Audi has launched its flagship sports car, the Audi R8, and which also brought the automaker to rival against the likes of Bentley, Porsche, and Ferrari. Thus, in order to stand out amongst the competition, the Audi R8 had gone through customization under the guidance of the Swabian, German tuners PPI Automotive Design GmbH. This company decided on customizing the Audi’s flagship sports car. It has provided the Audi R8 with improved driving dynamics and vehicle performance and also clothed the sports car in an enhanced look. What the company put in was a wind tunnel-tested aerodynamic kit of carbon fiber combined with an enhancement in performance. The Audi R8 has also been given a special lightweight magnesium wheels in 19-inch dimensions which makes the Audi have an improved appearance on both race track or as one of the elite sports cars.

The Audi R8 now sports a more optimized performance for better resilience and also provides drivers with increased driving pleasure through the kits that have been installed in the sports car. The stage 1 kit has provided the sports car an increased horsepower and torque – from 420 horsepower it has now become 460 horsepower; and from 317 pound-feet of torque the Audi R8 has now 343 pound-feet torque. PPI designed a performance kit which the company also used on the Audi R8. this performance kit contains durable components such as corrosion-resistant stainless steel sport rear muffler with throttle system. A sport air filter has also been installed, providing the Audi sports car with extra breathing abilities. With all these installed in the R8, the sports car could only be more fun to drive as it is now capable of a top speed of 305km/h and acceleration speed from 0-100 km/h in only 4.4 seconds.

PPI’s plan for the Audi R8 is just to improve the sports car while retaining the standard series design. The company decided on developing aerdoynamics of the sports car and so decided on aerodynamic materials made of carbon fiber. This is because carbon fiber decreases the vehicle’s general weight but at the same time increases its sturdiness, thus it is usually used in motor sports. Carbon fiber has already been applied in the Audi base model so PPI just took a further step in using the carbon fiber with the highest quality as the main material for the entire car body. Furthermore, the aerodynamics of PPI has a lift reducing front lip spoiler, an aggressive air dam designed to channel air to the front brakes and cut through the air. PPI also designed front bumper air intake “cartridges” which were created for OEM fitting. It was designed to enhance the air ventilation of the radiator in front and has a different air passageway for the brake cooling. Its side appearance has also been enhanced with the installation of the side blades in carbon fiber matte finish. An adjustable rear wing spoiler has been installed, thus downforce  is increased on the rear axle and provided the R8 with an enhanced elegant but sporty appearance.

The 19-inch wheel lightweight magnesium wheels are the new PPI wheels design. These wheels fuse sporty elegance to high technical demands. The wheels have nine spokes and their rims are of carbon fiber. The dimensionsof the PPI MAG9 wheels are 9×19 front and 11×19 rear.

The interior of the Audi R8 has also been given attention by PPI in order to complete the look of sporty elegance. The handbrake, middle instrument panel, and door entry threshold plates are in carbon fiber.

For more information, visit Autoblog

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Audi News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.