations, lucrative option sheets, and supported a robust trade in special editions by winning races. They have standalone racing divisions and they transfer the entire sheen of their racing endeavors to their road cars, a healthy part of what their customers buy into. Even though we know they improve their road cars with lessons learned racing, the belief is that they race because that's just what they do; those brand names mean racing. "Not one single euro is spent on a separate motorsports program." Yet Reinke said that for Audi, "Not one single euro is spent on a separate motorsports program. We [Audi Motorsport] are part of the Technical Department [of the road car company]. We are a pre-development lab for road-relevant technology." As in, Audi isn't racing out of core philosophy, it's racing only to improve its road cars. That helps explain why Audi's entire road car lineup doesn't bask in the same racing aura as those other brands even though Audi has been racing since it was called Horch. It's not a racing brand, it's a technology brand. Said Ulrich, "Instead of components, look at technologies – not lights, but lighting technologies, not engines, but engine technologies, like injection pressure technology is the same from the race car to the road car." That's nowhere near as exciting as, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday," but it is arguably much more practical. Quattro is the most obvious example of racing tech for the street. For a less obvious one, Reinke said, "Audi Motorsport developed codes for computational fluid dynamics, and then we'd run the calculations on the Technical Department computers at night.

This gold wrapped R8 is how Audi celebrates an award

We like to think some awards (our Tech of the Year, for example) are more valued than others. Even so, Audi wasn't going to let its winning the Golden Steering Wheel award from Auto Bild go unnoticed, and this gold chrome R8 ought to do the trick. On display now at the Audi Forum in Neckarsulm, Germany, this Audi R8 V10 Plus is all decked out with a gold chrome wrap, similar to what rival Mercedes rolled out in Cannes a few years ago, but with a tone-on-tone satin gold stripe up the center, flanked by black pinstripes for extra contrast. Fortunately the accents – including the wheels, grilles, mirrors, air scoops, and rear wing – were left in black (albeit glossy) rather than chromed up. It looks just as shiny as the mirror-finish Bugatti Veyron displayed at Autostadt 300 miles north in Wolfsburg. Opened a decade ago, the Audi Forum Neckarsulm is one of two such locations run by the German automaker, alongside the one at its headquarters in Ingolstadt. Situated between Frankfurt and Stuttgart, the Neckarsulm facility includes displays from the company's collection, a customization studio, restaurant, a 4,000-square-foot shop, and a concert space. Customers can also pick up their new wheels direct from the factory at the Neckarsulm location, which is also where Audi operates one of its principal assembly plants – and where Quattro GmbH builds the R8. Following the original that debuted in 2006, the new second-generation R8 was introduced earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show. It eschews the V8 available in the previous version exclusively for the 5.2-liter V10. In the Plus spec pictured here, it produces over 600 horsepower, channeled to all four wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The R8 won the Goldenes Lenkrad award this year in the sports car category, alongside the Audi A4, Opel Astra, Hyundai i20, and the BMW X1, 2 Series Gran Tourer, and 7 Series. Related Video: X The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. Featured Gallery Audi R8 V10 Plus in gold chrome at Audi Forum Neckarsulm News Source: Audi Forum Neckarsulm via Facebook Audi Coupe Performance Supercars award gold chrome

2016 Audi S8 Plus burns the 'bahn faster

At no point during my drive of the Audi S8 last year did I think, "You know, this car could really use more power." With 520 horses on tap from a twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8, the S8 is a damn good luxury/sport sedan. But I'm certainly not going to complain about a big ol' power boost, and that's just what we have here with the new Audi S8 Plus. It's got the same engine underhood, but power is boosted from 520 hp and 481 pound-feet of torque to a healthy 605 hp and 516 lb-ft. There's even an overboost function that increases torque output to 553 lb-ft for short bursts. That means the big S8 will run to 60 miles per hour in just over three and a half seconds. Hot damn. All that thrust doesn't come cheap, though; the S8 Plus costs $115,825. Of course, that's cheaper than the Mercedes-AMG S63 sedan, but the Merc is a decidedly more luxurious car. Still, a 605-hp S8 sounds mighty fine to me. Of course, a 520-hp S8 was already perfectly fine to begin with.