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Audi's new driving school: Drive an R8 at Circuit of the Americas

Every car enthusiast's dream is to be able to drive fast, exotic cars on a famous racetrack, and Audi's new driving school offers exactly that. The Audi Driving Experience has set up shop at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas, which you may know as the home of the United States Grand Prix F1 race. The company offers four different programs of varying length, intensity, and cost, but they all feature some Audi's best vehicles including the RS3, TT RS, and the R8 V10 Plus. Two of the programs are half-day, and they teach some of the basics of high-performance driving. The first is called the "Dynamic Experience." It covers things like emergency handling and braking, and it takes place in the exercise paddocks rather than on the actual track. It also only features the RS3 and TT RS. But it's also the most affordable at $595. The other half-day program is the "Track Initiation," and it takes place both in the aforementioned paddocks and on the full Circuit of the Americas course. It adds the R8 to the car roster. It also costs $400 more at $995. The other two programs are longer. The "R8 Track Initiation" program is a full day of driving instruction and practice. It focuses on learning the course by taking it one section at a time, followed by driving the full course toward the end of the day. It features all three cars, and it costs a not-insignificant $2,195. The "R8 Pro Track Initiation" builds on the one-day program with a two-day course. In addition to more track time and more advanced instruction, the course will teach driving techniques such as the famous Scandinavian Flick for inducing oversteer. This program costs a pricey $4,995, and you have to have completed the regular R8 Track Initiation course. Related Video: Image Credit: Audi Auto News Audi Driving Coupe Performance Sedan circuit of the americas

Who doesn't want an Audi RS7 with turbo horns?

Very little is known about the origins of this exhaust-horned and turbo-eyed beast. The guys at Road & Track tracked it down as far as a Russian tuner named Total Race. Aside from that, what we have here is video of an Audi with no hood and two huge turbos sitting on top of its 4.0-liter V8 instead of nestled in the engine's vee where they belong. And those crazy and haphazardly routed exhausts. We also don't know how much power this thing is making, but from the way it launches away from the camera, we're going to go with "a lot." The YouTube clip claims this is the Stage 10 tune, but who knows. Granted, the drivetrain probably can't take everything this Frankensteined engine could theoretically put down, so there's likely some kind of electro-wizardry at play limiting output until it at least hooks up. And if traction control still exists somewhere in there it might be helping keep the tires from melting. Chances are some part of the driveline will grenade itself if you try this too many times, but hey, as long as you get one or two decent YouTube vids first, right? Even if it doesn't add any meaningful power output beyond the RS7 Performance's already plentiful 605 ponies, we can't bring ourselves to care. The high-pitched sound of the exhaust from those heat-wrapped pipes jutting out like the horns of a crazed antelope are simply priceless. Thank you, Russia. Related Video:

Audi's lunar rover is nearly ready for the moon

Last year, Audi announced it was working on a lunar rover with a group called the Part-Time Scientists. Now the company says the design of its Lunar Quattro is complete, and all that's left is final testing before it's ready to head for the moon. Since Audi and its 16 engineers became involved with the project, the rover has actually increased in size, as have its tires. The company says this is for added stability. Despite the added size, the rover is now lighter, bringing it down from 38 to 30 kilograms (what we'd call 66 pounds). Otherwise, the rover is generally the same as it was last year. All four wheels are still powered by electricity, so Audi touts it as being both a Quattro and an E-tron vehicle. Cute. The rover will undergo final testing in the Middle East where it will run through simulations of the mission. For those unfamiliar, the mission parameters were set by Google for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. The prize is worth $30 million and will go to the first team to land a privately funded lander and rover on the moon, drive the rover 500 meters, and send back photos. If the mission is successful, we should get some great 3D and 360-degree shots of the lunar rover left behind by the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, since the proposed landing site is nearby. The Part-Time Scientists team that Audi partnered with has also booked a launch for its ALINA lunar lander, which will carry a pair of the Lunar Quattro rovers to the moon's surface. The launch was scheduled with Spaceflight Industries and is set for the end of 2017. Spaceflight Industries has managed 11 rocket launches with different companies and rockets between 2013 and 2015, and will also launch a probe from Israeli XPRIZE competitor SpaceIL sometime next year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Related Video: