LAST GOODBYE
Audi bids emotional farewell to iconic motor in touching tribute with supercar’s production to end this year
It's not the only Audi model that won't be available next year
AUDI has bid an emotional farewell to one of its most iconic motors in a touching tribute video as production of the supercar ends this year.
The German giant posted a clip to YouTube to give the beloved model a final send-off.
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The company confirmed last November that 2023 would be the last production year for its legendary R8 model.
It released a GT version to act as a curtain call for the V10 mile-muncher, with the last ones rolling off production lines soon.
Now though, the brand's US arm has uploaded a clip to as a sweet goodbye gesture.
Titled Audi R8: The Last Lap, it is a love letter to everything petrolheads admire about the rough and ready motor.
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The video shows an anonymous driver, kitted out in an F1-style jumpsuit and helmet, taking a pristine R8 out for a spin in a desolate desert landscape.
The jet-black sports car is launched from an abandoned warehouse out into the wilderness at breakneck speed, after taking the time to pop a 180-degree handbrake turn, naturally.
It flies off, roaring and kicking up dust as it hurtles along a velvety-smooth tarmac road.
Stats flash up in the bottom left of the screen in the way you might expect the names of exotic locations to appear in Bond films, only adding to its super-chic aesthetic.
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A slow-mo shot catches the moment the driver hurls it around a long, sweeping corner, the early evening sunlight glistening off its snow-white bodywork as it countersteers aggressively.
After flicking the back end out to complete a drifting turn, the faceless figure hits a few doughnuts, drawing a cloud of thick smoke from the rubber, which screams its protest.
We then cut to another R8, the performance quattro variant, this time in deep red livery as our hero sketches it from a distance.
It's a fairly drastic tonal shift, reinforcing that, for Audi, the R8 is a triumph of both modern engineering and the art of automotive design.
The drawing leaves a little to be desired but intrepid racers aren't often known to spend their spare time exhibiting their work at the National Gallery, after all.
Having tried their hand with the crayons, the driver goes back to what they know, hopping behind the wheel to blast the R8 into the city on the horizon.
There it is joined by the 2023 R8 and the GT version as the trio of cars unite for the swansong of their name badge, with only the LED streetlights piercing the dark of the night.
We finish with the GT pulling back into the warehouse from the beginning to take its place among the rest of its range to be laid to rest.
Across the picture, a message appears, reading: "The Audi R8. An icon that lives forever."
However, it isn't the only model that the brand are putting on the shelf.
The TT will join it in its grave from 2024 as Audi, and indeed almost every other manufacturer, pivots towards an electric future.
In a final road test in May, The Sun's own Rob Gill paid tribute to the pair as "two of Audi's greatest creations".
He added: "Mixing petrol and air is dead. Horsepower is dead.
"The future is electric and kilowatts and plug sockets.
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"When the electric R8 replacement does come along in 2025, I’m sure it will be beautiful to look at, crazy fast, and have fun buttons like drift mode.
"But it won’t make your neck hairs all tingly like the sound of a naturally aspirated V10 in full assault mode. Not much will."
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