The Audi R8 has offered tuners a near-perfect canvas to work their dark arts, with a pleasing shape that can take a little tweaking, but not too much. German tunerhaus Anderson's Hyper Black R8 V-10 is more dark than art.
The under-hood modifications are a model of restraint, limited to just freer exhaust, new air filters and a software chip that together boosts power to 589 hp. The tires jump up to 19-inchers, and those exhaust changes also shave more than 40 pounds from the already lightweight R8.
But inside, the restraint ends in a mash of carbon fiber, some orange accents and more suede than the 1978 annual meeting of the Flint, Mich., custom van society. Anderson sums up its changes by saying "this all-aluminum flounder is practically sticking on the street." OK, so they're carbuilders, not translators.