Well, knock me over with a feather; Audi went ahead and made an R8 supercar that’s rear-wheel drive. Golly. A mid-engine, rear driven, naturally-aspirated Audi powered by an orchestral V10 engine. It is “made for purists”, exclaims the CEO of Audi Sport GmbH, and soon to be head honcho at Bugatti, Stephan Winkelmann.
It’ll certainly be better at going sideways, we concede, though admittedly the quattro system in the standard car is quite clever at permitting a good amount of slip to let the driver have their superhero moment before engaging the front wheels to bite. But Audi has made the curious decision to base this exclusive run (limited to 999 units) on the R8 V10 and not the more powerful R8 V10 Plus.
That means an identical 397kW (540PS) and 540Nm, which is a lot of power indeed, but somewhat contradictory to the very idea of having an exclusive model. Granted, this R8 V10 RWS (Rear Wheel Series), which can be had as a coupe or convertible, has has 50kg eliminated over the regular the equivalent R8 V10 with all-wheel drive, likely attributable to the omission of that quattro AWD system, which comprises of additional components like drivehaft, multi-plate clutch and centre differential.
The weight reduction and resulting improved power-to-weight ratio hasn’t led to improved acceleration, though, and the all-wheel drive R8 V10 pips this rear-driven version by 0.2 seconds. Top speed, however, is an identical 320km/h.
Other touches exclusive to the RWS are purely cosmetic as far as we can tell. There’s a matte black finish applied to the Singleframe grille which is also given to the air intakes and vents at the front and rear of the car. On the coupe, its upper sideblade is finished in gloss black while the lower portion is tied to the body colour.
An optional red film will run over the hood, roof, and rear end should a would-be owner be inclined to choose that option, so that’s something if you’re a fan of the livery used on the R8 LMS GT 4 race car. Inside, both seats are covered in a blend of leather and Alcantara with sport buckets available as an option and there will be a special emblem bearing the unit number from 1 to 999.
Prices for these limited run R8s will start at 140,000 Euros in Germany for the Coupe (or £110,000 in the UK), and the open-top Spyder will run at 153,000 Euros, measurably cheaper than the all-wheel drive ‘regular’ R8 V10 upon which it’s derived.
Of course, there’s always R8’s Italian twin, the Lamborghini Huracan, which incidentally also offers a version of the car without all-wheel drive. Incidentally, its V10 engine produces roughly 30kW more and won’t be limited to a hair under 1,000 units. Decisions….
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