Audi R8 e-tron Quietly Sets a New Nürburgring Record for Production EVs at 8:09 [w/Video]

For the time being, Toyota may hold the overall world record for electric vehicles at the Nürburgring Nordschleife with the road-legal EV P001 prototype at 7:47.794, but Audi claims to have earned the bragging rights for the fastest lap in a series production model with the R8 e-tron.

The soon-to-be launched electric-powered R8 completed the 20.8-kilometer (12.92-mile) long Nürburgring circuit in the hands of racing driver Markus Winkelhock in 8:09.099 minutes.

By comparison, German magazine Sport Auto has recorded a time of 7:44 with the R8 V10 in 2009 and 8:04 with the R8 V8 in 2007.

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Audi R8 Picks Up a Bad Habit from Ferrari and Lamborghini Supercars in Canada

An Audi R8 sports coupe breathed its last breath on Monday after it was engulfed in flames that burned down half the car, despite the efforts from firefighters at the scene of the blaze.

While we don't know what caused the fire, we did learn from the Toronto Star that the incident took place on the Gardiner Expressway in the Canadian province of Ontario and that fortunately, no one was injured.

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The Uninspiring Silence of an Audi R8 e-Tron vs The Screaming Sounds of a Pagani Zonda R at the 'Ring

Call us old fashion, but we believe that a sports car has to arouse all your senses with its acceleration, speed, handling, looks and of course, sounds.

The Audi R8 is by all means a sharp looking and handling automobile that will likely be fast even in e-tron guise, which is Audi talk for its pure-electric powertrain that uses two electric motors on each axle.

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Watch an Audi TT RS Allegedly go from Zero to Over 330km/h – 205mph

The kingpin of the Audi TT family is the RS model powered by a 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five engine, which is available in two states of tune from the factory, producing 335hp (340PS) and 450Nm (332 lb-ft) in the regular RS and 355hp (360PS) and 465Nm (342.97 lb-ft) in the RS Plus.

According to Audi, the standard TT RS Coupe hits 100km/h (62mph) after 4.6 seconds and reaches a limited top speed of 250km/h (155mph), while the TT RS Plus Coupe improves these figures to 4.1 seconds (DSG) and a restricted top speed of 280km/h (174mph).

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ABT Sportsline Boosts Audi S4 to 429-Horses

German tuning firm ABT Sportsline believes the facelifted Audi S4 needs a little bit of help in the performance and to a lesser extent, the styling departments and so it has come up with a new tuning package for the sports sedan, which it calls the AS4. Read more »

Your Weekly Dose of Moscow Unlimited 500+ Drag Races

There were plenty of interesting horsepower battles taking place at the Moscow Unlimited 500+ drag strip this past week, and they have all been filmed for your enjoyment.

The menu includes a Nissan GT-R Ecutek with 670hp racing a Porsche 911 Turbo Protomotive rated at 950hp, an Audi RS6 Sportmile with 770hp challenging an Audi RS6 5.0T Evotech with 750hp and a Mercedes-Benz duel with a stock 612hp S65 AMG pitted against a 680hp CLS63 AMG by PP-Perf.

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Racing One Builds a Weekend Track Racer Out of the Audi R8 V10

Not all tuning programs are aimed to make cars better on public roads. German tuning firm Racing One, for example, has prepared a host of upgrades for the Audi R8 V10 Coupe targeting those who want to use the mid-engined sports car mainly on the track.

Using its experience as a motorsports service provider and event organizer, Racing One made select tweaks to the R8's 5.2 liter V10 engine lifting output from 518hp (525PS) to 602hp (610PS).

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Scoop: Is Audi Preparing New S1 Quattro Sport Hatch?

When Audi presented an 182hp (185PS) version of its A1 premium supermini equipped with a slightly more powerful version of the VW Polo GTI's 1.4-liter TFSI engine back in 2010, we were wondering why the German automaker didn't use the S1 moniker.

One reason could have been that the automaker had not yet readied a quattro system for the A1, which came the following year with the announcement on a new Quattro model powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four with 253hp (256PS).

Aside from the significant power and price gap between the A1 1.4 TFSI and the A1 Quattro, the latter will be produced in a limited number of 333 examples, which means the brand with the four rings will eventually be left without a high performance supermini in its range.

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xXx Performance Slams Down and Ups the Ante on Audi R8 V10 to 641HP [Videos]

Obviously, no one expects subtlety from a tuning company named "xXx Performance" and with its latest creation based on the V10-powered version of the Audi R8 sports coupe, the German brand has set its sights directly on customers who really want to stand out from the crowd.

It all begins with the eye-popping lime green foil wrap contrasted by details in a black carbon fiber wrap including the side blades and mirrors. The Bochum, Germany based tuner also removed all Audi logos and painted the front grille and rear fascia in gloss black.

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New Audi SQ5 TDI Sounds Off its Bi-Turbocharged V6 Diesel on Film

Audi has shared with us two new videos of the SQ5 TDI, the first diesel-powered ‘S’ model in the history of the brand with the four rings.

Aside from a short trailer, we also have a longer video that shows the sporty crossover in action flexing its 308-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 TDI that drives all four wheels through an eight-speed tiptronic automatic transmission.

