5.2 Manual Coupe 5.2l Bluetooth Nav 2 Doors 4-wheel Abs Brakes 525 Hp Horsepower on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Autoblog's adventures at the Nurburgring 24-Hour race [spoilers]

The brand-new Audi R8 LMS, said to share 50 percent of its components with the street-legal R8 shown off at Geneva, has won its very first race at the 2015 Nurburgring 24-Hours. The No. 28 car driven by Christopher Mies, Edward Sandstrom, Nico Muller, and Laurens Vanthoor for the Audi Sport WRT team out of Belgium finished only 40.279 seconds ahead of the No. 25 BMW Sport Team Marc VDS Z4 GT3 in second place, for the smallest winning gap since the race began in 1970. Those two cars traded the lead throughout Sunday morning and were less than a minute away from one another for the last two hours. They were part of a total 35 lead changes during the entire race – a record for the event – and both did 156 laps. Third place went to the No. 44 Falken Tire Porsche 997 GT3, one lap down. The Audis did what they always do: lurked close to the front, stayed out of trouble, then pounced when everyone else faltered. For the opening stretches the BMW Z4 teams owned it, running 1-2-3 for a while, but all of them hit trouble. When morning came and the race got over its yellow-flag fever, the No. 28 Audi was in front and stayed there. It was the third Nurburgring 24-Hour win for Audi in four years, the brand's first win only coming in 2012. Last year's winner, the Phoenix Audi team that set a race record by doing 159 laps, had both of its cars retire. One hit an oil patch about 12 hours in, spun and was hit by another car behind, taking on too much damage to continue. The other retired with engine issues. Other Notes Three cars crashed out of the race while leading, after the rains that weren't supposed to happen, happened about 90 minutes in. The No. 20 Schubert BMW Z4 led the first 50 minutes of the race, hopped a crest at Pflanzgarten, landed in a pool of water, and hit the wall on the 30th lap. Then the No. 30 Frikadelli Porsche, with a driver team that included ex-'Ring Taxi driver Sabine Schmitz, hit the No. 31 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 on the approach to Carrousel and crashed out. Then the No. 1 Phoenix Audi, last year's winning car, took the lead but hit the wall after that oil patch near Pflanzgarten and was out of the race. Aston Martin celebrated a class win in the SP8 category with the No. 49 Vantage GT4 N430. This being the tenth anniversary of the Vantage running the Nurburgring-24, this year's car was painted in the same colors as the racecar from ten years ago.

Audi A3 gets Virtual Cockpit next year

Want the Audi TT's nifty virtual cockpit but need a more practical car? Great news for you, as Audi will bring the reconfigurable, all-digital instrument cluster to the A3 next year. The news was confirmed to our friends at Car and Driver, courtesy of the head of Audi's electronics department, Ricky Hudi. "In the future, there are not so many [of our] cars that will not have it integrated, even into the smaller cars. Next year in the A3, we will also integrate the Virtual Cockpit," Hudi told C/D. Now, don't go thinking you'll be able to pick up a basic A3 and be able to enjoy the new instrument cluster, like you can on the TT and R8. This is going to be an up-market option, just like it is on the new Q7. "If they choose a higher engine or a higher, well-equipped car then they will choose it – no doubt. The price reduces very fast with more people using it and the Virtual Cockpit is an Audi signature now." Related Video:

Audi execs mulling turbocharged, entry-level R8

The just-launched, second-generation Audi R8 is apparently a pretty fantastic example of Vorsprung durch Technik. While it's sublime to drive, Audi might already be missing some potential sales due to the lack of an true entry-level version in the supercar's lineup. Lending further credence to an earlier rumor about just such a model, company execs are saying to expect an entry-level, turbocharged R8 to launch in the coming years. "It is inevitable that we will go to a turbocharged motor for it at some point," Audi technical development board member Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg said to Motoring. "It would be in this model cycle, to give us a fuller range." The executive certainly isn't mincing words about forced induction, but the V10's position in the lineup is also secure. "It doesn't mean we are not going to do a turbo, but naturally aspirated is here to stay as well," he said. If Dr. Hackenberg's direct assertion isn't enough, Quattro GmbH chief Heinz Peter Hollerweger further clarified to Motoring that the turbocharged engine would slot into the bottom of the R8's range. An unnamed "senior sales and marketing source" within the Audi also said that the company's turbo five-cylinder was among the currently favored choices for the application. The first rumors about the R8 getting a forced induction version arose just a few months ago. At the time, Audi's electrically turbocharged, 2.5-liter inline five-cylinder was considered an option. The model would solve a problem in markets, like China, that severely tax big displacement engines. Customers might not even need to worry about giving up too much performance either. In the Audi TT Clubsport Turbo concept, the powerplant has a total output of 600 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. While 10 fewer ponies than the latest R8 V10 Plus, it would bring 66 lb-ft more twist to the supercar.