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Audi planning A9 electric vehicle to challenge Tesla

It looks like we have another "Tesla Fighter" on our hands. Various higher-end automakers have announced plug-in luxury sports sedans that would likely take on the California-based electric-vehicle maker, and Audi now appears to have joined that group. The badge is A9, and it may be available to the public by the end of the decade, UK's Autocar reports. The Audi A9 E-Tron could be a beast. The car will deliver 429 horsepower via three electric motors – two driving the front wheels, one driving the rear. The sedan will be equipped with a 95-kilowatt-hour battery that will enable a 310-mile single-charge range (on the more generous European driving cycle). Lots of parts and features will be shared with the battery-electric SUV Audi is also planning. Where it really gets fun is the prospect of the sedan having "torque vectoring," in which power can be shifted from side to side in order to boost handling. Additionally, the car could have a wireless, inductive charging option as well as an auto-parking feature for positioning over the floor-mounted charging module. No word on how this car will be priced, but we're guessing quite high. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has gone on record saying that the German automaker wants to have three all-electric models available to the public by 2020, though hasn't said anything specific about a high-end battery-electric sedan that would be geared to take on the Tesla Model S. The company did introduce its E-tron Quattro concept last year, though, and Audi has said it aims to have as much as 25 percent of its sales be of the plug-in variety by 2025. There's a chance for that if the A9 e-tron is as enticing as it appears to be. Related Video:

Audi RS Q3 gets snarlier, hits 62 mph in 4.8 seconds [w/video]

Well, that was quick. A mere 20 months after its debut at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show, Audi has issued a fairly significant update to its RS Q3 crossover. A light exterior refresh - the most noticeable change is that the grille surround and headlights are now joined - belies more significant changes under the compact crossover's hood.
Power from the 2.5-liter, turbocharged five-cylinder has been boosted nicely from 310 horsepower to 340, while torque has jumped from 309 pound-feet to 332 lb-ft. The result of this extra thrust is that the tiny CUV can now scamper to 62 miles per hour in a seriously quick 4.8 seconds, rather than the original RS Q3's 5.5-second sprint. A new fifth-generation multi-plate clutch is fitted to the seven-speed S-tronic dual-clutch transmission, which Audi claims will now deliver even quicker shifts.
Lighter brake rotors with ridiculous eight-piston calipers in the front provide what we imagine is a lot of stopping power, while Audi continues to offer an optional adaptive damper system. 19-inch wheels are standard while 20s are optional.

Felix Baumgartner parachutes into racing at N?rburgring 24

There are plenty of commonalities to be found between astronauts and racing drivers. Both are daredevils by definition (if not by trade), both subject themselves to unfathomable G forces and both face very real risks when strapped into machinery that makes the very best use of advanced propulsion, aerodynamics and composite construction technologies. Yet you don't find much crossover between the two. There was talk of Niki Lauda, himself an experienced pilot, training to go into space with Virgin Galactic (which itself was sister to an F1 team for a while in Richard Branson's empire), but that didn't seem to materialize. Now we're receiving news that Felix Baumgartner will contest the Nürburgring 24 Hours this year.
Felix Whomgartner, you ask? Felix Baumgartner. He's more of a skydiver than an astronaut, but he made history in 2012 when he jumped out of a space capsule and set the record for the highest altitude in a manned balloon, the parachute jump from the highest altitude, and the highest velocity freefall as part of the Red Bull Stratos initiative. In other words, he may as well be an astronaut, because he fell down to the earth's surface from the stratosphere.
For his next challenge, Baumgartner will be climbing into an Audi R8 LMS Ultra in an attempt to tackle the Nürburgring. Having contested a handful of spec races under the VW Group umbrella, he'll undertake several test sessions and practice races before the main event in June, in which he'll alternate behind the wheel with professional racing drivers Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Pierre Kaffer. The initiative is part of the Audi race experience program that allows gentleman racers to team up with seasoned pros to take part in real races. Baumgartner will undoubtedly prove its highest-profile participant.