The Audi R8 bows out after the 2023 mannequin yr, and Germany’s Abt, a motorsports and tuning firm with shut ties to Audi, is celebrating with what is basically an Audi R8 LMS GT2 race automobile made authorized for the street.
The brand new Abt XGT unveiled final week has been in improvement for over two years and concerned fellow German motorsports and tuning firm Scherer Sport, which like Abt races Audi R8s in numerous competitions. Scherer can even function the distributor and repair supplier for the XGT.
The objective of the challenge was to ship a real race automobile expertise in a turnkey bundle that does not require a group of racing engineers to organize for every outing. The XGT is predicated on donor R8 chassis equipped by Audi, and is constructed to an virtually similar specification to the R8 LMS GT2. The endurance racer was unveiled in 2019 for the revived GT2 sequence organized by SRO. It additionally competes past SRO-sanctioned competitors, together with in Germany’s DTM.
Just like the race automobile, the XGT is powered by a 640-hp model of the R8’s 5.2-liter V-10. Nonetheless, as a substitute of the race automobile’s sequential transmission, the XGT makes use of a 7-speed dual-clutch automated shared with the manufacturing R8. Drive is to the rear wheels solely.
The wheels are an Abt design that includes a 19-inch diameter up entrance and 20-inch diameter on the rear. The wheels additionally include heart locks, and are wrapped in Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires as commonplace. Different upgrades embody adjustable suspension with distinctive springs.
The suspension setup delivers a experience top that is not as little as what you will discover on the race automobile, although the experience and dealing with is not like something you will discover on any street automobile, in line with Frank Stippler, an Audi manufacturing unit driver who serves as a model ambassador for Scherer. He helped developed the XGT on fashionable racetracks, together with the Nürburgring.
The physique is sort of all carbon fiber, serving to to maintain weight at about 3,086 kilos, and the usual R8 inside has been changed by a design that matches the race automobile. Some street automobile options have been maintained, although. These embody air con, a reversing digicam, plus controls for the indications and adjustment for the facet mirrors.
2024 Abt XGT
Abt hasn’t launched any efficiency claims other than a high pace of 192 mph, which is restricted by the aerodynamics tuned extra for downforce than high pace.
Simply 99 examples will likely be constructed, every priced from 598,000 euros (roughly $652,000). Availability exterior of Europe hasn’t been introduced.
Audi final yr launched the R8 V10 GT to mark the top of the street of the R8 and its V-10 engine. A successor is deliberate, although it’ll characteristic an electrical powertrain and may not be known as an R8.
