R8 Spyder leaked

Soft-top version of Audi’s mid-engined supercar escapes onto web, Top Gear catches it in giant butterfly net

10 September 2009

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Audi R8 Spyder

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You weren’t supposed to see this until next week, but the Audi R8 Spyder – the soft-top iteration of the lovely mid-engined supercar – has escaped onto the web (for the second time, actually, if you remember that Iron Man 2 leak).

It looks – as you might have confidently guessed – like an R8 with the roof removed. Actually, there’s a bit more to it than that: Audi has ditched the R8’s signature ‘side blades’ in favour of a pair of more conventional air scoops in front of the rear wheels.

The rear deck – which hides a fabric roof, though we’re yet to see a decent photo of the R8 Spyder with its roof up – features a neat new pair of air intakes. The windscreen is framed in brushed aluminium, too.

The Spyder will get the more powerful of the R8’s two engines: the Lambo-derived 5.2-litre V10 putting out 525bhp and 390lb ft of torque. The hard-top R8 V10 will hit 60mph in 3.9 seconds, so we’d expect the Spyder to crack the sprint in just over four seconds. That’s mighty quick.

We’ll get a better look at the Audi R8 V10 Spyder in Frankfurt next week in all its chocolatey goodness.

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thats cool

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it looks a bit too curvy from the side view when looking at the bulge above the rear wheels, but the rear end definitely compensates for the side's shortcommings! oh and is there any model out there that audi isnt willing to take the roof off?! we'll be seeing Q7 convertibles next!

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Remarkably cool!

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I love the back/top view with the aluminium vents, though I wish they included the side-blade. The blade was the R8's signature.

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Quite like the vents on the rear deck. Looks cool.

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