The Audi R8: Goodby to a Legend

Simply put, the R8 is the most successful race car ever. Starting life in two forms, the R8R and the R8C, the team showed horribly in 1999 before focusing their design work on the open topped R8R and coming up with the 2000 R8.

The car has a turbo-charged V8 3600 cc engine placed just behind the driver. The power goes out through the rear 14.5" x 18" Michelin Radial tyres. Its weight is around 900kg which gives an extremely good weight to power ratio of 1.5:1.

Since 2000 it has never dropped out of a race for mechanical reasons (record), it has won five Le Mans' (record), and was only beaten at Le Mans by the Bentley Speed 8 which was based off of the R8C. To say this car is a living legend is an understatement. Pescarolo, Dyson, Cadillac, Dome, Lola, Courage, and Dallara haven't been able to take down the mighty R8 at Le Mans, and all are very good cars.

Audi's last R8 was built in 2004. But the R8 still won Le Mans in 2005 despite being in its second year as a chassis. The R10 replaces the R8 this year. The R10 took Sebring in March, but only one finished - the other dropped out with mechanical problems. Audi decided to save their two R10s for Le Mans and run an R8 in the ALMS series against the brand new Dyson Lolas. At Houston, two years after it was supposed to have been uncompetitive, the R8 outlasted everybody and took the win with better reliability over less than favorable track conditions. The next race of 2006, Mid-Ohio, was a third for Audi behind the historic Porsche LMP2's 1-2 finish, but the R8 still won its class.

There is now one race left for the R8 in professional competition. A 2hr 45minute victory lap at Lime Rock Park. Today’s Round 4 of the American Le Mans Series will say goodbye to the historic Audi R8. The final livery will be based off of Team Joest’s, but include the names of all the drivers who have driven it and a list of the R8’s wins. The final race starts at 3:00 PM Eastern Time today, July 1st.