The Audi R8 had become a firm favourite among tuners. The V10 powerplant, borrowed from stablemate Lamborghini, and all-wheel-drive makes it formidable on the drag strip. Bolt on a pair of turbochargers and they can make oodles of power. But this wild Audi R8 has been built as a hillclimb machine like no other.

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R8 In Name

The wild Audi R8 in the video below is “‘very loosely based on the side silhouette of an Audi R8” and that’s according to its owner Simon Bainbridge. Its proper name is SBR Chrono V8 and it is originally based on an Audi R8. You can see hints of the base car in profile, but that’s about it.

Its styling has been radically altered to look more like a Le Mans runaway than an R8. The front is dominated by two giant aero devices, one a splitter across the bottom and another above the crash structure. An equally large wing at the rear is wider than the car with end plates that stretch from the bottom of the bumper to above the roof.

Click here to read our Audi R8 SPyder V10 Performance review.

Turbo Power

An engine was sourced from a first-generation Audi RS6 and the twin-turbo V8 has been tuned to 560 kW along with 900 N.m of torque. That is pretty handy in a package that weights about the same as a Mazda MX-5. Although, it seems that the car is due for an upgrade to a V10 mill in the not too distant future. 

A Quaife six- speed sequential gearbox sends power to the rear wheels. As you can imagine, it rides on wide slick rubber and uses AP brakes to slow down. The suspension set-up has radically altered and now boasts in-board spring/dampers.

Click here to check out a unique, AWD diesel-powered BMW hillclimb machine.

In an exclusive chat with Double Apex earlier this week Bainbridge had the following to say: “The car is fantastic to drive and because it’s got so much torque and downforce it’s fairly forgiving and enables me to push quite hard with confidence.” Watch Bainbridge drive, or may manhandle is a better word, the wild Audi R8 in the video below. If you enjoy this post please feel free to share it using the buttons below.