Audi has announced its highly limited edition €229,000 a piece Audi R8 Coupé selection 24h to mark the first anniversary of R8 LMS winning the 24 Hours Nürburgring.
The 610 hp beast will only see 24 units produced and according to Audi, it is launching the R8 Coupé selection 24h to pay homage to the whopping 323 wins in national and international race assignments that the R8 has garnered ever since it was launched in 2009.
The latest limited edition selection 24h is based on Audi’s R8 Coupé V10 plus and will be powered by the mammoth 5.2-liter V10 mid-engine that accelerates the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62.1 mph) in a mere 3.2 seconds.
As far as the design aspect go, the new limited edition R8 will feature carbon fiber made front spoiler, the exterior mirror housings, the engine compartment cover, the rear wing and the diffuser with a gloss-finish. The same goes for sideblades with matt-finish “R8 24h” logo. The tailpipes of the sport exhaust system feature black trims and the 20-inch forged aluminum wheels in 10-spoke Y design are painted gloss anthracite black.
Keeping to the exclusivity, Audi has finished the interiors of the 24h with full-leather upholstery and trim in the color rotor gray, with Alcantara headlining. The air vents and the extended inlays for the surround of the Audi virtual cockpit are made of gloss-finish CFRP. The latter also bear the matt-finish “R8 24h” logo.
The illuminated door sill trims are also made of gloss-finish carbon. They display the serial numbers 1 to 24 for each of the limited-edition cars. As an exclusive feature of the limited edition, the entry lights on the doors project the Audi R8 logo onto the road surface. In future, every R8 customer will be able to personalize their car with a near-unlimited range of lettering and logos from the Audi exclusive offering.
The “selection 24h” special edition of the Audi R8 Coupé V10 plus is a homage to Audi’s remarkable achievements in endurance racing. In the Le Mans 24 Hours alone, the brand with the four rings has celebrated 13 overall wins in the past 15 years. The first five of these were clinched by the R8 sports prototype, which gave its name to the production sports model. The GT3 racing car Audi R8 LMS made its competition debut in 2009. It has since collected over 300 wins worldwide, including overall wins in 24-hour races on the Nürburgring, at Spa-Francorchamps and Zolder, and in Dubai. It also has a class victory in Daytona to its name. Last year, the new generation of the Audi R8 LMS made a dream debut and won its first 24-hour race on the Nürburgring at the very first attempt.
A newly developed quattro drive distributes its power fully variably between both sets of wheels. The suspension, the aerodynamics configured to handle high downforces and the operating concept featuring the Audi virtual cockpit are all motorsport-inspired. That is because Audi developed the second generation of the R8 in parallel with the GT3 racing model R8 LMS. Close cooperation between race car engineers, motorsport specialists and developers has brought both models a significant boost in performance.
The dry weight of the Audi R8 Coupé V10 plus is 1,454 kilograms (3,205.5 lb); its body built using the multimaterial construction principle weighs a mere 200 kilograms (440.9 lb). The combination of aluminum and carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) in the Audi Space Frame opens up entirely new dimensions with regard to weight, rigidity and crash behavior.
The Audi R8 “selection 24h” will be on view to the public for the first time at the AUDI AG presentation area in the paddock at the 24 Hours Nürburgring. Orders for the special model can be placed from May 10, 2016. It costs EUR 229,000 in Germany.
