Here's the thing about the Audi R8 V8 and a manual transmission it is a testament to the breed; It's fast, gorgeous, makes beautiful music, it's easy to handle and it's as easy to drive as an old Ford Escort. When equipped with the R-Tronic transmission though, it's merely magnificent when you're driving fast. However, when you're puttering around town, it's an utterly tragic, annoying, searching, shuddering mess.

Like the V8, the V10 is simultaneously gorgeous and sinister. The intakes under the headlights have a reduced numbers of fins and the entire grille treatment wears a black finish, the chin is slightly tweaked, the sideblades have bigger intakes, new wheels and at the rear the twin exhaust tips are replaced with single oval outlets. Everywhere you go it's thumbs up and long drawn out stares leading to the inevitable lane corrections. In the R8, you have to drive more defensively than normal just to avoid the staring masses.

At 525 HP, the new 5.2-liter V10 makes a little more than 100 HP/L and with 399 Lb-Ft, it's a little down on torque against competitors, but as soon as you floor the throttle, that concern disappears. It accelerates to 60 MPH in 3.9 seconds and pulls like a mule well into the triple digits. Going fast in a super car is easy, it's the quality of the car that makes it so much more satisfying. The "snick, snick, snick" of the aluminum gated shifter, the neurotically perfect feel of the clutch, a steering weight heavy and confidence inspiring. With the suspension set in regular mode, the car happily soaks up road imperfections, while in sport mode the whole thing tightens up, gets even more communicative, and gives you that masochistic punishment supercars are known and loved for.

However, you can't be a lazy driver when on the road with the R8 V10. If you want to go fast, you have to row the shifter. Cruising along at 70MPH in top gear, the R8 will accelerate strongly if you floor the throttle, but drop it down two cogs and it'll explode in a chorus of V10 serenaded acceleration. Acceleration like this can't possibly be legally contained to public streets, luckily, we had the chance to drive it at Infineon.

Infineon is built on natural terrain at the edge of a valley, utilizing the dramatic elevation changes afforded by the foot of a mountain. Its fast, banked, bumpy in places and technically demanding. Some of the corners here are downright dangerous (cresting a hill over a blind corner off camber with a wall bearing down on the track anyone?). That said, here's one of our runs in the R8 V10, time we'd like to call 12 minutes in heaven:

Click to play

It's very possible to run the whole track in one-gear in a car with this much power by just leaving it in third. The 8700 RPM redline with no lack of power all the way to the top makes it almost too easy. To get things really going you'll need to be down into second and up into fourth on the front straight. The car is extremely communicative at the limit of adhesion, the stability control system does an excellent job of independently grabbing brakes at different corners to limit understeer. A driver can take a terrible line and the car will make it faster, but take the right line and it stays out of your business and you're even faster. It's a magnificent handler with the crushing acceleration and powerful brakes to back that cornering ability up.

A few laps in, you start to feel the track as much as the car. The physical effort of driving the car becomes the effort of driving the track and you start internally competing. Better, tighter line than the last pass, smoother clutch engagement, later, harder braking. The R8 draws you into the addiction of speed. You forget how much it costs, and it's probably good the handlers at Audi limited our track time.

We'd be shocked if this was not the case, for the manual. But what of the R-Tronic manumatic which made the R8 V8 a tarnished star? Good news, in the V10 version, R-Tronic has been perfected. Even in full auto mode, the transmission makes snap decisions and executes them quickly, driving through heavy traffic is no more a chore than in a normal auto and it's completely unintrusive. Put it into manual control mode and the sport setting and it's utterly awe-inspiring. Shifting with the paddles is lightning quick and you can knock out upshifts and downshifts like an F1 driver. The car feels even faster with the automatic. If manual transmissions die as a result of transmissions like this, we'll only be a little heartbroken, because the V10 mated to the R-Tronic is a seriously good combination. The car that passed me in the video... it was an R-Tronic.

Complaining about the somewhat disappointing spec sheet numbers - conventional wisdom states that 420 HP and 317 Lb-Ft isn't enough in a $114,200 car - is to fail to understand the beauty of the base R8. But it's that complaining which has resulted in this V10 version. The base R8 is about control, not power. It's a scalpel to other supercars' sledgehammers. It asks its drivers to make the most of the sublime chassis to achieve a truly rapid pace, then gives them the feel and response to do just that. In some ways its the anti-supercar. Its subtle looks aren't meant to be the stuff of adolescent posters. Its numbers aren't meant to be the stuff of barstool bragging. That identity means it appeals more to people who wouldn't traditionally buy supercars.

What the V10 does is add an "11" to the R8's volume knob. Does that make it more awesome? Of course it does. But the R8 was always about defying that word. It was about requiring its buyers to view the car as a whole rather than an exclamation point. The V10 brings the R8 into direct competition with cars like the Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo and Porsche 911 Turbo. Like those cars, it's impressively fast, but in being like them it's somehow lost some of what made it so different.

