The DTM is one of the most exciting racing championships in the world, staring the best german-made cars and the title of Safety Car in such a prestigious championship is an honor to a car. After coming back from the legendary LeMans 24 hour race, the Audi R8 won’t have much time to breathe, as it was chosen the official Safety Car for the DTM. Also, another R8 will be the racing taxi for this championship.

Audi themselves highlighted the DTM’s choice for their supercar, by saying that the modifications implied by being a Safety Car were minimal because their mid-engined model is already a great sports car. The R8 will make its debut at the Norisring Speed Weekend.
Read More: "The new DTM Safety Car is the Audi R8"

In its January issue, Auto Motor und Sport presents a rendering of an Audi R8 study, with V12 TDI diesel powered engine. According to the German magazine, the R8 diesel will be presented at the Detroit Auto Show and, depending on the feedback, Audi will make a final decision if they’ll produce the model.

Audi’s V12 TDI engine (which was pretty impressive on the R10 race car and it will be used on the Q7 V12 TDI) develops 500 hp with 1,000 Nm of torque, and takes the R8 from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 4.2 seconds, while the top speed is over 185 mph (300 km/h), all this with a fuel consumption of 10 l/100 km (24 mpg).

We’ll post more details on the Audi R8 V12 TDI once it’s made available, at the Detroit Auto Show, so stay tuned.

Read More: "Detroit Preview: Audi to present V12 TDI diesel powered R8"

Someone over at Audi will definitely have his ass kicked, because here’s what hit the net these days. It’s Audi’s product launch schedule until 2012. We have some highly anticipated cars on the list, like the A5/S5 Cabrio, R8 Targo, Q3 or the A7, plus the exact launch dates for each one. Here’s the complete list, including the Audi plants where each model will be built:

* September 2007: B8 A4 - Ingolstadt (Germany), Changchun (China), Vogosca (Bosnia)
* September 2007: C6 RS6 - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* January 2008: A3 Cabrio - Gyor (Hungary)
* March 2008: B8 A4 Avant - Ingolstadt (Germany), Changchun (China)
* June 2008: A3 Facelift - Brussels (Belgium), Ingolstadt (Germany)
* July 2008: Q5 - Ingolstadt (Germany), Changchun (China)
* August 2008: TT-S - Gyor (Hungary)
* September 2008: R8 V10 - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* December 2008: Q7 Hybrid - Bratislava (Slovakia)
* January 2009: A5 Cabrio - Ingolstadt (Germany)
* February 2009: RS5 - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* March 2009: R8 Targa - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* June 2009: A7 Coupe - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* July 2009: Q3 - Unknown, Changchun (China)
* August 2009: TT-RS - Gyor (Hungary)
* September 2009: A5 Sportback - Ingolstadt (Germany)
* December 2009: A1 - Brussels (Belgium)
* February 2010: Q5 Hybrid - Ingolstadt (Germany), Changchun (China)
* June 2010: New D4 A8 - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* October 2010: New A3 - Brussels (Belgium), Ingolstadt (Germany)
* January 2011: A7 Cabrio - Neckarsulm (Germany)
* January 2011: New C7 A6 - Neckarsulm (Germany), Changchun (China), Vogosca (Bosnia)
* May 2011: C7 A6 Avant - Neckarsulm (Germany), Changchun (China)
* June 2011: R4 - Unknown
* October 2011: A1 Cabrio - Brussels (Belgium)
* January 2012: A4 Facelift - Ingolstadt (Germany), Changchun (China)

You can see the leaked document after the jump.

Read More: "Leaked: Audi’s 5 years product launch schedule"

In the past, we’ve showed you a couple of other Audi R8 accidents (it seems like this car was made to be crashed). But, if in the other crashes case we felt really sorry only for the car, this time, things went really bad for the driver also. Because the 27 yo German guy who owned this R8 and crashed it on a highway in Germany didn’t make it alive.

According to police reports, the driver was speeding in heavy rain, lost control of the car and smashed it into the guard rail. The young man wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and the paramedics couldn’t do anything for him; he was pronounced dead at the scene. I feel really bad for him and his family and I think this should really make other supercar owners think twice before pushing the gas pedal a little more than they should. I mean, I understand, the sensation is unique, but is this really worth your life? What do you think? Please drop a comment here.
Read More: "27 year old German dies in Audi R8 crash"

With the Audi R8 being such a great car and having a big success, it was impossible for Audi not to release a Spider version. We posted something similar some time ago, about a possible Audi R8 Spider. Even though these are only speculation and no official confirmation from Audi, here are some renderings found on Autogespot of how a convertible R8 could look like. Probably what we would’ve expected, but still, its nice to see it done. Also, stay tuned, because, even though I seriously doubt it, rumors say this will be introduced at this week’s LA Auto Show.

See more photos after the jump.
Read More: "Audi R8 Spider renderings"

Even though this bodykit for the Audi TT looks very cool, making the coupe look a lot like the R8 supercar, I really don’t see the point in this. I mean, who would do this? Ok, I don’t have enough money to get an R8, but the last thing I would want is people knowing that. I don’t know, it’s like buying a regular Lancer (as Jeremy Clarkson once wrote: everyone will know you wanted the Evo, but couldn’t afford it). The same here.

