THE LAST OF US

The Audi R8 is no more. TG was there to witness the final build, and we couldn't help but get involved...

- GREG POTTS

It’s 5am on an industrial estate just outside the city of Heilbronn in southern Germany. Never let it be said that this job isn’t glamourous. And yet, despite the smokestack location, the day is set to be filled with fanfare.

It begins with a proper Stars in their Eyes moment, as the painted bodyshell of a Vegas Yellow Audi R8 rises up from the basement below and is then rapidly revealed by an overdramatic garage door. Just missing the smoke machines.

Of course, I wouldn’t be out of bed at this time to watch any old R8 get pieced together, but this is the last ever car. Yep, after two generations and 18 years of production, it’s the end of the road for Audi’s internal combustion-engined supercar. Over 45,000 examples have been built since its introduction in 2006, and while the name could possibly appear on a future flagship EV, the R8 as we know it is soon to be dead.

The factory is Audi’s small Böllinger Höfe plant. Although we say small there are still 41,000 square metres of production space and around 1,500 employees. The R8 has been built here since the place opened in 2014, but in 2020 the e-tron GT muscled itself onto the same line and ensured that the dominant sound in these halls is of tyre squeal on polished floors rather than the echo of V10s.

Speaking of engines, I’d assumed that the Lambo-developed 5.2-litre V10 would come straight from Audi’s plant in Hungary ready to be plugged in to the middle of the R8’s carbon and aluminium spaceframe, but stumbling across the engine room it’s clear that isn’t the case. In fact, over 100 extra bits need to be fitted to each engine before it’s ready to meet its chassis.