 The
R8R was rolled out to the press in 1998. The car was very conventional in
architecture
with the front mounted water cooler, flank located NACA ducts for
intercooling,
top side pod surface located NACA ducts for the turbo intake, short
Kamm-ish
tail, and single element Le Mans configuration rear wing. |
 It
initially appeared the show car had some style elements not meant for
the
actual race car, notably the four sets of exhaust pipes and the lack of
a rear diffuser. Overall the car looked "pretty", but not all
together
functional and certainly not ground breaking, even for '99. Indeed, then-Audi stylists Luc Donckerwolke and Roland Heiler had a rather prominent hand in the car's exterior design. |
 The
early version did take on the bulk of the initial testing proving the
mechanical
componentry as well as being a working test bed for further
developments
of the R8R series. |
