R8 goes ’Ringside

As if this weekend's Nurburgring 24-hour race wasn't looking awesome enough already with the Lexus LF-A, Gumpert Apollo hybrid and VW Scirocco prototypes all taking to the track, the cool bar has just been raised even higher by this: a race-prepped Audi R8 set to do battle at the Green Hell.

It isn't, we have to stress, an Audi works car, but is instead being entered in the SP7 class by a German team called 24h-Project 2008: Blue-Tec. We have no idea what that name means.

But how good does it look? The R8 sits on a lightened chassis, and features a giant rear wing, high-mounted exhaust pipes and a big ol' diffuser out the back.

We love that muscled-up front end, too, with its deeper front apron and massive air intakes. We might, if we're being fussy, remove a few of those decals... but those silver-on-gold split rim wheels are staying.

The R8 should shift a bit. The stock 4.2-litre V8 has been replaced with a race-spec four-litre engine putting out 530bhp and 353lb ft of torque... all in a car weighing just over a ton. Oh yes.

We'll be at the 'Ring to bring you all the news from the 24-hour race this weekend. We are excited. So are you.