Gentlemen and scholars. The following is a painstaking comparison of two cars for your pleasure. I chose the TT because it is by now very familiar to all of us. Particularly to me, for I had the pleasure of owning one for over three years, a 225 QC. This will give you an idea of what the R8 will look like when you are standing next to it. How it will feel will be a completely different issue.

Caveats. The height may be different on the R8 than that on the concept because of production ground clearance issues. Otherwise, I expect the dimensions to be practically the same as the Le Mans.

Disclosure. I smoked four cafe creme Noirs whilst comparing three sources of data on each of both models (each of which included an official Audi press release) in order to present to you as accurately as possible.

I also had a scotch.

FYI: The wheelbase of the Le Mans is 3.9 inches longer than the Gallardo's. The width is the same.

TT 225 QC / Le Mans

Length: 159.1 inches / 170.4 inches

Width: 73.1 inches / 74.1 inches

Height: 53 inches / 48.8 inches

Wheelbase: 95.6 inches / 104.3 inches

Weight: 3,208 lbs / 3,372 lbs

BTW: the tires on the Le Mans were 255-30-20 (f) and 295-30-20 (r).

The Le Mans is equipped with a Torsen C inter-axle differential, Rick. I thought you might want to know. I could not find any data on the Le Mans' front and rear track in order to address the staggering issue you posted about regarding the type of differential. Though Torsen seems to be the answer. Furthermore, in studying pics of the Le Mans it appears that the same staggering is present as that which we can see in the R8 test mules.

Weight. This is for you Damien. The Le Mans is made from aluminum or plastic/carbon-fiber reinforced body panels. There are no pure carbon fiber panels on the car, unlike the front fenders of the Z06. To me this means that the R8 is more likely to be made of practically the same materials as the concept. If this is the case, a V8 powered car would weigh in at close to the Le Mans weight since the weight savings of the V8 would be offset by mandated regulated crap such as reinforced bumpers, other federal regulations, and blah, blah, blah....

PS- did you notice that I actually capitalized this time?

Cheers to all of you.

RXBG

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/1145/r81.jpg">

that the last part of the writeup scared me when you stated, "mandated regulated crap such as reinforced bumpers, other federal regulations". I hope to God that the Euro and US productions model stay very much alike. (You all know what I mean. Look at what happened with the RS4). Damn regulations.

very different situation for the RS4.

on the other hand. i definitely do not mind the car being heavier if audi decides to reinforce it with steel and uses no composites at all in order to make it solid.

i'll trade a few tenths of a second here or there for the higher probability of walking away from a crash (see the widely covered "TT nailed by truck" incident).

i am a one car kind of guy. by choice. and i plan to drive the **** out of my car while i own it. to work. to the track. to the beach. to the store....it's just too bad i don't have some of RS4-2007's winter activities down here. so, solidity is crucial for a guy like me. it's what a car should be about. not disposability.

ON THE GIRL IN YOUR SIG!!!!!!!!!! I feel to be petrified in my groin! 8^D

Rick

a bit of saftey for outright performance. Even though I strongly take saftey into consideration, I will purchase the R8 in the mindset of buying a supercar. I acknowledge your opinion on solidity and I agree, however I would love to see the R8 come stateside with the same consideration as to the Euro version.

BTW im pretty drunk right now. Night out with the boys at the bar :)

price has not been set. expect that option to be in the 10-15K range. she is lightweight and does not affect the car's handling. about 115 lbs.

Your analysis is interesting. The girl is hot!!
RS4 purchased.... waiting for the V10 coupe, and in no particular rush :-)