Ian Kuah STaSIS R8 V10 Spyder Fast Challenge Extreme ...1].pdf · an engine, as is the case with ... STaSIS uses race-grade, ... The STaSIS Audi R8 V10 Spyder Challenge Extreme Edition

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forwardFast Ian Kuah drives the

STaSIS R8 V10 Spyder Challenge Extreme Edition

AS AN ACCOMPLISHED all-round supercar, Audi’s R8 V10 is a hard act to follow. Unless you have resolute leanings against convertibles, however, the car which beats it on two counts for not much more money is its very own sister, the Spyder. The advantages which the Spyder brings to the party are the natural intensification of the car’s incredible V10 soundtrack, and the fact that, roof down, the Spyder’s lines are easier on the eye.

Either way, where the 420 PS V8 is just adequate, with 525 PS, the V10 version provides genuine supercar performance, even if it is still some 35 PS down on its Italian Lamborghini cousin.

This is where the STaSIS R8 V10 comes to the rescue. In the aftermarket arena, there are real tuners, and all the others. STaSIS is one of the few real tuners to have consciously built up a solid base over the years, to the point where their

conservative approach to power outputs and outstanding customer service has given them cred-ibility with the manufacturer of the cars they fettle.

Audi North America now officially recognises STaSIS as an aftermarket tuning partner in a similar arrangement to that which ABT has with Audi in Germany. And like ABT, STaSIS provides an impressive warranty package for its products, one which does not impinge on the standard car’s factory warranty.

When you tune a car as well balanced as the R8 V10, it is critical to avoid doing anything to upset it. This means that the engine and chassis have to be upgraded commensurately, and the car’s basic character must remain intact.

And when you add a supercharger to an engine, as is the case with the STaSIS R8 V10, the conversion must be relatively conservative and bullet-proof so as not to jeopardise either the reliability of the car or the quality of the ownership experience.

STaSIS owner, Paul Lambert, explains the current state of play. “We have been working very hard in recent years to make all our conversions as good as possible, and to bring all the other aspects of the business to a level where we could gain approval from Audi NA,” he said.

“We finally reached that goal last year, and the fruits of our labour saw this car on the Audi NA stand at the 2010 SEMA Show, complete with a four-year/50,000-mile warranty.”

‘ Audi North America now officially recognises STaSIS as an aftermarket tuning partner in a similar arrangement to that which ABT has with Audi in Germany’

“The supercharger conversion was developed in co-operation with our performance partner, Nik Saran’s VF Engineering in Los Angeles, which has a wealth of experience in this field,” he continued. “Our in-house engineer, Henry Hsu, worked very closely with them on the project.”

The V10’s supercharger is from the Magnuson TVS2300 twin vortices series, and flows 2,300cc of air per revolution. Using an Eaton core, Magnuson’s unique touch is a housing design acknowledged as the most efficient among the manu-facturers who use these rotors. The unit is mounted on top of a bespoke billet alloy manifold, and draws air in through a billet inlet with a pair of single throttle bodies, one for each cylinder bank.

As large an inlet area as possible is provided on the intake side for the charger to draw air in, and the high efficiency integral bypass system is designed in such a way that it still circulates air internally, by means of an internal throttle body, to keep some boost going when you lift off. At the same time, a bypass with a throttle plate, like a little vacuum actuator, avoids excessive boost building up in the system on the over-run.

As this is a bolt-on system which does not require internal engine modifications, boost-pressure is a modest 0.5 bar. The supercharger has its own separate drive belt, and the only other mechanical changes required are larger FSI injectors and a remapped ECU. The standard fuel pump works just fine as it has adequate headroom.

The intercooler is a three-piece design, CNC-machined, using billet 6061 T6 hardness rating aluminium, and integrates

a bar and plate, high-density air-to-water heat exchanger.

This closed-loop water-cooling system includes a three-gallon coolant reservoir, Bosch water pump and a front-mounted additional OEM radiator. As a result of squeezing all the new hardware in on top of the engine, the lid clearance is tight, but it fits.

The factory exhaust is replaced by a STaSIS bespoke sports system, TIG-welded by hand from T304 stainless steel. This twin silencer design, with crossover pipes, reduces back-pressure to increase engine efficiency, and is worth around 5 hp. It also usefully removes 14 kg of dead weight from the rearmost extremity of the car.

