Yes, you read right; only 10 of the 333, individually numbered, Audi R8 GT Spyders scheduled for production early in 2012 have been allocated to South Africa - and five of those are already sold.
The roadsters will be here in March 2012, and even at R2 775 000 each (including a five-year or 100 000km maintenance plan), you'd better get moving if you want one; we don't think they will stay available very long.
The Four Ring Circus quotes some outrageous numbers for its range-topping roadster - such as 412kW and 540Nm from its long-stroke, aluminium-block, 5.2-litre V10 FSI, direct-injection engine. Such as 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 317km/h.
The R8 GT Spyder comes standard with an automated six-speed R-tronic transmission, offering two automatic modes and a flappy-paddle manual mode. Audi claims that at high load and revs, gear changes take only 0.1 second.
To be fair, it's not the speed of the gear-changes that has given us a distaste for Audi paddle-shift transmissions, but the heart-stopping, up to three-quarters of a second pause while the 'box makes up its mind whether or not it is going to change down - and the occasional sphincter-clenching corner when it decides not to!
The quattro permanent all-wheel drive has a strong rear-wheel bias under most conditions, although the system will send more torque to the front axle if needed to counteract under or oversteer. Together with a limited slip differential at the rear, Audi says it gives the R8 a distinct advantage in road-holding over its rear-wheel drive competition.
In the same vein, the electronic stability set-up has a sport mode and can also be deactivated entirely.
The running gear is all top-drawer stuff (at that price, it had better be!) with aluminium double-wishbone suspension all round (about 10mm lower than the stock R8 springing) large, lightweight carbon-fibre ceramic brake discs inside 19” rims.
The whole car weighs only 1640kg, thanks to Audi's space-frame aluminium body shell, made up of cast nodes, extruded sections and aluminium panels. The bare body weighs only 214kg, making the GT Spyder 85kg lighter than a “standard” R8 convertible.
The fabric soft top is fully automated and can be raised or lowered in about 19 seconds at speeds up to 50km/h. The glass rrar window, however, is separate from the roof, storing in the bulkhead when the top is down and slotting into position when the roof is raised.
The R8 GT Spyder also looks special, with add-on parts in contrasting metallic grey, a front splitter with a dual lip, flics at the sides of the front bumper, red GT badges, round exhaust tailpipes, an enlarged diffuser and dark LED rear lights in a clear-glass design.