An Audi R8 Le Mans Special: Unpacking The Box

By hugh ujhazy

hugh ujhazy

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1 783 views Apr 4, 2011

It's not often that you are privileged enough to be present at the birthing of something new and wonderful. Those moments when something begins are to be treasured. And so it was immensely special to visit with the team from Absolute Racing for the delivery of their new all carbon fiber Audi R8 Le Mans Special. 

Only released from customs two days before, the car had barely turned axles and certainly never is anger. Small details of the silver vinyl coating on the carbon fiber were still to be resolved. The clear vented panel on top of the beautiful Audi V-10 was still pristine, free of scratches or blemishes.

The color matched space frame chassis and roll cage free of paint chips, the engine bay clean from the factory. Today the car was receiving the initial set of sponsor logos and would be driven for only ten laps on the circuit, even as the setup for the Malaysian Formula 1 event whirled around us. 

From first view, the car is little different from the production car. Its profile is low and aggressive, the massive front grille dropping to the spoiler, the little row of elegant LED chin lights and the gaping openings to cool to engine and rear brakes. Step closer and the changes from road to race car are evident.

The wheel wells are filled with the swollen rubber, over twelve inches of it in the back and only slightly less in the front. This makes the turning circle vast. The hood clips are recessed at the front and the cutoff switches are located at the base of the windshield opposite the driver. 

Everything here is carbon, from the cover of the air filter to the mirror cowlings on both side of the car. The rear of the car is decorated with the massive wing. Once more (you guessed it), carbon. 

Interior wise, the car is stripped. Bare paint, that wonderful roll cage that makes entrance and egress so elegant, the instrument binnacle fronted by the Bosch race computer and the quick release on the steering wheel. Flappy-paddle shifters on either side of the wheel, the five-point race harness and the close embrace of the enveloping race seat. 

Air hose connected to the rear nozzle, the car climbs up on the in built jacks in a stepwise one, two, three, four sequence. After clearing an initial jam in the valve release she thumps awkwardly back onto that slick rubber. A three-foot torque wrench at each of the hubs, tightening the lightweight allow rims to the body. All ready to go.

Initial inspection complete, checking the engine and then starting her up. The throaty growl from the ten-cylinder, 5.2-liter 550-horsepower engine stops all activity in the garage area as mechanics and the general population reach for their cell phones to capture the car emerging from the garage. Sitting on tarmac, engine thump reverberating back from the concrete enclosure, it's a truly beautiful thing.

With a top speed quoted at 196 mph and a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds, this vehicle is not slouch. Moving out to the pit lane with the chase car, test driver Alex Yoong caresses the throttle, letting the revs climb and the noise level increase. Holding the car back to 100 kph for the first lap to get some heat on the massive 310 mm slicks on the back and some warmth into the factory new gearbox. The car roars up behind the chase car, sitting its the tail, flicking back and forth across the track, sitting level and firm on the suspension. The first hairpin, more photos and the engine is roaring up through the six-speed box seeking to be let off its leash.