BRONZE KINGPIN: MEET THE NEW AUDI R8 V10

AUDI is celebrating the 10year success story of its V10 engine with the new R8 V10 Decennium.

Only 222 units will be made, but, you should know upfront, SA won’t be receiving any build slots.

With 456kW on tap from its manic, naturally-aspirated mill, and with bronze colour highlights inside and out, you’ll see and hear it coming from a mile away.

It’s available solely as a coupé and painted in exclusive Daytona Gray, combined with milled 20-inch wheels. The car’s front spoiler, the side sills and the diffuser are painted in gloss black, supplemented by black Audi rings and badges on the exterior.

The side blades and the exterior mirror housings are made from gloss carbon fibre.

The interior of the Audi R8 V10 Decennium is also finished entirely in black, with the inlays in gloss carbon fibre adding highlights.

The quilted rhombus pattern stitching on the sport seats is finished in gloss black; the contrasting stitching in a gloss copper tone. The selector lever and the steering wheel – with Alcantara rim and black 12 o’clock marking – feature copper-coloured stitching, as do the centre armrest, the door armrest and the door rail.

A ‘Decennium’ logo adorns the centre console, the doors, the inlays in the gloss carbon fibre door sill trims as well as the logo projector.

The badge in the centre console stands out visually from the gloss carbon fibre around it. It comes with a partially matt finish – a process patented by Audi.

The surface of the material is roughed a few thousandths of a millimetre using a special powder. The door light projects the ‘Decennium’ logo onto the ground, supplemented by the model’s sequential limited-edition number.

As with all R8 variants, the Audi virtual cockpit and the MMI navigation plus come standard.

The naturally-aspirated 5.2 FSI in its most powerful output rating forms the heart of the R8 V10 Decennium. With maximum torque of 580Nm, it catapults the edition model from a standstill to 100km/h in 3.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 331 km/h. It’s ok to stare.