Yesterday was the 2nd round of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring. There were four factory backed Audi’s participating as well as five independent teams. There was a total of 147 rated cars that took part in the 4 hour race at the famous 16.123 mi combined circuit. It was a tough race for the factory Audi’s as they faced strong competition from the Porsche 911 GT3 Rs and BMW Z4s. Phoenix Racing was able to finish a respectable 5th place in one of the toughest racing series in the world. We look forward to seeing Audi progress in the series with the addition of the R8 LMS ultra in the future.
Continue reading ‘Round 2: VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring’
Words by: Robert S. Schultz, Photos by author
The 2011 Audi TT has been a long time coming to the U.S. Audi introduced the refreshed model a full year ago in Germany, and while a few TTS versions arrived last fall, the base 2.0 TT is only now appearing at a dealer near you.
Maybe the wait has been even longer, though. The second generation TT has yet to outrun the shadow of its groundbreaking predecessor. Blame overly cautious styling, familial competition from the more flamboyant and spacious A5, or the economy. Sales of the Mk. 2 TT have struggled to gain traction in America.
Audi could well have withdrawn the TT from our market in favor of models that are more in demand. But give Audi credit. They still consider the TT a halo car and have burnished its image with a host of improvements for 2011, not the least of which is the automaker’s versatile 211-hp powerplant. Is this the TT we’ve been expecting all along?
It was clear from discussions with Audi executives at the presentation of the TT RS in Chicago that they feel the entire 2011 TT line represents a better value. Since the base 2.0 version will likely make up the majority of sales, spending a week with one will help put Audi’s value proposition to the test.
Continue reading ‘Audi Torques the 2011 TT’
