Audi R8 Gets a Big Face-Lift

Carbon Fiber Cuts More Than 200 Pounds

Audi will launch a heavily revised model year 2013 R8 with extensive carbon fiber to cut overall weight by some 220 pounds. Later, the next-generation model will switch to a Porsche-developed platform. You'll recognize the updated R8's sharper-looking front end. Its six-sided grille is much like what's been previewed on the recent e-tron concept cars, plus it gets shallower, more angular all-LED headlamps.

 

We've known for some time the clunky R-Tronic single-clutch automated manual transmission will be dropped in favor of a new twin-clutch version. Audi's new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, as used in the new S6 and S8, will take over the firm's top-level engine duties, but we have no confirmation when, or whether that includes this 2013 car. The turbo V-8 has a range of outputs from 420 to 520 horsepower, with more to come. The current R8 comes with a 430-horsepower V-8 and 525-horsepower V-10, both naturally aspirated, so the new engine would represent a change of character.

There's no need for more power in the new car, because the 220-pound weight cut will improve power-to-weight ratio. The revised car's structure uses 15 percent carbon fiber, including the center tunnel, rear bulkhead, and floor panel, and on each side of the car it's used in a large, complex part that includes a section of the inner rocker and the B-post, says Audi R&D chief Michael Dick.

The remainder of the understructure is, like the current car's, aluminum. Some 49 percent is aluminum extrusions, with 20 percent aluminum pressings. The remaining 16 percent is aluminum castings, including the A-post bases, and the rear suspension turrets.

The mass of this inner body structure drops from 490 pounds to 435 pounds, and this allows further savings in the rest of the car in chassis and brakes. (The magnitude of the overall cut also points to those new, lighter engines.) Dick says the body's torsional stiffness is better than all competitors except the Lexus LF-A. It beats the all-carbon Lamborghini Aventador, he claims.

 

Considering that Lamborghini is a subsidiary of Audi, it's surprising that the Aventador and R8 use different types of carbon. In the R8 it's resin-transfer molding, as used in the McLaren MP4-12C. Audi expects to build up to 40 R8s per day, and the labor-intensive slow-cure processes used by Lamborghini are too slow.

Even the extrusions for the crash structures have been redeveloped, and are now as strong as high-strength steel, Dick claims. In production, the aluminum parts are painted and the carbon parts are added by riveting, gluing, or bonding. This also eases crash repair by having replaceable sections.

This moderate-cost mixed-material body is vital for Audi, because similar techniques will be used on the A2 electric/EREV car, a competitor to the BMW i3. Dick explains it will be both lighter and cheaper to build than BMW's LifeDrive body.

Most of the skin of the R8 will remain aluminum pressings, but some parts, such as the engine cover, will be carbon fiber.

Because the 2013 R8 isn't an all-new car, the related Lamborghini Gallardo will continue in its present form for three more years. Many blogs have incorrectly speculated that the LP570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale revealed at the Frankfurt auto show in 2011 was the run-out edition of the current car. Not true; they've got more to come, assuming the supplier that makes the alphabet-soup badges doesn't exhaust its capacity.

Next-generation R8 and Gallardo will use as their base a matrix for which engineering responsibility has been handed to Porsche. "Porsche is responsible for the MSB [modular rear-drive components set], which means the Panamera, and the one for the mid-engine sports cars," chief Matthias Mueller confirmed to Motor Trend.

 

The engineering of that matrix is still at the early feasibility phase, but Mueller's stated desire to have a car between the top-end 911 and the 918 Spyder helps its case.

"That supercar is just an idea at the moment," he told us. "We have five model lines including the Cajun [911, Boxster/Cayman, Panamera, Cayenne, Cajun crossover]. This is a possible sixth. I've said there is a big gap in price between the 911 Turbo and the 918 Spyder. But every time we do a new model line, we need customers wanting a Porsche in that segment, and see if that segment is big enough and whether there is a business case."

If that modular components set must encompass the R8 and this new Porsche supercar, it will also likely need to cover smaller machines, including the Boxster two generations hence, and possibly the mooted Audi R4 and baby Porsche, and, in rear-engine form, the 991's replacement. It will need a highly flexible design.

Sports-car product planning has gotten extremely complex and political at the VW Group since Porsche joined the family. Big egos are clashing, cabals of obsessive and successful engineers are engaging in turf wars, and powerful brand values need protecting. Anything you might read about projected models more than three years out is subject to change.