Audi R8 GT Spyder

A year after unveiling its lightweight, stripped-out, GT semi-race version of the R8 supercar, Audi has announced it will introduce a sunburn special of the same car.

Sprinting to 100km/h in barely-believable, Lambo-beating 3.8 seconds, the R8 GT Spyder has had 85kg stripped from the R8 Spyder's aluminium frame thanks to carbon-fibre skin and seats.

Australian enthusiasts may (again) despair, though, because all of the 333 planned production cars will be left-hand drive.

The mid-engined supercar weighs 1640kg, thumps out 412kW from its 5.2-litre, direct-injection V10 and is based around an aluminium spaceframe chassis weighing just 214kg.

Each car will have its own build number stamped into the top of the gear lever to remind drivers that the long rear side panels, the front bumper, the rear spoiler and the rear bumper are all made of carbon-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), which saves 5.5kg over the standard R8 spyder.

The addition of glass-fibre-reinforced polymer seats saved 31.5kg over the standard, electrically powered units to create the largest single weight saving.

Even so, the R8 GT Spyder is considerably heavier than Lamborghini's Gallardo Performante, which weighs just 1485kg from the same core architecture and has 7kW more power, even though it claims a 0-100km/h sprint a tenth of a second slower than the R8 GT Spyder...

Unlike Lamborghini, Audi has chosen not to increase the power of the GT Spyder, staying with a peak power output of 412kW at 8000rpm and 540Nm of torque at 6500rpm, pulling the power to weight ratio down to 2.93kg/hp.

That's enough to fling the soft-top to a top speed of 317km/h, with all of its performance directed through the six-speed, robotized gearbox. It also retains the standard all-wheel-drive system.

The car will have an onboard lap timer as standard, while the body has been lowered 10mm for sharper handling and the stability control system can be completely deactivated.

Audi has also made some small styling tweaks to identify the GT version as something special, including a dual lip front spoiler, round exhaust pipes, a larger diffuser and darker tail lights.

In Germany, the R8 GT Spyder will retail for 207,800 euros before taxes (around $A280,000) and sales begin in October.

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