Race version of the Audi R8 in the limelight

Audi is set to present a world premiere at the Essen Motor Show from November 28 to December 7: the brand with the four rings will be unveiling a race version of the Audi R8 with over 500 horsepower. During the press conference on November 28, Audi will also be presenting its plans for the 2009 motorsport season. This year’s winning Le Mans car and Timo Scheider’s victorious DTM car will be lining up in Essen alongside numerous attractive production models.

The version of the Audi R8 specially developed for customer teams will be celebrating its world premiere in Essen. From fall 2009, therefore, Audi Sport will for the first time offer a racing car that was specifically developed for customer use.

“Ever since the Audi R8 was unveiled we’ve been inundated with inquiries about a race version.

With the Audi R8, we will offer customers a racing car packed with sophisticated technology and characteristic Audi quality, but which is nevertheless easy to handle,” says Head of Audi Motorsport, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. The first prototype completed its first tests in mid-August with Audi works driver Frank Biela at the wheel.

The new GT sports car will be joined in Essen by other successful members of the Audi motorsport family: this year’s winning Le Mans car, the Audi R10 TDI driven by Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, and the Audi A4 DTM in which Timo Scheider clinched the championship title just a few weeks ago. On Friday, November 28 at 2 pm, the Audi motorsport boss will be appearing on AUDI AG’s stand in Hall 3 to report for the first time on Audi’s plans for the 2009 season.

The motorsport highlights will also be accompanied by an attractive selection from Audi’s current model range. The production R8 together with the RS and S models are the link between motorsport and series production. In Essen, the brand with the four rings will be showing the Audi R8, the Audi RS 6 Sedan, the Audi TTS Coupé as the top-of-the range model in the TT line, the Audi S3 as the top model in the A3 line and the Audi S4 as the sporty highlight in the A4 family. The S4 will be celebrating its German show premiere in Essen. It will be joined there by the Audi Q5 3.0 TDI quattro, the Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro and the Audi A5 Coupé 2.0 T quattro.

AUDI R8 GT3

Audi Q5 2.0 TFSI quattro SE S tronic review

Well, you do have to admire the attitude… Whilst my colleagues in the media remain determined to talk us all into ‘the forthcoming recession’ just because a pox of relentlessly greedy estate agents have had to give their Minis back and get proper jobs, Audi is having none of it.
At the recent 2008 Paris motor show, Audi obersturm gruppenfuhrer Rupert Stadler was asked how Audi is preparing for the financial crisis. His response was: ‘We’ve had a board meeting, discussed it thoroughly, and decided not to participate.’
Predictably, then, any suggestions that the introduction of the new Audi Q5 in the current climate is tantamount to re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic have been swatted aside with the gently bullish rejoinder that Audi has never been interested in overheating any of the rapidly burgeoning number of market segments it occupies, and that they’ll undoubtedly sell every one they make.
And, having driven it, I suspect they’re right. Largely because the damned thing’s so bloody convincing.

Really? The Audi Q5 doesn’t look that enthralling…

True, but to those of us who find the my-God-it’s-moving-towards-us Q7 so preposterously gargantuan that it’ll never really look the part until Audi fits a gun turret on the roof, the Q5 represents a welcome return to sizing sanity.
Boasting beefed-up A4 architecture under the skin, the Q5 doesn’t look instantly off-road friendly in the manner of a Freelander or Volvo XC60, but then again, it doesn’t look utter cack like an X3 either. Oversized front grille aside (and, no, I’m never going to stop complaining about that), this is classic, safe, Audi styling simply left a tad longer on the party balloon pump.

What's the Q5 like inside?

On board, space afforded by the five-seat layout is considerably abetted by the cunning relocation of the drive differentials in front of the clutch, buying an extra 152mm of wheelbase. Astern, sensibly engineered lever systems make rear seat origami a doddle, and Audi has no plans to insert a Bangalore torpedo up the exhaust of the Q7 through the introduction of a seven-seat variant.
The driving position’s first class, and only marred by a constriction of the footwell aggressive enough to push your resting clutch foot rather too far to the right; the only downside to that differential relocation. Happily, this model’s fitted with Audi’s superb seven-speed DSG gearbox (which we must now call ‘S tronic’), but I wonder, in manual guise, just how much room there would be for three pedals and two feet….
The tidy, A4 sourced dashboard is elegantly oriented towards the driver, and loaded with good stuff, including an extremely trick sat-nav which not only gives you topography in something akin to 3D, but also affords views of major cities’ landmark buildings in remarkable detail. Zoom in on Paris, for instance, and you can actually see blokes scrambling about on the Eiffel Tower’s steelwork with paint brushes. OK, I lied about that, but it’s still a nice conceit.

Audi A5 Selected by Automobile Magazine as 2009 Design of the Year

Audi accepted Automobile Magazine’s 2009 Design of the Year Award for the Audi A5, solidifying its position at the leading edge of automotive styling. The recognition for the A5 marks the second consecutive year that Audi has earned the top design award from one of North America’s leading automotive publications. The Audi R8 sports car won the magazine’s Design of the Year and Car of the Year awards for 2008.

Editors praised the restraint, elegance and the “perfect execution” of the Audi coupe’s design. Seeing the overall design quality of the A5 on the road cinched the decision for Automobile’s editors. “Audi,” the magazine noted, “has indeed created a beautiful car.”

“The first point of appreciation comes upon approaching the car,” said Automobile Magazine Design Editor Robert Cumberford. “The second comes when the door is opened to one of the best interiors offered today, in any car at any price. The A5’s elegance, stability, and sheer visual presence make it a clear winner.”

Automotive design often succeeds best when all of a car’s elements fit with seamless proportions and careful attention to details. This was the case with the A5, the first coupe offered by Audi in the U.S. in nearly a generation.

“The graceful, yet precisely drawn, lines of the A5 epitomize the way a progressive coupe should look,” said Johan de Nysschen, Audi of America’s executive vice president. “All of its elements - powerful surfaces, a front end that speaks to pure performance, lighting that blends style with function among many other features - unite Audi style and dynamic performance.”

Consumers are recognizing the A5’s merits, too. October sales of the coupe in the U.S. set a record for the third consecutive month. The A5, which first arrived in U.S. showrooms late last year, comes with the powerful and highly efficient 3.2-liter FSI engine. It produces 265 hp and has a 0-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds.