With an announced premiere in the Big Apple just after the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), Audi’s R8 LMS GT4 celebrated a major milestone in mid-March: the 50th unit puirpose-built for racing left the assembly lines at the Audi Böllinger Höfe facility in Heilbronn, Germany.
The model priced at a little under 200,000 euro ($245,000) is one of the brand’s most successful race cars. Powered by a 5.2-liter V10 engine and paired with S tronic 7-speed double-clutch transmission, the racing model is pretty similar to the production version (Audi says 60 precent of the racer is the same as the Coupe V10 model).
For the racing car, the V10 has been tweaked to develop up to 405 horsepower and 550 Nm of torque, making the GT4 capable of competing in both sprint or endurance races.
The R8 LMS GT4 allows drivers a naught to 62 acceleration time of under 4 seconds, thanks to the wide use of aluminum (79 percent) and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (13 percent) on the carmaker's so called Space Frame used to underpin the model.
For the 2018 racing season that has just begun, the car will be competing in a number of series and single events on four continents: America, Asia, Australia and Europe. That includes one cup specially created for the model, called Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup.
“We take pride in this achievement of being able to build the race car in such close combination with the production model,” said in a statement Wolfgang Schanz, Audi Sport head of production.
“Our customers directly benefit from these advantages. We offer the ready-to-race model at a price below 200,000 euros. In return, the teams receive a new race car in premium quality, as the one-two class win of the Audi R8 LMS GT4 by customer team Phoenix Racing in the 24-hour race in Dubai in January proved.”
For the racing car, the V10 has been tweaked to develop up to 405 horsepower and 550 Nm of torque, making the GT4 capable of competing in both sprint or endurance races.
The R8 LMS GT4 allows drivers a naught to 62 acceleration time of under 4 seconds, thanks to the wide use of aluminum (79 percent) and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (13 percent) on the carmaker's so called Space Frame used to underpin the model.
For the 2018 racing season that has just begun, the car will be competing in a number of series and single events on four continents: America, Asia, Australia and Europe. That includes one cup specially created for the model, called Audi Sport Seyffarth R8 LMS Cup.
“We take pride in this achievement of being able to build the race car in such close combination with the production model,” said in a statement Wolfgang Schanz, Audi Sport head of production.
“Our customers directly benefit from these advantages. We offer the ready-to-race model at a price below 200,000 euros. In return, the teams receive a new race car in premium quality, as the one-two class win of the Audi R8 LMS GT4 by customer team Phoenix Racing in the 24-hour race in Dubai in January proved.”