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By Johan Laubscher
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The Audi R8 LMS ultra has been a formidable force in the world of GT3 racing. The race version of the R8 has always resembled the road going version very closely, along with the various modification to produce a FIA GT3 specification
racer. Both the original road-going Audi R8 and Audi R8 LMS race cars will always be beautiful.
During 2012 Audi unveiled the new facelifted version of the Audi R8 and
immediately speculation arose surrounding the race car. Would we see an updated
version of the Audi R8 LMS ultra? Would there be a visual upgrade package for
the existing cars? These were just some of the questions that arose, and it is
not difficult to see why. The original Audi R8 was breathtaking, and the
facelift has not been revolutionary, as it only introduced subtle, yet tasteful styling changes. The visual differences include new front and rear lights and a
revised shape to the grill and intakes. The rest of the car’s basic shape and layout has
remained unchanged.
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This opens the possibility of easily changing the appearance
of exiting and subsequent Audi R8 LMS and Audi R8 LMS ultra cars. The only
difference would be to replace the front and rear lights and the front nose section. The rest
of the car remains intact, and the end result would be a facelifted Audi R8 LMS ultra race
car.
Will we see optional styling upgrade packages for the existing cars?
Or will the Audi R8 LMS ultra cars delivered in 2013 all be wearing the new
Audi R8 face? Only time will tell.
The crew over at INR8.com (The new Audi R8 focused website) and its sister website Fourtitude, have created a few very interesting photoshop renders. They have taken five of the original Audi R8 LMS ultra press photos and converted them to the new facelift. The original posting of the INR8 facelifted images can be seen HERE. The results look amazing, and allow us a glimpse of what a facelifted Audi R8 LMS ultra could look like.
Will we ever see this beautiful new face representing Audi Sport
customer racing on track in the future? We certainly hope so.
More information:
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Special thanks to INR8 and Fourtitude for allowing us to use these images.
Editors note: All images are photoshops
