For reasons I can’t quite explain, Audi’s R8 supercar has always seemed a little on the lame side for my tastes. I don’t know if it’s the boring styling or the slower-than-a-Boxster 4.2-liter V8 version that turned me off first, but the halo of the four-rings lineup has never done anything for me. I’m sure many people will argue with me in the comments, but R8s are the safe choice. Be exciting with your car choices, millionaires. Jeez.
All of that said, if you’re going to have an R8, the best way to make it cool is to ditch the engine in the back, pop in a 2.0T with a giant Garrett turbo, and make 650 horsepower in the process. Not only is that more than the V10 version ever made for the street, but this particular hillclimb-prepped race car is so stripped down that it weighs about 1400 pounds less than stock. Fourteen hundred pounds!
This machine is Keith Murray’s racer, seen in the video below running the famous Osnabruck Bergrennen back in 2019. It hasn’t been seen since then, so hopefully it comes out of retirement in an even more fire-spitting fashion than seen here.
The engine powering this monster machine is a Dialynx Performance-built 2.0 ALT aluminum bottom end with a 16v cylinder head from a ABF-engined Mk3 Volkswagen Golf. Tack on a giant turbocharger and you’re pumping out 650 horses and around 400 lb-ft of torque at over 30 psi of boost. I would much rather have a big power four cylinder than an expensive and fragile V10 any day of the week. This Audi R8 is the kind of thing that actually inspires me to try to find one with a wrecked motor and build for myself. The 2.0T is a pretty special little motor, honestly.
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