2008 Audi A4 2.0t Special Ed. Quattro on 2040-cars

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Audi 4.2-liter V8 to live again in next-gen R8

Fellow auto enthusiasts, it looks like the car gods have smiled upon us. Word is that Audi's stupendous 4.2-liter V8 will once again be available in the next-generation R8. Rumors pegged the trusty 4.2 as a dead engine revving, thanks to Audi's newer 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 found in models like the S6 and S7.
We expected the 4.0-liter to be the go-to engine in the next R8, but according to Car and Driver, there have been some issues cooling the force-induced mill in the mid-engine R8. The issues are so severe, in fact, that the 4.2 is going to be retained in the car's second generation.
It's more than just practical matters like cooling that are keeping the R8 from going turbocharged. C/D reports that even with the current state of forced induction, a turbocharged R8's throttle response and its resultant exhaust note would suffer too much to be feasible.

Audi readying diesel PHEV models for US and Europe

With the racing pedigree provided by the Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the German king of Le Mans is capitalizing on the connection between its road cars and race cars at every opportunity. Maybe there's an entire range of Le Mans Editions for the automakers diesel-hybrid offerings, with perhaps Tom Kristensen acting as the brand's spokesperson for the technology in Europe. You'd be wrong, though, because despite the R18's overwhelming successes in endurance racing, Audi the road-car manufacturer doesn't offer a single diesel-hybrid production car.
This factoid will hopefully be as short lived as it is disappointing, though, as a diesel-electric is around the corner, according to the brand's tech boss, Ulrich Hackenberg. In fact, it gets better than a mere diesel-hybrid; it will be a plug-in diesel-hybrid, only the second to hit the market, alongside the European-market Volvo V60.
According to Hackenberg, the new tech will be the result of a marriage between the brand's well-received 3.0-liter, TDI V6 with an electric motor. The next-generation Audi Q7 (shown above) will be the initial recipient, confirming previous reports that claimed a PHEV TDI could come to the next-gen CUV. Its MLB architecture, meanwhile, would allow the plug-in-hybrid-diesel powertrain to be fitted easily enough to the A8 luxury sedan. While the new Q7 should hit the market at some point in 2015, it's unclear when the PHEV TDI model could see the light of day.

Notes from day one of the Rolex 24 at Daytona

We came to Daytona Beach, Florida where you can drive on the beach, gun shops outnumber doughnut shops and you can putt-putt and fish for alligators at the same place. But we're not here for any of that - we've made the trip with Audi in order to experience the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the first race in the 2013 Grand-Am season and the only 24-hour race in America.
Three teams are racing four Audi R8 Grand-Am cars - WeatherTech Racing, Rum Bum Racing and APR, which is running two cars. Shown to the world two years ago, the R8 Grand-Am is part of Audi Sport's R8 LMS customer racing program that was commenced in 2008, and ever since 2009 has been nabbing success all over the world: In four years it has taken 154 victories and 17 series titles. That is with less than 100 cars sold to customers throughout the world, and the trophies - either class wins or overall victories - have been gathered from all of the major endurance races except one: Daytona.