In fact, the modifications required to bump output on Audi's 5.2 liter V10 are a new exhaust system and a bit of reprogramming. Of course there's also a new set of wheels in the deal, a body kit and some carbon fiber pieces, but really it's all about looking sinister and going fast — just what Anakin's coke dealer would need. More details in the gallery ahead.

ABT Sportsline 2009 – press release CW 35
Ten cylinders. 600 HP. The Abt R8 5.2 FSI

These figures make the hearts of sports car drivers beat faster: 600 HP (441 kW),
acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds, top speed of 322 km/h. The car to which
these impressive performance figures belong is the ABT R8 5.2 FSI. Its V10 engine draws
plenty of power from its large 5,204 cubic centimetre capacity – all the more if ABT POWER
gives it an extra boost. 75 extra HP or 55 more kW provides a powerful trust at all speeds as
well as increasing the torque.

The fact that the medium-engine super sports car becomes a winner on any track is not just
due to its excellent performance characteristics, but also the perfectly coordinated bodywork
package. It has been designed by the DTM crew of ABT Sportsline according to the latest
motorsport knowledge, including the use of high-end carbon materials. The focus was above
all on the optimum distribution of weight and a systematic light-weight construction. "The 600
HP is not just intended to exist on paper, but also be available on the road", says Christian
Abt. At the same time the ABT R8 thereby looks extremely dynamic. The front spoiler, side
sills and rear apron outline the bodywork and give it a more powerful presence even when at
a standstill. They form one unit with the distinctive rear wing and the typical ABT 4-pipe
exhaust system.

The super sports car is presented on BR-type 20-inch wheels which suit the classic design.
The ABT R8 5.2 FSI is a design milestone and is of course very, very fast. This is because
the 600 ABT horsepower contain, what the dynamic design of the car promises.

The new ABT R8 5.2 FSI – data and facts

ABT ENGINE TECHNOLOGY

Engine: 5.2 FSI, V10, 5.204 ccm capacity
Performance tuning: ABT POWER
Performance: 600 HP/441 kW (standard: 525 HP/386 kW)

ABT AERODYNAMICS
ABT front grille
ABT front skirt
ABT side skirts
ABT rear skirt
ABT rear wing

ABT WHEEL TECHNOLOGY
ABT AR and BR; 20 inch; diamond-cut or high-gloss polished
Available also as complete set of wheels with high performance tyres

ABT EXHAUST TECHNOLOGY
ABT rear skirt set, consisting of the ABT rear skirt and the ABT rear pipes

Just listen to the wail coming from the Audi R8 V10's 5.2 liter FSI V10 as it pumps out 525 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque. If this doesn't make your day better, then what the heck will? Audi released 23 new images to go along with the driving clips and really helps to make this updated R8 one of our favorites.
[via youtube]

Suspension upgrades come in the form of magnetic ride control aimed at improving both ride and at the limit grip. It rides on new 19-inch ’10-spoke Y design’ wheels hiding 14.9 inch brakes up front 14.0 inches at the rear. The styling gets tweaked with a modified sideblades with bigger intakes in gloss clear finish over carbon fiber. The rear end gets a modified diffuser and oval exhaust tips, all designed to look pretty while it's leaving you in the dust.

NEW AUDI R8 V10 READY FOR THE ROAD (AND TRACK)

Acclaimed aluminium-bodied, mid-engined Audi sports car now available with both ten and eight cylinder power

* Second R8 model powered by 5.2-litre V10 FSI petrol engine scheduled to open for UK order in January 2009 for first deliveries next spring
* Available with manual gearbox at £99,575 OTR, or with R tronic sequential shift transmission at £104,665 OTR (R8 4.2 V8 £77,405 OTR and £82,495 OTR)
* 5,204cc V10 produces 525PS at 8,000rpm and 530Nm at 6,500rpm (R8 4.2 V8 420PS at 7,800rpm, 430Nm at 4,500rpm)
* 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds, top speed 196mph, combined mpg 20.6 (R8 4.2 V8 R tronic 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds, top speed 187mph, combined mpg 20.7)
* Combines classic mid-engine configuration with advanced all-aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF) construction and quattro permanent four-wheel-drive
* World’s first all-LED headlamps as standard, plus Audi magnetic ride adaptive damping and Bang & Olufsen audio system

Audi is sending shockwaves through the sports car establishment yet again with the new R8 V10, a ten-cylinder, 525PS, 196mph evolution of the quattro four-wheel-driven sports car that UK enthusiasts have taken to their hearts. The project that has been the subject of intense speculation since the 2006 launch of the V8-powered R8 is set to come to fruition in January when the new super car opens for UK order priced at £99,575 OTR in manual form, or £104,665 OTR equipped with the R tronic sequential shift transmission. First deliveries are expected next spring.

