Why the Audi RS8 Burned

 Why the Audi RS8 Burned
Audi RS8 test mule burned to a crisp / copyright Lehmann Photo-Syndication

New V10 in the works

New V10 in the works

Back in July we pointed a blaming finger at an oil or gasoline leak, but now we know the true cause of the pictured blasphemy. quattro boss Werner Frowein spoke with Swedish journalists and revealed that the now famous burnt Audi R8 on the 'Ring was indeed a RS8 test mule. The test mule was equipped with the RS6 Avant twin-turbo V10 delivering 580 hp, but in the mid-engine set-up it also caused the Audi RS8 to catch fire due to the produced heat. To make matters worse, three test mules went up in flames in this manner.

Werner Frowein: “The 580 hp strong V10 will not be making it into the RS8, we are currently working on a ten-cylinder with just over 500 hp.” He also mentions that the RS models will start production earlier into the models life-cycle, as we mentioned earlier this week.

Other news is that Audi is developing an Audi TT RS with a new 5-cylinder 2.3 liter engine, producing 310 hp and is meant to take on the likes of the BMW Z4 M Coupe.

Furthermore, Nieuws.nl mentions that the Audi RS4 should not be too far off, which confuses us at the WCF newsroom since Audi tends to only produce one RS model at a time and the RS6 Avant just went into production. The RS4 should be powered by a V8 or bi-turbo V6 and compete with the Mercedes C63 AMG and BMW M3, but mr Frowein let nothing slip on the subject.

Source: Nieuws.nl via autoblog

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 Aesthetics Aesthetics
The RS8 would be very close in comparision to a gallardo won't it.
November 28, 2007 9:17 am
 pscs pscs
ach no, they should've worked on the ventilation system to get air in/out quicker. well, 80 hp = 60kW, not so much power lost. perhaps the weight of the turbos being left out could compensate for that :P
November 28, 2007 10:10 am
 asif asif
yeah but it was made famous forever by the goofy mercedes. youre scraping the barrel dude....
November 28, 2007 10:19 am
 skychao skychao
hey guys calm down, just cause there was a public problem with one car doesnt mean there isnt problems with every single other car in the developing phase. im sure the production vehicle will have all this fixed and will run like a dream.
November 28, 2007 10:39 am
 radmeister radmeister
If im not mistaken the enzo lit up too durring testing, back when it was known as the F-60 cuz Mr. Enzo Ferrari was still alive.
November 28, 2007 11:16 am
 xmas xmas
Enzo died in 88. It's last production, if I remember, was the F40. The F40 was lunched for the 40th aniversary of Ferrari. The F50 was released 2 years before the 50th anniversary and so the F60 for the 60th. But they lunched the F60 to earlier (2002 instead of 2007 for 60 years), so they decided to name it the Enzo. I may be wrong tho..
November 28, 2007 2:31 pm
 carfan519 carfan519
500hp is only 80 more hp than a regular r8. its more like an S model rather than RS.
November 29, 2007 12:07 am
 w0tan w0tan
The RS8 actually is a R8 S-Model, otherwise they????d call it RRS8 ;)
November 30, 2007 5:18 am