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The R8 used to be the epitome of performance for Audi until the e-Tron GT came and snatched the crown
by Sidd Dhimaan, onAudi is arguably the most proactive company that’s adopting electrification. The company has many all-electric vehicles in its portfolio already, and one of them is the RS e-Tron GT. The RS e-Tron GT is the most powerful Audi vehicle that you can buy today. The folks at Carwow pit this beast against a car that can be considered its fuel-powered alter-ego, the Audi R8. Do you think the Audi R8 can defeat the RS e-Tron GT in a series of races?
The R8 Makes 26 Horses Fewer But Is 1,500 Pounds Lighter
The RS e-Tron GT comes with an electric motor mounted on each axle. They put out 646 horses and 612 pound-feet of torque. It comes with a two-stage gearbox. It draws power from an 86 kWh (usable) battery pack which makes this one heavy machine. The RS e-Tron GT weighs 5,174 pounds.
The pre-facelift Audi R8 features a 5.2-liter, naturally aspirated V-10 engine. It has been tuned to make the same power as the new R8 Performance, which is 620 ponies and 428 pound-feet of twist.
Power is channeled to all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
It weighs 3,616 pounds, which makes it over 1,500 pounds lighter than the RS e-Tron GT.
How Did The Races Go?
In the first drag race, the R8 started well despite the wheelspin, but lost power for a bit for some reason which gave the RS e-Tron GT the lead. The electric car won the race in the end. The second race felt closer, but the RS e-Tron GT kept pulling away. Perhaps, the EV’s two-stage gearbox had to do something with it. The gearbox essentially has a Launch stage and a High-speed stage, which are self-explanatory. It helps launch the car quickly and maintain the oomph even at high speeds.
They raced again for the third time and it was the closest so far. The R8 driver noted that the shift from second to third was short and that was the reason for it lagging behind. Had it not been for that, we could’ve seen the R8 pull a win over the RS e-Tron GT.
In the last race, the RS e-Tron GT recorded a quarter-mile time of 10.9 seconds, whereas the R8 was behind by just 0.1 seconds.
Next up was the rolling race from 50 mph in comfort setting. The instantaneous torque helped the e-Tron GT get past the R8, but it couldn’t keep it up at high speeds. Just before the half-mile line, the R8 went past the EV to get the win. The next rolling race was from 55 mph in the sportiest setting. The RS e-Tron GT never managed to get past the Audi R8. They had a rerun with even starts again and this time. The EV managed to get a lead up until 136 mph before losing steam (pun unintended) and giving another victory to the R8.
The last round was the brake test from 70 mph which saw the R8 stop in a shorter distance. So overall, the drag races were won by the RS e-Tron GT, the rolling races by the R8, and the brake test also by the R8.
If you had to pick one of these cars for yourself, which one would it be? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
Source: CarWow
