Autoblog

Audi has announced that its superlative R8 sportscar will serve as the safety car for the ever-popular DTM touring car championship, having also served in the same capacity for the recently-concluded 24 Hours of Le Mans. Audi's performance division quattro GmbH prepared a pair of R8s for the German racing series – with the second serving as a "racing taxi" – but noted that, "because the R8 possesses the genes of a perfect sports car", little in the way of modification for duty was required.

The pair of R8 support vehicles made its debut at the Norisring Speed Weekend yesterday, where Mercedes-Benz beat out the new Audi A4 DTM with a 1-2 finish. Follow the jump for the press release and click on the thumbnails below for our high-resolution image gallery.

[Source: Audi Motorsport]

Click above for high-res gallery of Audi RS6 spy shots

The Audi RS6 is about to receive some sheetmetal tweaks that both bring the super sedan's exterior styling more in line with the corporate design language and give it a decidedly more devilish look than the standard A6 or sportier S6. Out back the RS6 drops the current A6 taillights for a pair that appear lifted directly off the A5. It's a good switch, as the A5's rear end is decidedly more simple and clean the current A6. We would expect to see the same udpate made across the A6 line very soon. Up front the car gets new air intakes that flank the gaping grille, which include one big intake on either side that are capped by a smaller inlet right at the leading edge of the front fenders. The headlights also sport a row of LEDs along their bottom as well as an eyelid of some sort above, which gives the RS6's face a mean glare. Of course, behind those glaring eyes lie a 5.0L twin-turbo V10 producing well above 500 horsepower that can back up the serious stare.

[Source: KGP Photography]

Audi has finally confirmed all the details on its new range-topping supercharged V6, and the final output figures are in line with previous reports. The 3.0-liter TFSI engine (although the "T" is a misnomer since it used to stand for "turbo") is putting out 290 hp and 310 lb.-ft. of torque, with maximum twist beginning at an incredibly tractable 2,500 RPM. The blown six's thrust should be linear considering the belt-driven design, and Audi maintains that it will consistently outperform its biturbo predecessors. Although Audi has yet to confirm what models the supercharged, direct-injected mill will be fitted to initially, it's a safe bet that it will find a happy home within the new A6 and the next S4. Check the press release after the jump for all the details.

Audi gave the world a preview of its new A1 mini-car last fall in the form of the MetroProject and the production version of the new A1 is expected to debut in 2010 with a lineup that should include a drop-top version to take on the MINI Cabriolet. As usual, Audi will likely bring all the bells and whistles to the A1 Cabrio, including a power top that descends fully into the back end of the car. That would give the A1 and advantage over the MINI which stacks on top of the hind-quarters. And, unlike the MINI that maintains a diminutive replica of a rear seat, Audi won't bother with the rear quarters, keeping it strictly a two-seater. In the rendering from AutoExpress the car looks more like a miniature version of the RS4 Cabrio, but the little machine won't bother with quattro all-wheel-drive. Instead, the front wheels will be powered by 1.4L TFSI engines with mated to a DSG gearbox. The A1 Cabrio should debut at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.

[Source: AutoExpress]

The A5 already has good looks, and for the 2009 model year, Audi's killer coupe adds a bit of environmental responsibility. Audi's new 2.0L TFSI engine will be added to the A5's repertoire, giving the four-ringed automaker a vehicle capable of a reported 42.8 Imperial mpg (36 mpg US) in mixed driving. The little powerplant also has a fun side, with 208 hp at 4300 rpm and 258 lb-ft at 1500 rpm, which helps the A5 hit 62 mph in a respectable 6.9 seconds when equipped with the six-speed manual. The engine was derived from the 1.8L TFSI, but it includes Audi valvelift technology, which ueses sliding cam units mounted on the intake camshaft to allow for more valve lift variation to maximize performance and efficiency. The good news is that the frugal petrol motor will be available beginning this August for a respectable £28,760, but the bad news is that there is no word when the engine will be available Stateside. It will, however, be available in the A4 when it launches this fall. Hit the jump to view Audi's press release.

