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Bathurst 12-hour gallery is GT3 heaven [w/video]

The 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race was run this weekend at the Mt. Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, Australia. Race photographer Joel Strickland sent us a huge batch of photos, all of which make us salivate for the switch to GT3 rules in the United SportsCar Championship; the top seven finishers at Bathurst were of seven different makes: Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, Audi R8-LMS Ultra, Aston Martin Vantage GT3, Bentley Continental GT3, Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, Ferrari F458 Italia and Lamborghini Gallardo. It was a sweet victory for the No. 35 car driven by the NISMO Athlete Global Team after it crashed in Saturday qualifying, and then was only in third place on the penultimate lap. The three-man driving team included two GT Academy winners, one of whom, Florian Strauss, has only been a professional race car driver for 18 months. It's the first time the GT-R has won at Panorama since the original R32 "Godzilla" took back-to-back wins in 1991 and 1992. Second place went to the No. 15 Phoenix Racing Audi R8-LMS Ultra, 2.4 seconds behind the winners, third to the Craft Bamboo Racing Aston Martin Vantage not even half a second behind the Audi. The Bentley Motorsport team, in its first Bathurst 12-Hour with two cars, had its No. 10 Continental GT3 in the lead until the penultimate lap and in second place until the final corner, but crossed the line in fourth after some rubbin'-is-racin' action from chasers. And if pictures aren't enough, as of writing you can still watch the live stream of the entire race at the Bathurst 12-Hour site. Or, if you don't have the time, at least be sure to check out the last five minutes, below. Enjoy. Featured Gallery 2015 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour View 118 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Joel Strickland / AOL Motorsports Aston Martin Audi Bentley Nissan Coupe Racing Vehicles Videos aston martin vantage gt3

Next Audi R8 E-Tron could have 280-mile range

Just 265 miles of range on a single charge? Meh. That's what the folks at Audi might be saying about the Tesla Model S and its estimated range. Because the German automaker says the next iteration of the R8 E-Tron could go 450 kilometers on a charge, or about 281 miles. This information comes from Automotive News, which cites a presentation from Audi technology chief Ulrich Hackenberg at the company's annual press conference. The fact that the car will soon be available "upon request" is also news. The project was thought to be shelved until reports came out late last year saying that Audi figured out a way to upgrade its lithium-ion battery technology to double its range. Audi spokesman Brad Stertz said the company wasn't disclosing details related to if or when the car would reach North America or how much it would cost (we're guessing a really large number of dollars) but he did say it was notable that the project was back on track. Audi made news in the summer of 2012 when the R8 E-Tron set the "series production electric car" speed record with a 8:09.099 minute-time at Nurburgring thanks to a boosted top speed of more than 155 miles per hour.

Audi's next R8 snapped running the 'Ring nearly naked

Following the debut of the Lamborghini Huracán, work is now well well under way on its cousin. That, of course, would be the next-generation Audi R8, the followup to the model that put Ingolstadt on the supercar map in 2006 and has been on the market ever since. That's an eight-year lifespan, though to be fair, for 2014 it has gotten a pretty meaningful update. Still, that's a long lifecycle, even if the Gallardo with which it shares its underpinnings was around even longer. In other words, it's about due for replacement.
Fortunately, that's just what Audi has in the cards. We've seen prototypes wearing heavy camouflage lapping the Nürburgring a couple of times over the past few weeks, but now it's been snapped nearly completely undisguised, with largely bare black bodywork giving us an even better look at what to anticipate.
So what are we looking at here? A sharper-looking take on the existing design, for starters, so onlookers and customers alike shouldn't have any trouble identifying this as an R8 - but a newer one at that. It seems to take some cues from the new TT, particularly around the headlights, with more squared-off elements throughout. There's an adaptive rear wing poking out the back and more pronounced side-blade intakes between the doors and the rear wheels, which themselves are wearing ultra low-profile rubber.