Open for business: Audi R8 Spyder V10 Plus to make U.S. debut at The Quail

Monterey Car Week is upon us, and to celebrate, Audi is bringing a slew of performance vehicles for display. The new R8 V10 Plus Spyder, which will be making its U.S. debut, will be the centerpiece, but it will vie for attention with the Audi Sport Quattro S1 Pikes Peak, the R8 LMS GT3 and GT4, and the RS5.

Having made its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. earlier this year, the R8 V10 Plus Spyder will roll into the States for the first time in its appropriate habitat, the California coast. It will be at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, one of the few places in the world where it will not come close to being the rarest and most expensive vehicle on the field. But that doesn’t take away from how special it is.

Like the V10 Plus coupe, the Spyder boasts 610 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque, which is 70 more horsepower and 15 more lb-ft of torque than the regular V10 Spyder. Audi claims it can bolt from zero to 62 mph in 3.3 seconds and top out at 204 mph. In our test with the V10 Spyder, however, with the help of Audi’s brilliant seven-speed dualclutch automatic and all-wheeldrive system, we saw zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds, so it would not be surprising to see this model kiss 3.0.

Like its slightly lower-powered brother, the V10 Plus Spyder is a softtop; the top’s magnesium and aluminum frame weighs only 97 pounds total and only takes 20 seconds to open or close. Distinguishing the Plus are “racing shell” bucket seats, a carbonfiber fixed rear wing, carbonceramic brakes, 19-inch lightalloy forged wheels, and a sport exhaust system with black outlets. Audi has yet to announce U.S. pricing, but in coupe form, the V10 Plus is $27,000 more than the regular V10; with the V10 Spyder at $176,350, that same upcharge would put the V10 Plus Spyder just over $200,000