But, anyway, that’s just my 2 cents. The bodykit was created by tuning company Niche and it features R8 inspired bodykit, lowered suspension, alloy rims and new exhaust tips, all that at £8,800 ($18,500 or €12,600). More photos after the jump.
Read More: "Audi TT gets R8-ified by Niche"

Frankly, I like how Audi named this campaign, “Slowest car we’ve ever built”, but I was expecting something different. A lot different. I mean, is it me, or this video doesn’t make any sense? Yeah, it’s a cool piece of engineering, but c’mon, show it. A similar video we’ve presented yesterday, of the upcoming Porsche 911 GT2 looks about the same, with the car being presented in the factory, but that’s more impressive. So, what do you think?

Even though it left a very good impression at launch, it seems that the Audi R8 is destined to be surrounded by bad publicity. After we’ve showed you the R8 in some pretty embarrassing situations (in flames or pulling out trees), here’s a new one. With only 12 cars delivered in the US, two of them were or are for sale on eBay. The first one with a starting bid at $160,000 and another one with a $241,000 starting price.

This wasn’t so pleasant for Audi, as Johan de Nysschen, Audi of America’s executive vice president said: “It annoys me and embarrasses me. You can imagine the comments I’ll hear tomorrow from Germany”. Currently there’s one for sale, with a starting bid $174,999 and a ‘But It Now’ option starting at $184,999. And it has only 206 miles. Check the auction here.
Read More: "Audi R8 shows up on eBay, Audi of America not happy"

Ha ha ha! I have to admit, this is some funny stuff. We presented a few days ago an ad for Audi, in which they mocked BMW. Of course, we don’t know if it was official or not, I think not, but it doesn’t matter. Anyway, some of our readers, BMW fans, were pretty upset, but now we have this photo for them. Photoshopped by the guys at Carscoop, it shows what happens when you do have Quattro. The crashed Audi R8 shown in the photo was presented by us last week, read about it here.
Read More: "Re: This is what happens if you have Quattro"

Ok, I think we should start a campaign against Audi R8 cruelty. After some time ago we presented photos of a burnt Audi R8 in Germany, this time we have this Russian dude who, with no respects for his very beautiful and expensive car drove it into a tree. As we see in the photos, the probable cause was rain, but still, c’mon dude, look out more for your car. View more photos after the jump.
Read More: "Another Audi R8 is destroyed, this time in Russia"

You all know the R8 super car from Audi, but I bet you didn’t imagine this. Here is what’s left of a beautiful Audi R8 after it burst into flames on a street in Germany. While it seems there were some reports of several R8s that burned while in development, this is a production model. It seems that fuel spillage is what caused this, but on R8talk forums there are also some other speculations.

Whatever the reason, I think this affects Audi image pretty bad, because I find this unacceptable to a serious producer like Audi, especially on a super car, which is supposed to be at the highest level of engineering. View more photos after the jump.
Read More: "Creepy! Audi R8 burns on a street in Germany"

It seems so. We noticed that it’s becoming a habit for super cars to get cabrio versions. After Mercedes SLR Convertible or the Bugatti Veyron Cabrio, word on the street is that Audi is also preparing a hot cabrio version of the recently launched Audi R8.

We have no official info from Audi, but an official rendering of the R8 Spider leaked. We can see that the Audi designers chose a removable targa roof (no folding hardtop or fabric roof). Other changes of the R8 Spider include the two vented bumps behind each seat feeding cold air to the engine and the aluminum side blades.

Though Audi plans to begin sales of the R8 Spider in 2009 with the same 4.2L V8 packing 420hp, due to safety modification, we expect the top speed to be lower than the coupe’s 300km/h (186 mph). Read More: "Audi preparing a convertible R8?"

These tuner guys are maniacs. Some of us still haven’t seen some of the cars on the street or in a showroom and tuned up version are launched. However, the latest example, the recently launched Audi R8 is special. Why is that? Well, this new version, modified by Abt Sportsline has all chances to become a super car. Again, you might ask why? Because the Abt R8 will have a distinctive body kit, parts of which are fashioned from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, aggressive bumpers, new hood, widened air ducts behind the doors, a prominent fixed spoiler at the rear, and towering 20-inch wheels in Abt’s signature five-spoke design.

Enough? You might say yes…we did. But nooo, Abt said the standard 4.2-liter V8 engine 420 hp engine is not good enough, they supercharged it and they claim it will deliver 530 hp, take the car from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and to a top speed of 317 km/h. That’s something. Read More: "530HP Audi R8 by Abt Sportsline"

Audi announced the US pricing for its super car, the R8, which is set to be released this fall. The six-speed manual transmission version will have a suggested retail price of $109,000 and the six-speed R tronic automatic gearbox will start at $118,000. So what are you waiting for, start saving! Read More: "$109,000 for the upcoming Audi R8"