Judging by its looks alone, the first-gen Audi R8 could’ve stayed in production longer, so spot-on was its design. Audi is obviously of the same mind, simply making it edgier, but the two are, despite their different underpinnings, very similar.
No matter, German tuner MTM thought it should update its bodywork three years ago, and is now seling its creation.
Based on the V10 model, this brash chrome R8 houses a different 10-cylinder animal under its hood and comes with a plethora of modifications that transform it from a supercar into a full-fat monster.
In the ad, MTM states that the vehicle is finally road-legal that surely broadens its appeal to far more people than the ones looking for something they can use solely on the track. It features, carbon-fiber seats wrapped in Magnolia-red leather, forged 9×20 front and 12.5x 20 rear rims and a reinforced 6-Speed Transmission designed to cope with the 5.0-litre V10’s 802 PS.
But wait, wasn’t it supposed to be powered by a 5.2-litre V10? Not in MTM-land, as the tuner replaced the original, naturally-aspirated powerplant with the twin-turbocharged unit from the RS6 C6 generation.
That makes it go at speeds over 350 Km/h and accelerate from 0 to 100 Km/h in 3.0 seconds, to 200 Km/h in 9.37 seconds and to 300 Km/h in 19.42 seconds.
Okay, its €500,000 ($568,975) price tag is hard to swallow, but consider that, in order to achieve its paint scheme, MTM completely stripped and polished its body, investing more than 700 hours of work in it alone. That’s right, the car isn’t wrapped in a chrome wrap, it’s been polished to the bare metal. Other visual upgrades include widened sills, an adjustable rear spoiler, and a front spoiler lip.
To top it off, the vehicle did a high-speed test at Nardo, was presented at the Geneva Motor Show back in 2013, at Top Marques Monaco, at the 24h Le Mans event and at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed.
PHOTO GALLERY
