Everyone has been asking about the wild Audi R8 from our booth at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas. Last Thursday we unveiled one of the most powerful cars in the world. Below is the text from our press release:
The car you see here is not exactly what it appears. On the surface, it’s an Audi R8- but this is no ordinary R8. Instead, it’s a specially-built, twin-turbocharged Audi R8 that is more than capable of holding its own against the latest generation of million-dollar exotics by just about every measure of objective performance. More than that, though- this is the first ever example of an ultra-limited run of duPont REGISTRY-branded ultra-luxury cars that are meant to represent the current state of the art of bespoke supercar manufacturing.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this,” says Will Chapman, VP and Director of Special Projects at the world-famous duPont REGISTRY media brand that’s best-known for showcasing premium automobiles as well as fine luxury homes and yachts. “We’ve always distinguished ourselves by simply presenting products to buyers without distractions. It’s just been the buyer and the seller, and we’ve simply been a vehicle, if you’ll pardon the pun, to make that interaction possible. We’ve never stepped outside of that role to point to a product and say ‘This is the one we would buy,’ and that’s very exciting.”
Fitted with upgraded hardware developed by Speedriven- a high-performance tuning firm located in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois- Audi R8s fitted with the duPont REGISTRY Limited Edition performance PKG can deliver performance that challenges the limits of credibility. A zero-to-sixty sprint, for example, can be completed in about 2 seconds. From a standing start, the car will cross the finish line at the end of a quarter mile drag strip in about nine seconds at more than one-hundred-and-fifty miles per hour- and the car is still accelerating.
“You can see how consistent the power delivery is in our dyno videos,” explains Speedriven’s Jo Borras. “The shifts happen so fast that the straps holding the car back never slacken. That just shows how effectively all of that power is getting to the ground, thanks to the drivetrain upgrades built into the duPont REGISTRY performance package. It’s a very efficient package.”
The efficiency that’s built into the Limited Edition duPont REGISTRY Audi R8 isn’t the kind of efficiency that’s built into, say, a Toyota Prius. It’s an efficiency of purpose. This is a car that’s been built to set the standard for real-world performance, and Chapman believes it’s an emphasis on drivability that sets this offering apart. We wanted to deliver an ‘extreme’ level of performance, but we wanted it to be as accessible as possible, so that a driver could get in the car and have a thrilling experience without getting in over their heads.”
To that end, the cars are shipped to Speedriven in Chicago, where the R8’s V10 engine, transmission, and magnetic ride suspension are pulled out of the chassis, and its transformation begins. Speedriven tears down the Audi’s 5.2 liter aluminum V10 block completely before it goes into the CNC machine to be bored out and blueprinted. High-strength pearlitic cylinder sleeves reinforce the lightweight block, and all-new, forged internals go back in. Once that’s finished, the engine is ready to handle up to three times the amount of horsepower the V10 rolled out of the factory with- which is a good thing, because Speedriven has equipped the duPont REGISTRY Limited Edition Audi R8s with a pair of massive, billet-wheel, ball-bearing turbochargers that utilize the latest and greatest in compressor and turbine wheel technology to deliver a smooth, responsive power curve that may just make you forget that “turbo lag” was ever a thing.
Helping to get all the power from that beefed-up engine to each of the duPont REGISTRY Limited Edition Audi’s rear tires will be a heavily reinforced version of Audi’s own S-Tronic clutch system fitted with upgraded friction plates, steels, and heavy-duty billet aluminum clutch baskets. Those upgrades make for lightning-fast gear changes and consistent standing-start launches.
Massive power, however, calls for massive planning to make effective use of it. To that end, Speedriven has fitted the duPont REGISTRY Limited Edition Audi R8s with a custom-built set of lightweight, forged aluminum wheels with 20” up front, and a wide, shorter set of 18” wheels in the rear- and that staggered wheel set up is just one of the keys to this car’s mind-bending speed. “We needed to be able to get a certain amount of sidewall flex into the tires,” added Jo. “You need some flex and some softness at the rear to grip the road. There’s a lot of torque going to the front of the R8, thanks to its Quattro all-wheel drive, but with more power comes more weight transfer to the rear, so you need more and more grip to keep the launches predictable.”
“Smooth. Consistent. Predictable.” Those were the words that kept coming up when we were talking about what this car needed to be,” explains Chapman. “We didn’t want to make it too easy to drive, because when you have a car that’s too computerized the experience becomes very sterile, and that’s not a rewarding experience. What we wanted was to strike a balance, and deliver a car that the client could climb into and immediately drive it fast. You don’t have to have be a Formula 1 or IndyCar driver to get that fast 0-60 or quarter-mile time you read about in the magazine- but if you do have some talent, and you decide to dedicate some time to getting to know the car out on a racetrack, then you will be able to have that kind of ‘next level’ encounter. That’s the magic. That’s the balancing act.”
With power and performance like that, the duPont REGISTRY Limited Edition Performance PKG equipped Audi R8s will be very special cars. To ensure that their special-ness isn’t lost on the casual observer, however, each of the limited edition run of twenty-five cars will feature exclusive duPont REGISTRY badges on the outside, as well as “dR” center caps and a custom “dR” fuel filler cap machined from a solid bar of aluminum while, inside, each of these cars will carry special, laser-etched, “Limited Edition 1 of 25” dash plaques. As slick as those are, it’s what’s in the R8’s glass-covered engine bay that really grabs attention.
Topping off the race-ready, SD-built 5.2-liter engine is a bespoke, CNC-machined billet aluminum intake manifold armed with massive fuel injectors aimed directly into each of the Audi’s ten cylinders. Parked alongside a “standard” R8 with its factory-supplied plastic intake manifold, it’s immediately obvious that this duPont REGISTRY special means business. “Once the Speedriven guys made it clear that it would be necessary to change out that factory part, though, we decided to go with a billet piece instead of a sheet metal intake. It’s overkill, in a way, but it was a decision that’s very much in keeping with the rest of the car. We wanted to do the job right, and we wanted these cars to stay true to their Audi heritage. That’s all-wheel drive. That’s turbochargers. That’s aluminum. We’re putting all of that Audi racing tradition front and center here, and we’re using our tradition of showcasing the world’s finest cars in the duPont REGISTRY to bring these special cars to the attention of people who can truly appreciate what they are, and what they’re capable of.”
For more information, pricing, and options, please contact Speedriven at 708-477-3230 or email info@speedriven.com. We are aiming for consistent 8-second passes in the quarter-mile, and you will see it first here on Autofluence.
