When Kyle Loftis stepped into the garage at AMS Performance to pick up his 2017 Audi R8, his expectations were high. Then, they were exceeded. The crew had been working on this build for over three weeks, shoe-horning the Alpha Twin Turbo Kit into the mid-engine V10 powered Audi.
Upon start-up, the car reveals an aggressive note from the exhaust system. “It’s alive!” exclaimed Loftis. “It sounds so good.” Next, the car and crew were off to the dyno.
Watch The First Test Drive of This AWD Beast
After a few shakedown pulls, Martin Musial, the owner of AMS, starts dialing up the boost. The supplied Motec ECU allows for five map settings, corresponding to everything from pump gas all the way up to an E85 ethanol fuel blend.
Musial tweaks the ECU settings through his laptop and braces for a full pull. The titanium exhaust pipes are turning six shades of purple from the heat. On pump gas, he’s getting 900 horsepower with 8 psi of boost. Running E80 fuel, the dyno screen reads out 1,225 hp at 8,210 rpm and 14 psi of boost.
First Impressions: The Audi R8’s Maiden Voyage
Now it's time to buckle up for a spin in the all-wheel-drive Audi. Loftis turns down the power to map 2 due to the cold weather and sub-optimal road conditions. After a bit of acceleration testing accompanied by spontaneous laughter, the guys call it a day.
The next morning, they’re back in the Audi doing standing starts. The car proceeds to launch like a moon rocket. “It’s so smooth. You feel just a little bit of slip,” he says. “I’m going to love driving this thing.”
What's In the Alpha Twin Turbo Kit?
AMS supplies the Alpha kit as a turn-key package, and a look at the product spec sheet shows that they’ve sweated all the details. For example, testing showed that there was a substantial air leak in the stock intake manifold under positive pressure, so the team designed a custom billet intake manifold. In order to keep down intake air temperatures, they included a water-based cooling system. Air-to-water intercoolers mounted inside the engine bay are plumbed to front-mounted heat exchangers. TiAL blow-off valves and wastegates keep the boost in check.
Loftis sums up the build nicely in his YouTube video. “1200 horsepower and it’s so little drama,” he said. “It’s just g-forces and turbo noises. Exactly what I wanted.”
Source: YouTube, AMS Performance