Audi R8: Engine speculations

Several magazines are speculating about the engines for the upcoming Audi R8, also known as Audi LeMans. Of course, their main suggestion are 8- and 10-cylinder engines, maybe the one from the just launched Audi S6.
What would be great and a car to long for!

We’ve read on the rumor pages of several magazines now of the upcoming Audi R8’s intended plan to use both V8 and V10 engines when it goes into production. The new mid-engined Audi sportscar that uses the Gallardo chassis and a design based on the Le Mans concept car of 2003 has been pretty much confirmed to use an FSI-powered 4.2, probably the high-revving version from the RS 4, and another FSI-powered V10 from the S8 and this week’s Detroit-debuting S6.

The magazine also quotes an Audi senior employee as stating “It’s our Porsche 911.” With an aluminum space frame, potent engines, tossable mid-engine layout and a more usable roofline than its cousin the Gallarod, the R8 could compete quite well with the 911. How this figures into Porsche’s new investment in the VW Group remains to be seen. However, the R8 will definitely happen, unlike the stillborn aluminum Audi Spyder concept that Ingolstadt pondered, but rumored pressure from the Porsche family on then boss Ferdinand Piech to not build the car. Rumors they might have been, though one wonders what potential the R8 might play for Porsche with their new investment. With competitors like the Corvette Z06 and Jaguar XK moving to aluminum, perhaps its time for the iconic 911 to do the same.

For more on the R8 and some Lamborghini news (along with computer-generated images of some future Lambos), check out p. 21 of the February 2006 issue of Motor Trend.