HIGH ROAD
German Con Brio
Audi squeezes a Lamborghini V-10 into the engine bay of its R8 supercar. The result? Magnifico.
BY HOWARD WALKER
Think of it in loose terms as a mixing of a little Gewürztraminer and Asti Spumante.
Audi’s latest iteration of its sensational R8 supercar—the new R8 V10 5.2 FSI Quattro—is the best of both.
It’s what happens when you take an R8—one of the most gorgeous creations to roll on four wheels—and swap its Audi-built V-8 with a hot-tempered Lamborghini V-10 spark-ignition engine that is similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo V-10 engine. Bellissimo!
Why would Audi do that? Because they can. You see, the burgeoning Audi AG owns Lamborghini. So, in exceedingly oversimplified terms, it was just a matter of Fritz calling up Luigi, ordering up a batch of V-10s from the Lamborghini parts store, and modifying them to fit.
It’s not as if the R8 was in desperate need of an injection of increased power. Its standard 4.2-liter V-8 has at its disposal a corral of 420 thoroughbred horses that can thrust the aluminum-bodied R8 toward the horizon with the urgency of the starship Enterprise going into warp speed. 
But for those select few sports car aficionados who live by the mantra that too much power is never quite enough, the 525 horsepower from the Lamborghini V-10 is just what the good doctor ordered.
And it’s an absolutely intoxicating combo. Whereas the V-8 is all big biceps and aural muscle, the V-10 screams to an insane 8,700 rpm redline, hitting the high notes like Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma.
For the stopwatch clickers, those extra 105 horses and two additional cylinders mean the difference between hurtling from standstill to 60 mph in a breathtaking 3.7 seconds, instead of a slightly less breathtaking 4.4 seconds.
