AUDI R8
Model Audi R8 4.2 V8
Engine 4163cc V8 (90°), dohc, 32v
Max power 309kW @ 7800rpm
Max torque 430Nm @ 4500rpm
Transmission 6-speed manual
Weight 1565kg
L/W/H/WB 4431/1904/1252/2650mm
0-100km/h 4.6sec (claimed)
Price from $120,000 (manual V8 value today)
FOR A COMPANY with such a storied competition heritage, Audi’s sporting car stock was at its nadir at the start of 2006. Here in Australia, the cupboard was virtually bare, with no RS models on sale and just one S-badged vehicle, the creaky B7-gen S4. The Mk1 TT was eight years old, its once-strident style statement more of a mumbled apology.
Audi executives proclaimed that terminal understeer was a defining brand characteristic that customers were comfortable with as the company unveiled a series of cars with engines hanging forward of the front axle. It looked for all the world as if the expertise to build