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Audi Dominates 24 Hours of Le Man Taking 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Spots with Diesel-Hybrid R18 e-tron

For the second consecutive year and 11th time in the last 13 years, Audi nabbed the chequered flag at the famed Le Mans 24 hours endurance race with drivers Marcel Fässler (CH), André Lotterer (D) and Benoît Tréluyer (F) behind the wheel of the R18 e-tron quattro.

Audi's win at the Sarthe circuit was of particular importance as it was a first for a diesel-hybrid car. In 2011, Audi had won the top spot with a diesel model.

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New Audi SQ5 TDI with 308HP is the First Ever S Model with a Diesel Engine

Audi has decided to accept BMW's challenge to present sporty models with diesel engines under the M Performance moniker by introducing its first ever "S" model powered by an oil-burner, the new SQ5 TDI.

The new top model of its recently revised Q5 model series sports a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 diesel delivering a frisky 308hp (313PS) and 650 Nm (479 lb-ft) of torque between 1,450 and 2,800 rpm.

An eight-speed tiptronic transmission and quattro permanent all-wheel drive with torque vectoring transfer the power to the road.

Audi claims that the SQ5 TDI can go from zero to 100 km/h (62mph) in 5.1 seconds and top out at 250 km/h (155mph), while returning an average fuel consumption of 7.2 lt/100 km (32.7 US mpg or 39.2 UK mpg).

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Fostla Works with MTM on 749hp Audi RS6 Avant

Doing what each does best, German aftermarket tuners Fostla and MTM have presented a fresh take on the Audi RS6 Avant, one of the world's fastest and most exclusive station wagon models.

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Audi Enhances A1 Lineup with Three New Amplified Special Editions

Audi is bringing three new special edition models of its A1 three-door and A1 Sportback five-door hatchbacks to the European market.

Named Amplified, the new A1s feature exclusive content from the carmaker's, quattro GmbH and Audi Genuine accessories parts list and are painted in Misano Red (amplified red) or Glacier White (amplified white).

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Ford's 1.0-liter EcoBoost Scoops 2012 International Engine of the Year Award

The big winner of the 2012 International Engine of the Year awards is Ford and it's 1.0-liter EcoBoost powerplant, which beat last year's winner, the Fiat 0.9-liter TwinAir, while also achieving the highest score ever with 401 points.

This is the first time that the Blue Oval has won International Engine of the Year in the 13-year history of the awards. And that's not all as the Detroit carmaker's small displacement petrol engine also received two other awards, namely “Best New Engine” and “Best Engine Under 1.0-litre”.

Dean Slavnich, chairman of the International Engine of the Year awards and editor of Engine Technology International magazine, commented:

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Brit Wants Help Identifying Thieves who Stole Audi S3 from his House

A Manchester man has posted video footage from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed in the entrance of his house capturing the dramatic moments when two robbers equipped with crowbars burst into his home on June 7, demanding the keys to his £25,000 Audi S3.

At the time the burglars broke into his house, the man, whom the Daily Mail identified as Chris Rustage, 38, was watching TV with his wife and three sons aged 13, 11 and 3.

The footage show the two young men stopping outside the house in a Vauxhall Corsa, which was driven by a third person. The two robbers swiftly enter the house from the front door and less than 20 seconds later they exit with the car's keys in their hands and take off in the black Audi S3 hatch.

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New Audi RS4 Avant Priced at £54,925 OTR in Britain

Pricing for the all-new, third generation Audi RS 4 Avant will start in the UK at £54,925 OTR before buyers check any options, with first customer deliveries to begin in the autumn. Read more »

A Video Tutorial from a Pro on How to Wash the Exterior of Your Car

If there is one maintenance task all car owners can carry out by themselves without any special skills, it is cleaning your vehicle.

That doesn’t mean you should go grab your mother's, wife's, neighbor's, girlfriend's or boyfriend's broom and dip it into a mix of chlorine and bleach nor should you hose down your car both inside and out – don't grin, someone actually did that to a brand new Mercedes-Benz CLS…

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Identify This: Four Production Audi Models

Since you seemed to have enjoyed the previous quiz with the classic Alfa Romeo models (see here), we thought we would come up with a new series of our own featuring a different automaker each week.

For this puzzle, we chose the brand with the four rings from Ingolstadt, which is more commonly known as Audi.

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Audi Confirms U.S. Launch of New A3 Sedan for late This Year, Asks if it Should Bring Hatch and Cabrio

We already knew that Audi has plans to build the first ever sedan version of its A3 series and that it would come to North America. What we weren’t sure about was the timing.

In a posting on its Facebook page today, the German automaker revealed that the A3 Sedan "is confirmed for U.S. release late this year".

What this means is that we will likely see the four-door version of the new A3 making its debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show in September, and/or at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, with sales to start around December.

The A3 Sedan will be based on a stretched version of the latest A3 hatchback's new MQB modular platform architecture, with the two models also sharing the same interior design and engine lineup.

Audi has previewed the looks of the A3 sedan twice in the past year; the first time at the 2011 Geneva Salon with the sporty looking and very near production A3 Concept sporting a 402bhp (408PS) 2.5-liter turbo'd inline-five, and the second time with the A3 e-Tron gasoline-electric hybrid study at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show.

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