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It is all about the air-to-weight compromise with the second-generation Audi R8 Spyder unveiled at this week’s New York Motor Show.
As with most cloth-topped versions of coupe siblings, there is a need to balance mass-adding rigidity required for lopping the roof and letting the sun shine in, but without sacrificing performance. Audi has provided some interesting statistics for its mid-engined V10 folding-roof supercar.
Audi claims torsional rigidity has improved by 50 per cent compared with the first generation R8 Spyder that launched in 2010, taking three years to follow the original coupe. The second generation R8 Spyder, which is now 36mm wider and 14mm shorter from nose to tail, has taken less than a year to follow the new one.
The 0-100km/h claim of 3.6 seconds is a tenth slower than the coupe equivalent. Top speed is lowered from 323km/h to a still rather toupee-torching 318km/h.
No doubt Audi will use an opportunity to nab another round of press reports for the R8 Spyder V10 Plus version at its chosen timing.
That would also place the Audi a tenth slower 0-100km/h and $26,000 cheaper than a Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet.
