Over at MotorTrend they’re talking about a new lightweight Audi R8, codenamed the NF. Lighter even than the R8 GT, which has 100kg stripped from it, the new NF will rely heavily on the use of carbon fibre. The image above is a regular R8 being used as a prototype in the development of the NF.
Where it gets really interesting is reading how Audi has been crash testing cars made with carbon fibre panels. While there’s not a lot of detail, it does seem the lighter and stronger carbon fibre could have a future in broader automotive mass manufacturing.
Typically, carbon fibre shatters into tiny shards on impact as this old clip from USF1 shows. Whereas the stuff Audi has been testing does not.
The information came after a tour of the Audi Lightweight Design Centre at the company’s Neckarsulm facility. Audi was cagey with details and ensured that none of the journos on the tour had any way to record words or images. The pic above was released by Audi themselves.
At this stage there’s nothing available via the regular Audi AG press portal, but if we stumble across anything we’ll let you know. As for when we might see this Audi R8 NF, we’re not sure exactly, but pencil in 2014 for now.
[Source: MotorTrend]