The R8 is Audi’s ridiculous car. On Twitter, it’s what people are hashtagging. On the street, it’s what people are photographing. In movies, it’s what action stars are driving. And in our dreams, it’s what we’re flying.
A fellow who calls himself Shmee120—either that or we want to high-five his mom—made a video dedicated to the Audi R8’s exhaust note. The video—shot with admirable quality—lets us get an earful of the R8’s V10 engine in its natural, singing-in-the-shower-mode, as well as with a custom titanium valvetronic system from ARMYTRIX.
Now, a normal R8 already sounds fantastic. There are dozens of YouTube videos dedicated to its timbre, its depth, its vibrato, its thunder, and its quake. Aftermarket systems like ARMYTRIX’s, however, do more than make your car’s Charlton Heston sound like Heston and James Earl Jones and Daniel Day-Lewis. Exhaust system tuning is about managing the flow of heat.
All the pipes that take exhaust gases away from the engine can wind and twist as they reach the rear of your vehicle. It’s like a garden hose that gets stepped on or bent. Pressure builds up in those twists, which retains the hot gases, and makes your engine overheat. Simpler designs keeps hot gases flowing as quickly as possible, and keeps your air intake cool, as it should be. Better temperature means better performance.
You can hear the difference as the R8 kicks on its special system, and the camera even shows the switch flicking into place. Unlike BMW’s M3 or M5, the R8’s exhaust note is all-natural, and is not modified digitally for passengers. The audio fidelity in Shmee120’s video is pretty good, aside from the external camera when the car is driving (did they think wind noise wouldn’t be a factor?). Very nice.