Meet the Audi Nuvolari: a 217-mph hybrid supercar that no-one saw coming

Suddenly there’s a new Audi. And it’s a head-turning, 217-mph, 1,001-bhp, hybrid supercar called the Nuvolari.

'Where did that come from?' gasped the world’s automotive media, unusually caught off-guard by this unexpected unveiling. Well, after a millisecond’s thought, despite the outrageous sci-fi design, we all realized it’s obvious where it came from: Lamborghini.

Audi has tuned up, teched up and rebodied its sister brand’s Temerario. This curvy classic Italian supercar arrived last year, in road form and track mode. And of course, Audi has previous form celebrating its ownership of the Italian sporting specialist, with shared platforms of the Lamborghini Urus and Audi RS Q8, and the Lamborghini Huracán and the Audi R8.

So is this a new R8? We think it’s a bit more than that. This time the Audi techs have pushed the Vorsprung durch Technik envelope further, with extra performance and tech even denied to the Lambo… plus that extraordinary carbon-fiber body design.

Yes, the Nuvolari shares the same mid-mounted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 and trio of electric motors. But just to show who’s boss, Audi has tuned it for a little more power. The 1,001-bhp total comes at an extreme 10,000 rpm. The Germans claim it hits 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 2.6 seconds, 0-125 mph (200 km/h) in 6.8 seconds and has a 217 mph (350 km/h) max (4 mph more than the Lambo). The Nuvolari’s battery has higher capacity at 7.3 kWh gross (Temerario has 3.8 kWh), and gets a higher rate of topping up from brake regeneration.

Where the Temerario has aluminum panels, the Nuvolari gets a carbon fiber body to save weight. And what a body. It’s a Millennium Falcon monolith of threatening monster angles and slopes that is also somehow very alluring. The material itself uses patches of different carbon weaves and laminations, squeezed by vacuum and baked in an autoclave steamer. This F1 tactic is designed to produce intricate shapes with precise strength distribution, minimum weight and lower cost compared to molding.

The big new tech that Audi adds to the Lambo’s package is what it calls Quattro Predictive Ride (QPR). This is state-of-the-art F1 traction control that uses torque vectoring across all the wheels via precise control of the electric motors and minute application of electronic braking. Together they are constantly and instantly adapting to a mathematical model of grip for the conditions in real-time.

The system is ultra-fast, continuously analyzing steering, acceleration and grip to anticipate traction loss before it occurs. It can use the Nuvolari’s active aerodynamics too. QPR proactively adjusts downforce via adaptive aerodynamic surfaces and the rear wing to maintain stability.

It sounds like being driven by AI but drivers can fine-tune the Quattro Predictive Ride by switching between the five modes selected on the steering wheel to balance comfort, efficiency and aggressive performance.

The Nuvolari's QPR system goes way beyond the Lamborghini equivalent thanks to a new generation of faster and more accurate 3D sensors. Think how sophisticated the near-instant data processing has to be to cope with the output of each of the sensors which constantly measures three dimensions of linear and three of angular acceleration.

Having fielded a grand prix team this year for the first time since the 1930s, Audi is hoping to ride the F1 wave with its new supercar. It’s named after Tazio Nuvolari, a successful 30s Auto Union racing driver.

The car’s unveiling in Monaco, on the eve of the Monaco Grand Prix, caught media and industry unprepared. Everyone assumed Audi was about to announce a new electric-vehicle (EV) concept but it turned out to be a proper production car. Audi plans 499 units, all left-hand-drive and costing over half a million GBP each, which converts to around US$670,000.

In an era where prototypes are constantly trailed by spy photographers and leaked through endless teasers, Audi had somehow kept the entire 14-month development a secret until it dropped the car globally at a luxury hotel in Antibes just outside Monaco.

Audi had previously signaled a shift to purely electric vehicles so this brutal high-revving hybrid twin-turbo V8 was totally unexpected. In addition, it’s actually the most powerful and fastest production car in Audi's history.

Nuvolari is a halo product that lifts Audi into new territory. It’s not an R8 suburban supercar, the brand is now punching up into the million-dollar hypercar bracket. Ferrari, whose shares tumbled after the recent lukewarm Luce launch, had better pay attention.

Source: Audi