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Audi R8 Drag Races New Audi RS e-tron GT Electric Sedan, Friendly Shots Fired

Just a quarter of a century ago, the General Motors EV1 proved that battery-electric vehicles can eventually replace internal combustion-engined vehicles. The automotive industry was pretty slow to adopt all-electric powertrains, but thanks to Tesla and ever-stringent emissions regulations, legacy automakers now spend billions of dollars on R&D.
Audi R8 vs RS e-tron GT: DRAG RACE *The quickest Audi revealed* 143 photos
Photo: Carwow on YouTube
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One of those brands is Volkswagen-owned Audi, which offers a reskinned Porsche Taycan by the name of e-tron GT. The four-ringed automaker from Ingolstadt sweetens the deal with a performance-oriented variant sold under the RS badge, and that car makes easy work of the R8 on the quarter-mile.

On the first run, Carwow’s Mat Watson launches harder and with less wheelspin than the mid-engined supercar with a free-breathing V10. Second time out on the runway, the R8 hooks up better though it loses yet again.

For some reason or another, the RS e-tron GT and the Lamborghini Huracan’s doppelgänger cross the line pretty much neck and neck in the third race. The GPS data reveals quarter-mile times of 10.9 and 11 seconds flat, which is pretty badass for a dirty airstrip that doesn’t feature PJ1 TrackBite (VHT).

Mat is quick to highlight that a 10.7-second sprint is possible in the bone-stock R8 V10 Performance on a cleaner and stickier track, but let’s be frank here for a moment. As long as internal combustion engines need revs to develop maximum torque, all-electric vehicles have the upper hand in terms of acceleration. Their only drawback is gearing although Audi and Porsche circumvent this snag by using a two-speed transmission. First gear is designed specifically for blistering straight-line performance while the taller top gear is meant to boost range at higher speeds (think highway cruising).

From a 50-mph (80-kph) roll, the RS e-tron GT picks up quicker than its gas-guzzling brother although it fails to keep up that gap by the half-mile mark. In the 70-mph (113-kph) brake test, the glorious-sounding R8 redeems itself again because it’s much lighter than the full-electric sedan.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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