The new 5.2-litre FSI V10 petrol engine mounted longitudinally directly behind the cockpit is almost identical in construction to the unit powering the recently announced R8 LMS that will race at customer level in the GT3 class. It contributes only 31kg more to the overall weight of the all-aluminium-bodied R8 than the existing V8, taking it to 1,620kg, and making possible an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 324PS per ton.

Punching out its 525PS maximum at 8,000rpm, and peak torque of 530Nm at 6,500rpm, this exceptional and highly efficient direct injection unit rockets the R8 through the 62mph barrier in just 3.9 seconds as it revs freely to its 8,700rpm limit in each of its six ratios. When linked to the R tronic transmission it can reach 124mph in only 12 seconds, and in the right conditions can maintain its breathtaking momentum all the way to 196mph – an unprecedented high for a road-going Audi.

By mounting the ten-cylinder unit as close as possible to the centre of the R8, Audi engineers have achieved near perfect 44 per cent front / 56 per cent rear weight distribution for optimum handling balance. Dry sump engine lubrication – an element specifically derived from racing - also furthers this aim by enabling the V10 to be mounted as close to the road as possible to lower the centre of gravity.

Advanced Audi magnetic ride
This classic configuration, combined with advanced Audi Space Frame (ASF) construction mating lightweight aluminium panelling to an aluminium space frame, provides the very best operating conditions for the futuristic chassis with its agile double wishbone set-up and standard Audi magnetic ride adaptive damping system.

The Audi magnetic ride dampers swap conventional fluid for a magnetorheological solution containing minute magnetic particles that can be influenced by an electromagnetic field. By applying a voltage to the system’s electromagnets, the viscosity of the fluid is altered by the affected magnetic particles, increasing resistance to damper movement to iron out pitch and roll when necessary, and reducing resistance when ride comfort takes precedence. The system constantly monitors road conditions and driving style and reacts accordingly.

The striking 19-inch ’10-spoke Y design’ alloy wheels naturally contend with the V10’s formidable output with the help of the legendary quattro permanent four-wheel-drive system, which apportions power to front and rear axles in constantly varying degrees dictated by road conditions. Ventilated and perforated 380 millimetre front and 356 millimetre rear disc brakes, which at extra cost can be upgraded to virtually fade-free ceramic discs, also help to instil complete confidence. As a whole, the configuration, which also includes a super precise gear shift and fast-reacting, communicative steering, has already been lavished with exceptional praise by critics the world over in the V8-powered R8.

World’s first all-LED headlights
As a further safety enhancement feature that also adds a new dimension to the already much lauded styling of the R8, the V10 is equipped as standard with the world’s first all-LED headlamps. For the first time the high intensity diodes have been used for low beam and high beam settings, as well as for daytime running lights and indicators, intensifying the sports car’s visual drama.

The list of subtle embellishments to the taut, emotive body of the R8 V10 also includes a high gloss finish for the grille and front air intakes, more pronounced side sills, wider side cooling vents within the contrasting ‘sideblade’, high gloss rear air outlets, oval exhaust tailpipes and a new rear diffuser.

The everyday usability of the R8 has been as widely commended as its capacity to enthral drivers, and the V10 version will of course be no different. The much praised quality of the interior fixtures and the deceptive amount of space afforded by the generous 2.65-metre wheel base makes this one of the most easygoing super cars ever built, and the V10 with its extra equipment emphasizes this further. In the most powerful R8 to date electric adjustment and heating is added for the Fine Nappa leather-upholstered sports seats, and DVD satellite navigation and a CD changer playable through a 465-watt Bang & Olufsen audio system simplify and enhance day-to-day driving. An interior light package including LED footwell lighting, light and rain sensors and LED engine compartment lighting also comes as standard.

Audi’s starter for ten – The new 525PS, 196mph Audi R8 V10 joins the highly successful V8 model in the UK in the spring of 2009 priced from £99,575 OTR.

The internet's revealed the new V10 R8 a little bit earlier than we'd expected, but who cares? Nevermind being right before we were wrong, we're simply ecstatic to see the new up-powered R8 will receive a version of the Lamborghini 5.2-liter V10 to feed the most powerful production Audi ever built. The new R8 will get an estimated 528 bhp (552 HP), same as the bull-headed LP560-4 it’s borrowed from. It's also an iteration of the V10 power plant in the LMS GT3 racer and is sure to pack quite the punch in this application.

You can pick the R8 V10 out from the rest of the pack by new headlamps featuring LEDs for both the High and Low beams; less slats in the front and rear grilles; a new set of spider-spoke wheels; larger side blade intake; and a new more effective rear diffuser with large oval tail pipes. The interior will remain the same sans for some new V10 badging. We're still waiting for the Spyder to debut, but you can expect a similar feature set.

Expect to see the production Audi R8 V10 debut at the Detroit Auto Show in January.