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Notes from day one of the Rolex 24 at Daytona

We came to Daytona Beach, Florida where you can drive on the beach, gun shops outnumber doughnut shops and you can putt-putt and fish for alligators at the same place. But we're not here for any of that - we've made the trip with Audi in order to experience the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first race in the 2013 Grand-Am season and the only 24-hour race in America.
Three teams are racing four Audi R8 Grand-Am cars - WeatherTech Racing, Rum Bum Racing and APR, which is running two cars. Shown to the world two years ago, the R8 Grand-Am is part of Audi Sport's R8 LMS customer racing program that was commenced in 2008, and ever since 2009 has been nabbing success all over the world: In four years it has taken 154 victories and 17 series titles. That is with less than 100 cars sold to customers throughout the world, and the trophies - either class wins or overall victories - have been gathered from all of the major endurance races except one: Daytona.

Audi RS Q3 is funky, chunky, spunky forbidden fruit [w/videos]

After salivating over the Audi RS6 Avant last night, we're happy to see yet another RS-branded Audi here on the show floor at the Geneva Motor Show. Meet the RS Q3, Audi's first ever high-performance crossover, showing what's possible when the Ingolstadt automaker brings its best sporting bits to its smallest CUV.
Powering the RS Q3 is Audi's 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder engine - the same one found in sweetie-darlings like the TT RS and RS3. Output is rated at 310 horsepower and 309 pound-feet of torque, sent to all four wheels via the automaker's seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission. Weighing in at just over 3,800 pounds, the RS Q3 is indeed a porky little pig, but no matter - that forced-induction fire will propel the small crossover to 62 miles per hour in five and a half seconds. And that's with launch control, too.
The RS Q3 certainly looks the part of a proper sporty Audi, with exaggerated air vents and bulgy, aggressive bits all around. Honestly, we like the way the RS package has translated to the Q3 form - this design really works well on the smaller CUV package. Inside, performance-minded fittings like a flat-bottomed steering wheel, upgraded gauges and sport seats bring the whole RS pack full circle. We'll admit, we're definitely intrigued by this little guy.

Subaru WRX STI vs. Audi S3 in compact AWD dustup

It's not every day that a Subaru and an Audi can be reasonably compared head-to-head; the two brands tend not to compete directly in their respective segments. However, the latest WRX STI and the S3 Sedan offer the perfect chance to find out if the working-class Scooby can beat its upper-crust competitor.
The UK's Auto Express gets behind the wheel of these two all-wheel drive performance sedans, or saloons as the Brits call them. Across the pond, both of them are rated at an identical 296 horsepower, but the Subaru edges out the Four Rings on torque. Like in the US, British buyers have to pay a little more to get the Audi, but it comes with a nicer interior and more brand cachet, if that means anything to you.
The video starts out with a fairly standard road test comparing the two of them back-to-back - all fairly subjective. But then Auto Express takes the trip to the drag strip, and the results there are much more conclusive. There's a definite winner when they cross the line, but you have to scroll down to see which of these turbocharged models with rallying heritage wins out.