10 Second / 500 Whp Audi S8
We've recently completed some tuning for one of our great clients. The owner is a very particular and discerning owner aimed to get some serious output from his Audi, while keeping its daily drivability and well mannered road presence.
Thankfully these AWD beasts start off a high base with a potent 4L V8 twin turbo Audi powerplant and 8 speed gearbox. Factory output of 520 BHP at the engine and a claimed 0 - 100 of 3.9 seconds. So with that in mind we got to work understanding what the tune should look like and what the ideal upgrade path would be to create a supercar rivalling sleeper.
Before tuning
To get a baseline we headed over to our friends at RPD to use their AWD Dyno Dynamics Dyno and the car in stock trim recorded a very impressive 378 horsepower at the wheels (whp) and a strong 529 Nm of torque.
After a good chat we settled on the use of some Capristo Downpipes and Mid pipes which free up the major bottlenecks for exhaust flow on these bi turbo V8s. Also these added that little bit of extra V8 bark without becoming obnoxious. With the pipes installed, they made a great difference by themselves, immediately improving throttle response and some additional low end torque. But this wasn't going to cut it, the essential ingredient was to be a Stage 2 Audi S8 remap to capitalise on the additional airflow.
After tuning
After we'd applied our Flashtuned Stage 2 remap and took it for the first test drive the results were immediately impressive. In Dynamic Sport mode the car had now taken a whole new personality, no longer a fast yet cruisy sleeper, this thing was now a seriously angry beast. Thankfully the AWD system does a good job of putting all the newfound ponies to the ground. We also calibrated some subtle yet tough exhaust burble and cracks in the sports setting. Thankfully as was desired, this S8 remains a well behaved, quiet and comfortable drive when in its none-sport setting.
Back on the dyno again and we saw a very impressive increase. With the upgrades installed and our Stage 2 remap we've managed to produce a whopping 504 all wheel horsepower and a face mashing 754 Nm of torque. That's a 42% increase in torque over the standard output, and by crikey does it show when you drive the thing.
How fast is this thing really?...
After the remapping and dyno, the owner was rightfully stoked with the results, however while chatting afterwards we both agreed it would be fantastic to get this thing on the strip and see what the new power could achieve over the 1/4 mile.
During a one of our Kwinana Motorplex Whoopass Wednesdays we were enthusiastically thrown the keys to put down some times.
Its worth noting that for this 1/4 mile run, the car was driven to the strip in street trim. No weight reduction at all, seats all intact, tyres were the normal street tread (nothing impressive or particularly track worthy), tyre pressures were maintained at the manufacturer prescribed pressures for street driving and when we started were running about 1/2 a tank of fuel. And to top it all off I am by no means a 1/4 mile super star.
It took us a few runs to get the ideal launch dialled in and every pass we could see the car was very capable of a serious time, and boy did it deliver. Achieving a 10.94 ET @ 201 km/hr!!
