By: IOL Motoring Staff
Kyalami, Midrand - The second-generation Audi R8 supercar, the most powerful and fastest production car the Fellowship of the Four Rings has ever unleashed on the public, has landed in South Africa, almost to the day a year after its international media launch in Faro, Portugal.
It's available in South Africa in two versions - basically the same car in different states of tune - with an impressive list of standard kit, Audi SA having gone to town on the spec sheet in some justification for a price tag that looks like a telephone number.
Let's get the bad news out of the way right up front, shall we?
Audi R8 Prices
R8 V10 5.2 FSI quattro S tronic (397kW) - R2 630 500
R8 V10 plus 5.2 FSI quattro S tronic (449kW) - R2 970 000
But what you get for your pile of cash is equally outrageous.
‘Race’ cockpit
As you slide into the driver's seat, a 'floating' console arches around your space with the distinctive aircon controls along its bottom edge. The sports seats themselves are all new, low-mounted with integrated head restraints in the base model, carbon-fibre buckets in the V10 plus, in either case trimmed in your choice of nappa leather or alcantara synthetic suede.
Two leather packages are also offered as options, including a new diamond-quilted stitch pattern with matt carbon-fibre trim.
The instrument panel is a 310mm TFT display offering three different standard layouts; in the 'Performance' view the rev-counter sits front and centre, just like in a racing car, with the rest of the dials and displays grouped to your preference around it.
Also following racing practice, the car's dynamic settings - including the stop-start button - are controlled from the steering wheel, with an extra push-button and turn wheel on the V10 for the exhaust flaps and drive select system.
Light, not very tall
The new R8 is 4420mm long, almost two metres wide and not very tall at all. Mostly made of carbon-fibre and aluminium, the base model weighs only 1555kg ready to go.
Standard rims are 18 inchers, with 19s as an option, wearing 245/30 front and 305/30 rear gumballs. Carbon ceramic discs are option on the V10, standard on the V10 plus.
Siri-aas muscles
The nice thing about big, muscular, naturally aspirated engines (of which there are, sadly, very few left) is that their power output is a function of insanely high revs.
The base model R8 V10 is rated for 397kW at 7800 revs and 540Nm at 6500rpm, good enough for a 0-100 launch in 3.5 seconds, and 320km/h flat out.
But the V10 plus, tuned to the same spec as the Lamborghini Huracan with which it shares this engine (449kW at a howling 8250 revs and 560Nm at 6500rpm) will hit a hundred in 3.2 seconds with street tyres (and a tenth quicker still on 'sports' rubber) and top out at 330km/h.
Protecting you from your own exuberance
Each variant drives all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with a multi-plate wet clutch at the front axle to apportion drive torque as required; a mechanical limited-slip differential on the rear axle is also standard on both, to keep the rear end under control during hard acceleration.
Power delivery is modulated by four 'Drive select' modes - Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and Individual - with an extra three on the V10 plus: Dry, Wet and Snow, the latter two presumably to protect you from your own exuberance in less-than-ideal conditions.
Electronically adaptive damping is available as an option on either variant, but Audi makes no bones about it: adaptive or no, the suspension on the V10 plus is appreciably tighter, the ride distinctly harsher. If you intend to use your R8 as a daily commuter, you might want to minus the plus out of the equation.
Denis Droppa, editor of our sister print publications, was at Kyalami for the SA launch of the new R8; look out for his driving impressions here, soon.