"Harsh" is really not the right word.......I was leaning towards "moronic" personally. I can't express how upset I was to find out my R8 has a Cosworth motor and a Lamborghini six speed.....hahaha
Am glad you say that, kit car is a ridiculous description. Every car I know of is made from parts from hundreds of suppliers. I'd bet that no car on sale today is made entirely by the manufacturer.
But please do tell me which part of the R8 besides the exterior pieces were originally designed specifically for the R8. I'm not talking about sourcing parts. I'm talking about originality and design with intent. Audi did not say we are going to make our own unique mid engine sports car. We are going to take the Gallardo to save money on R&D and share cost while we add our own flavor to it.
The 458's engine was made specifically for the 458. The 12C or 650S's engine is specifically made for that car. The NSX's engine was made specifically for that car. No other car uses it. Plenty of exclusive sports cars that have unique engines designed specifically for that car, not supped up versions that were pulled from a sedan or lesser model.
Even stuntman concurs it's a Gallardo re-bodied with a RS4 Engine which re-iterates what I said. Get your feelings hurt or call it harsh all you want, but the statement is true. It's funny how strong Audi's hold on society has one or two people getting mad at me for pointing out true details. If Honda made the NSX with a J engine, everyone would be criticizing that. The VR38 choice for the GTR was criticized by many RB enthusiast also, but atleast it is unique to the GTR and Nissan recognized this distinction.
The R8 has no true original/unique birthright. It's like a Frankenstein of cars. They took the sleek Gallardo/Huracan and made a fatter version of it. This may be my opinion mixed with actual facts, but I'm not alone in believing/thinking it. It doesn't mean I think the R8 is a shit car. I'm just telling you what it is to me/what I see.
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on the bike side of things, BMW and Ducati have been making that power (180 to 195 hp to the rear wheel) from the S1000RR and 1199 street bikes for a while. and as far as the new Kawasaki H1R goes, that's a closed course machine only. there won't be a road going version, at least not for a while and in that state of tune.
I'm very interested to see how Honda's powerplant, ahem...excuse me, power unit will go in Formula 1 next year. initial reports have it not performing very well, under par from even Renault at this time. I'd really love to see a McLaren Honda up the front end again, I'm sure everyone on this forum would understand the significance of that happening. I hope the Japanese still have it in them, I miss seeing that big "H" on the front of a Formula 1 machine...
The Ducati has a 200cc edge which is huge for bikes so it cannot be a contender technically. BMW has only recently upped the hp expectation for the 1000cc bikes. Yamaha and Kawasaki are responding swiftly. Look for the other Japanese Bikes to do so soon as they generally have limited their bikes because of the usual gentlemen's agreement. The
H2R will be supercharged in street trim also. It will be much more than 200+ hp still even if it's de-tuned from the race version. We shall see soon enough.
It is not so good news hearing about Honda's struggle with F1 recently. Perhaps all of the 80s/90s F1 engineers were usurped by other competitors when they withdrew from F1
Or all of their best engineers are busy designing the new NSX's powerplant.