Click for hi-res images of the Audi R8 V10 at quattro GmbH

If the latest batch of spy shots are to be believed, the V10-powered version of Audi's R8 supercar must be nearing its public release. Following earlier shots snapped by the folks at Bridge to Gantry, more photos of what seems to be the same vehicle were caught by audiblog.nl at the source: quattro GmbH, Audi's equivalent to Mercedes' AMG or BMW's M division.

In addition to the wider intakes and fewer front grille slats discerned from the last spy shot, these images also betray a more aggressive body kit, a flux capacitor, larger exhaust pipes and two fewer horizontal fins in the rear. (We're kidding about one of those.) Check out the images in the gallery below.

[Source: audiblog.nl via World Car Fans]

Click above for a high-res image of the Auto Union Silver Arrow.

The three-ring automotive circus known as the Goodwood Festival of Speed is less than a month away and Audi is using the UK's most unique motoring event to debut a reconstruction of the Auto Union "Silver Arrow" Type D Dual Compressor from 1939. The replica uses a handful of parts from the original Silver Arrow and was built in England over the last four years by Crosthwaite & Gardiner, a specialty automotive workshop located in East Sussex.

The Silver Arrow, originally piloted by H.P. Muller and Tazio Nuvolari to two Grand Prix wins, was broken up by occupying Soviet forces in East Germany after WWII. When the rebuilt Arrow debuts during the Festival of Speed on July 11, Nick Mason, Pink Floyd's drummer and all-around car guy, will drive the 420 hp, 12 cylinder racer on its first run in the 21st century.

Full press release after the jump.

Many will cringe at the idea of a diesel-powered Porsche, but since Stuttgart rolled out its first SUV, we've all had a while to get used to the idea. Although previous speculation held on to hopes that Porsche might employ a more powerful 3.2-liter oil-burner, reports now indicate that the Cayenne diesel will employ Audi's 240-horsepower 3.0-liter TDI V6.

Expect the diesel Cayenne to debut next March, following a probable launch at the 2009 Geneva auto show.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - subs. req'd]

To the untrained eye this might appear to be just another run-of-the-mill Audi R8 lapping the vaunted Nurburgring Nordschleife. But a closer look at the details reveal that this may just be the production-ready V10-powered version of the supercar from Ingolstadt.

Firstly, eyewitness accounts relate that the vehicle pictured above has a distinct exhaust note over the V8-powered version. We could take that at face value, or take a closer look at the revised intakes that would be needed to cool the larger engine lest it burst into flames like previous prototypes. The side intakes underneath the blades behind the doors are larger, and the front side grilles underneath the sinister headlamps have two bars instead of one. Audi has several versions of the V10, including the twin-turbo unit in the devastating RS6 and the normally-aspirated version in the latest Gallardo LP560-4, but we'll just have to wait – possibly until Paris – to find out which version has been shoehorned into Iron Man's choice mode of transportation.

[Source: Bridge to Gantry]

We recently gave you details and showed you spy shots of Audi's forthcoming A7 four-door "coupe". Not much could be gleaned from the photos though, with the car looking much more like a sport camel than a sport sedan. A year ago, CAR magazine was passing out renderings of the A7 based on information it was getting from insiders. Their images were of an impossibly sleek -- and quite good looking -- stealthmobile that substituted a huge hatch for a trunk. Auto Express has new renderings of the car, and it maintains all the spirit of the CAR originals. It's still red and impossibly sleek, with a reptilian, evil eye front end treatment that says "Yeah, I'm lookin' at you..." We've been examining the wheel wells on the spy shots to see if they could really fit wheels as big as those on the rendering -- and we can't say for sure either way. If the 600-hp RS7 variant comes on feet that big, it'll be a serious looking car indeed. However, unless that rear end is hiding a hatch, you won't able to fit anything in the trunk except two-by-fours.


[Source: Auto Express via German Car Blog]