When the V10 equipped Audi R8 hits the streets, it will be the first car in the world to have both high and low beam LED headlights as standard equipment. (The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Platinum will be the first vehicle in the world to offer the all-LED technology.)
You’ve probably already seen Audis driving around with LED driving lights in the grill, and LED taillights are nothing new, but this will be the first time an all-LED system is used for the headlights, and it’s supposed to use a quarter the energy of a typical halogen bulb, while providing a brighter, whiter light.
Sure, you need to put down six figures for the privilege, but at least automakers are taking steps in the right direction to utilize new technologies that are better for the environment, while being better for us in the process.
Designed to compete in rear-wheel-drive, GT3-spec racing, the R8 GT3 will more than likely break through the 500 HP barrier, as well as tack on a six-speed sequential sports gearbox, tons of carbon fiber bits and pieces, and the aerodynamic changes seen here. Due to GT3 rules, the suspension will more or less stay the same, but who’s going to complain about that?
Though the US is still having trouble wrapping its head around the power and potential of diesel, Audi seems well aware of what it can do, and has developed the R8 V12 TDI LeMans concept car to help them strut their stuff.
Featuring “the first 12-cylinder diesel engine in a high-performance roadgoing sports car”, it generates 500 hp and 737 lb-ft of torque, propelling the car from zero to 62 mph in just 4.2 seconds, with a top speed of well over 186 mph.
Peak torque?
It’s reached at just 1,750 rpm, meaning “effortless acceleration” that is without rival.
Thus, the question becomes: Would you switch gas pumps for a car like this?
I would gladly trade ten years off of the end of my life to be Jeremy Clarkson for a day.
Why?
Because the man gets handed the keys to some of the most exclusive cars in the world, and then gets paid to drive them. Hard.
We’re talkin’ tire smoking, opposite locking, pedal to the floor hard; and then some. Top Gear must have to have a separate budget just for the rubber they go through each episode.
Bugatti, Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini; if it costs more than a house, then chances are, Jeremy has been behind the wheel.
Which is why I can’t wait to pick up a copy of his new film, Supercar Showdown. In it, Clarkson road and track tests some of the most expensive supercars currently roaming the roads. Models include the Ferrari 430 Spider and 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago Roadsters, Bugatti Veyron, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT3, Radical SR3, Aston Martin V8 Roadster and Ascari A10.
If a laundry list of the automotive elite isn’t enough to tempt you, then just check out this:
Ok, I’ll admit it. This ‘movie’ doesn’t exactly have the regular criteria that I’m looking for (plot, characters, ninjas, canons, etc.). However, it does have moving images, and that’s good enough for me.
What kind of moving images? How about ones that depict Autocar testing a Bugatti Veyron, an Audi R8, an Aston Martin DB9, a [...]
Because the man gets handed the keys to some of the most exclusive cars in the world, and then gets paid to drive them. Hard.
