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The R8 was Audi’s first supercar – and might be its last. R8 production has already stopped and it won’t be replaced. After 18 years, two generations and countless special editions, this run-out V10 GT RWD (one of 333 cars worldwide, and only 15 allocated to the UK) is the end of the road.
I still remember the shockwaves generated by the first R8 back in 2006. We’d seen fast Audis before, of course, beginning with the rally-bred Quattro in 1980, but they tended to be capacious estates, plutocratic saloons or Golf-derived hot hatchbacks. A two-seat, mid-engined Audi to take on the Porsche 911? This was something new.
That original R8 had a 420hp 4.8-litre naturally aspirated V8, which drove all four wheels via an open-gate manual or R-Tronic single-clutch auto transmission. It accelerated to 62mph in 4.6 seconds and topped out at 187mph. And it was a fabulous driver’s car: a credible rival for anything from Maranello or Sant’Agata, let alone Stuttgart.
Making memories
Some will tell you the R8 peaked right there and then. But it didn’t feel that way when, in 2009, I got behind the wheel of a then-new 525hp R8 V10. The occasion was the SMMT Test Day, an industry driving event at Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire, where I was let loose on the Hill Route – a 2.3-mile loop designed to simulate a challenging mountain road. It was my first experience of a fully paid-up supercar and it left me speechless. Unlike the track marshal who had stern words with me afterwards.
The voracious, outrageous 5.2-litre V10 – shared with the Lamborghini Huracan – was carried over into the second-generation R8, which debuted in 2015 and lived on until 2024. All cars now used an S-Tronic dual-clutch automatic gearbox, but there were coupe and Spider body styles, plus the option of rear-wheel drive (RWD) for the first time. LMS versions of the R8 made their mark in motorsport, too.
All of which brings us back to the bright white R8 making curtains twitch in south London as it emerges noisily from a covered lorry. The very last of the 15 UK cars and now part of Audi’s heritage fleet, it’s been valeted, brimmed with super unleaded and signed over to me for a week. This job certainly has its perks.
Spoiler alert!
There’s also a new aero package that generates up to 300kg of downforce: more than twice that of the standard car. A jutting front splitter, racing-style bumper strakes, an enlarged diffuser and a huge, swan-neck rear spoiler – all finished in glossy, unpainted carbon fibre – mean you can’t mistake it for anything less than the ultimate R8.
Other goodies fitted to the GT include carbon-ceramic brakes, a carbon fibre front anti-roll bar and forged alloy wheels. Delve into the options list and you could specify 18-way adjustable coilover suspension, a fixed-ratio steering rack (rather than a variable setup) and semi-slick Michelin Cup 2 tyres.
A V10 wake-up call
Thankfully, given it’s Britain in December, my car is shod with more sensible Michelin Pilot Sport rubber. Even so, I reckon opportunities to test the GT’s Torque Rear drive mode, which offers seven levels of slide-slip control to help you master long, smoky drifts, will be limited. Just imagine the marshal’s face if my younger, less sensible self had Torque Rear to play with back in 2009…
The R8 doesn’t have theatrical, upwards-opening doors and its cabin isn’t really supercar-special. You also sit rather high and upright on fixed-back seats that look too ordinary for £200k. On the plus side, its straightforward ergonomics make a Huracan seem gimmicky and confusing, while Audi’s driver-oriented Virtual Cockpit is vastly preferable to the glaring touchscreens that are now de rigueur.
The ultimate Audi R8?
Find sufficient space to explore all 8,400rpm and the ferocious, screaming V10 seems gratuitous yet utterly glorious. Literally and metaphorically, it is the centre of the R8 GT: one of the all-time great engines, now sadly legislated out of existence.
Despite having a 10-cylinder lunatic in its midst, however, the R8 GT mostly keeps calm and carries on. It feels poised and confidence-inspiring, with lucid steering and impressive traction, even when deploying all 620 horses on damp roads. Cars from Audi Sport (née Quattro GmbH) have always delivered point-to-point pace, but the R8 ups the involvement as well.
The ultimate R8, then? On a racetrack, I suspect so. Dial down the Torque Rear intervention and the GT could be an absolute hooligan. For the road, I’d rewind the clock to the original: a V8 with a manual ’box, please. It’s a future classic that is already appreciating in value.
Could the Audi R8 go electric?
Today, Audi’s fast flagship is the electric RS E-Tron GT Performance. It’s hugely powerful (925hp) and bonkers-fast (0-62mph in 2.5 seconds), but also a very different animal to the R8: a luxurious saloon with four doors, five seats and a large boot.
Could the R8 make a comeback as an EV? It seems unlikely, given the commercial disaster that was the 2015 R8 E-Tron. Heavier and slower than the V10 version, less than 100 examples of the 462hp supercar were made. It’s destined to become a footnote in automotive history, but the R8 itself will certainly not be forgotten. Least of all by me.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research
PRICE: £200,000
POWER: 620hp
0-62MPH: 3.4sec
TOP SPEED: 199mph
FUEL ECONOMY: 18.8mpg
CO2 EMISSIONS: 340g/km
