Audi R8: TTS twin-supercharged engine delivers even more power

How do you get your Audi R8 to 750bhp? If your name is Richard Albans, the answer is to start off with a lot more than that, and then ‘dial back’…
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Who doesn’t like the first Audi R8? Even now it looks great. The handling was equally brilliant, and not just for an Audi either. And it had a rorty V8 to boot.

But then you might decide that 420bhp wasn't enough. No problem: there's a 520bhp V10 model.

Still not enough? TTS can help by twin-supercharging your V8. Their kit has two charge coolers from the V10 RS6 and a bigger front-mounted radiator. Water/methanol injection is reckoned to reduce with the coking issues associated with this engine.

TTS boss Richard Albans brought his 750bhp development car along and very trustingly threw us the keys. Less trustingly, or more depending on how you look at it, he settled down in the passenger seat while we gave it a go.

He’s got ample faith in the car, as it’s already covered 30,000 miles in everyday use. Twelve other R8 owners have demonstrated their faith in the conversion too, having laid out £13,500 for the parts, £4,500 for the fitting, and then VAT on top of that.

750bhp is a lot in a road car, but if you drive it with circumspection the only way you’d know it wasn’t a standard car would be from the ride, which with KW springs is slightly firmer. Otherwise it’s as easy to drive as any other manual R8. It’ll trundle away from rest in second gear with the merest whisper of throttle, and once you’re rolling in town you literally could just leave it in fourth and let the 560lb ft of torque do the donkey work.

Give it a bit more though and the funny noises begin. The hissing and the gargling. If you had time, you could look back to see 'Rotrex' on the C38 chargers, but you won’t have time. The wonder of this conversion is that it (massively) enhances the R8’s natural talents rather than doing a Jekyll & Hide number on it and totally changing its characteristics. The standard R8 works best at high revs, so in keeping with that the superchargers don’t give their full 16psi of boost until the redline arrives. At which point the R8 is ballistically quick. Richard has run a 10.8-second quarter-mile in this car, and a 0-60 time of three seconds. Not bad for a standard manual gearbox with a standard clutch.

Given that early V8-powered R8s are now available for around £40k, you could end up with a supercar-slayer for little more than £60k. Few will be able to exploit this level of performance on the road, but options for more are on the table – including a kit that’s under development for the V10.

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