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| audi r8 2011 |
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| audi r8 2011 |
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| audi r8 2011 |
The luggage compartment is an important aspect of everyday suitability: 100 litres fit beneath the front lid, and there is room for bags with a total volume of a further 90 litres behind the seats. And even passionate golfers need not forgo their sport when driving the R8: two full-size golf bags can be stowed behind the seats.
The impression of quality in the interior is striking: even in the basic specification, the surfaces of the driving area and door trims are meticulously trimmed, with neatly finished decorative seams. And the scope for customisation is as diverse as the preferences of the R8's future owners could conceivably be: piano finish, carbon fibre and a wide variety of leathers are just some of the options.
Light but highly rigid body
The body of a sports car needs to be particularly light and rigid: low weight permits superior road performance, and rigidity is the crucial starting point for an agile driving feel allied to high precision. The Audi Space Frame body, made from aluminium, provides the ideal basis for this. Audi has more expertise than any other manufacturer worldwide in the designing and production of cars based on aluminium technology, and has channelled its accumulated know-how into the R8.
The entire bodyshell of the R8 weighs just 210 kilograms, the pinnacle of achievement among sports cars in terms of lightweight design quality. It comprises extruded sections, aluminium panels and highly complex cast nodes, joined together by 99 metres of weld seams, 782 punch rivets and 382 self-tapping screws.
Superlative precision in the production shop
This structure is created largely by hand at the R8 production shop in Neckarsulm, but with precision measuring and machining methods keeping a watchful eye over the whole business: a laser measuring system checks 220 points on each body to within one-tenth of a millimetre, and a special computer tomograph can investigate the absolute quality of every join with micron precision. A central processing plant cuts and drills all 52 connecting points on the running gear and steering in a single pass. This assures maximum precision in the axle geometry.
The aerodynamics experts at Audi have done their work so thoroughly on the R8 that, as an added benefit of its elegant shape, the body actually produces a downforce - unlike many other sports cars. This promotes directional stability at high speeds. It is achieved by means of the extending rear spoiler, but above all thanks to the fully clad diffuser underbody.
Enormous propulsive power across wide speed range
The heart of the sports car is of course the engine. As well as being exceptionally compact, the eight-cylinder power unit of the R8 runs lustily and effortlessly up to very high engine speeds, peaking at 8,250 rpm. The reward is 420 bhp and an even buildup of torque that produces enormous propulsion across a wide range of engine speeds. The engine's dry sump lubrication, typical of a race engine, permits a particularly low installed location and assures a constant oil supply in even the toughest of driving conditions - for instance on a racetrack. And the FSI direct injection underpins the very good full-load performance with a highly efficient combustion process.
The road performance is correspondingly impressive: the R8 dashes from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds, whether with manual gearbox or with R tronic sequential gearshifting. The needle hits 200 km/h after only 14.9 seconds, and the engine's propulsion is only finally held in check by rolling resistance and drag at 301 km/h.
However, the captivating character of the V8 stems not just from its effortless propulsion, but equally from its ample, versatile sound characteristics. Thanks to ingenious fine-tuning measures, Audi's engineers isolated disagreeable frequencies and then orchestrated an impressive opus from the intake and exhaust sound.
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| audi r8 2011 |
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| audi r8 2011 |
