NOW, WHO THE HELL IS ABT YOU MIGHT BE THINKING.
For starters it’s a surname not an acronym an independent race team and purveyor of tuning parts for VW and Audi As Audi’s DTM partner it’s won multiple championships and enjoys semiofficial status The XGT project is all its own work although the timing of it doesn’t look coincidental as we’ll come on to discuss ABT takes one of those LMS GT cars and does so much work converting it back to road use that the car no longer wears an Audi VIN plate ABT is certified as the manufacturer
It’s taken ABT two years to get full German TÜV certification We’re not just talking indicators and numberplates it had to crash test the car Twice And put it through driveby noise tests and full WLTP emissions and fuel economy checks g/km CO and mpg if you’re wondering Hard to believe that rear wing the dive planes those swollen carbon flanks and the viciously sharp vents got through road regs but they did
As I walk up to it I can’t see the compromise Open the door take in the slot windows the yoke steering wheel and builtin roll cage Still no hint it’s road legal But ah aren’t those the road car’s aircon controls? And don’t the DTM race seats usually have head supports that extend further forward?
They do it turns out Here they’ve been cut back to improve side visibility So in I hop and out I go on to the roads of Mallorca The engine is the racecar’s bhp litre freebreathing V It’s not changed much from the road car anyway but the engine is never the issue in racecars that honour goes to the gearbox A sequential straight cut paddleshift is light and fast but it’s not refined or docile it won’t do traffic and it’ll drill into your ears Switching it for a sevenspeed twin clutch was the biggest mechanical change ABT made but the result is a drivetrain that trickles happily around at low speed
There are two other major changes that make the XGT a perfectly viable road car¡ the engine is no longer rigid mounted to the back of the chassis tub and bushing replaces rose joints in the suspension The former means much less cavitation and vibration in the cabin the latter means you can drive on
bumpy tramlined roads without immediately crashing And ABT needed this to sit stable and true on autobahns
All of which means that your senses are at odds Because from the driver’s seat your eyes insist you’re in a racing car so do everyone else’s eyes for that matter while the sensors in your arse ears feet and fingertips are discovering this is all pretty placid going The ride on fourway adjustable coilovers is smooth and sophisticated packing plushness into minimal travel the gearbox bleeds the shifts perfectly the engine is tractable and good natured It’s a largely viceless road car But for one thing One of the main reasons it’s kg lighter than a road R is the lack of sound insulation Two hours of exposure that’s what I reckon you’ll cope with Use ear pods and you could daily this Apart from width restrictors And loftier speed bumps
But why bother? Because it is enthralling to drive This is a pedigree racecar that has been brilliantly adapted to road use It’s genuine in a way that a road car made track ready just isn’t Though including tax works out at about k in the UK Approaching Ferrari SF XX money Which has over bhp And a hifi But if it was my money I’d have this all day long It’s more natural and engaging to drive plus there’s an authenticity to the XGT that’s unlike anything else
Which you realise when you drive it on track Like a proper racer it only grips once you get some temperature into the Pirelli Trofeo R tyres full slicks are optional That nullifies the understeer gives you confidence to exploit the rear traction Which is extraordinarily communicative Push hard out of corners and you feel the rear diff start to lock up and both wheels drive you forward Give it a bit too much now and the tyres start to smear themselves wide but it all happens so progressively and calmly that you barely need to back off the throttle The XGT gives you time Everything happens calmly progressively It’s the most exciting capable and focused R I’ve ever driven
The timing’s interesting though Coincidence that this arrives just as the R bows out? I doubt it Fearing it would be comprehensively upstaged Audi probably wanted the R off the table before this arrived What a thing I like it because it’s so mechanical so true to itself because it’s not a known quantity There’s something subversive about the XGT It’s a shame it’s fallen to ABT to show what might have been
“THIS IS A PEDIGREE RACECAR THAT HAS BEEN BRILLIANTLY ADAPTED TO ROAD USE”