The dyno chart shows a peak output of 710 hp at 7000 rpm with 709 Nm (523 lb. ft.) of torque at 5600 rpm. Compared to the standard figures of 525 hp and 530 Nm (391 lb. ft.), this represents a spectacular 35 per cent power gain.

The 0-60 mph sprint tumbles from 3.7 sec to 3.1 sec, a number so tantalisingly close to breaking the magic 3-second mark that it makes you wonder just how many more horses would be required to achieve it.

‘ When you tune a car as well balanced as the R8 V10, it is critical to avoid doing anything to upset it. This means that the engine and chassis have to be upgraded commensurately, and the car’s basic character must remain intact’

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It took me less than two miles of driving up a twisty Californian hill road to ascertain that STaSIS has achieved its objective, par excellence, with the supercharged R8 V10 Spyder. Although it is now dramatically faster than the satisfactorily rapid standard car, it has not lost any of its tractability and friendly low-speed nature. If anything, low-end grunt is enhanced, making normal

driving even more effortless. Under full throttle, the driver’s sensory

load literally explodes as everything is suddenly and dramatically ramped up to a higher plane. The engine recalibration means that the previously modest low-end punch is now strong, the strong mid-range is now muscular, and the screaming top end is now ballistic. The onset of the new levels of thrust, the engine

and exhaust noise, and simply making sure that you don’t approach bends too quickly, masks the fact that there is no real change in the car’s character.

There is just so much more of everything, and it all seems to happen at warp speed. Where short straights would normally give you some breathing space while the V10 winds up to its heady redline, they are now devoured in wild

‘ The dyno chart shows a peak output of 710 hp at 7000 rpm with 709 Nm (523 lb. ft.) of torque at 5600 rpm’

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lunges punctuated by the rapid-fire gearshifts of the R-Tronic.

Underpinning each lunge is a cacophony of mechanical sounds, serious g-force, and the impression that the scenery has been booted into fast forward. The V10’s multi-layered shriek echoes off the rocks and across the valley as the eager motor zings to its redline in the intermediate gears. With the roof down, especially, the experience reaches epic proportions.

STaSIS has matched the increase in power with a commensurate upgrade to the brakes, suspension and footwear. The overall balance of this conversion certainly comes through loud and clear under braking and in the bends. Massive speeds are washed off as fast if not faster than they are attained, and the car turns in deftly, cornering noticeably flatter and more incisively than standard.

The uprated springs with matched bump stops drop the ride-height by 20 mm, making the V10 even sharper in the bends. Turn-in is crisper, and any hint that the heavier engine introduces a greater roll couple than the lighter V8

in the bends is put firmly back in the box by the chassis upgrade, which includes uprated anti-roll bars.

The lightweight, forged alloy wheels are 8.5 and 12.0 x 20-inches, shod with 255/30 and 325/25 Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tyres. Their increased grip helps to increase the V10’s lateral acceleration peak number from 0.99g to 1.01g.

Maximum braking force is one thing, maintaining a consistently short stopping distance under repeated applications is quite another. STaSIS uses race-grade, lightweight two-piece 390 mm diameter vented discs up front and 355 mm vented discs at the rear, mated to aluminium centre hats by floating pins.

With the factory callipers loaded with special brake pads, and system pressure aided by steel-braided hoses, this kit, the larger footprint, and uprated suspension combine to improve maximum braking force from 1.02 g to 1.05 g. In testing, the factory stock brakes began to fade after just six hard stops from 100 kph, and by the 15th stop the car was taking 14 metres longer to come to a halt.

The uprated brakes exhibited zero deterioration in performance under the same test conditions.

While dancing along the tarmac on this twisting, hilly road is entertaining, it is also frustrating because none of the straights here are long enough to really extend the car’s long legs. I’d simply love to give this awesome machine its head on a racetrack with a long straight and some challenging corners. Laguna Seca or Catalunya would do just fine.

The STaSIS Audi R8 V10 Spyder Challenge Extreme Edition is a monster performer with a soft side which amplifies all the best attributes of the basic car, without any apparent downside. As such, it goes straight to the top of my current supercar wish list. III

Contact:STaSIS EngineeringP.O. Box 357Summit Point, West Virginia 25446Tel: 1.888 9.STaSISwww.stasisengineering.com

‘ While dancing along the tarmac on this twisting, hilly road is entertaining, it is also frustrating because none of the straights here are long enough to really extend the car’s long legs’

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