(See Post 5 here for the final result)
Very exciting day for me today as I officially handed my car over to the magician Gary at TJR Bodyworx in Birmingham to begin work on my genuine R8 LMS body conversion.
Over the last 6-12 months I've been collecting genuine Audi Sport R8 LMS carbon fibre parts. Many thanks to the superb @R8-Stuff for finding/sourcing over 80% of it and helping me with his knowledge and access to the LMS blueprints.
Base car
I have a 2013 facelift Gen1 R8 V10 plus S-Tronic with just 22k miles. This includes the Carbon Ceramic brakes, bucket seats and all the interior carbon.
Build
I've opted to go with the pre-Ultra spec R8 LMS (2010-2012). I much prefer the OEM look of the panels and wheel arches compared to the crude manner of the Ultra flares.
Here's a list of the parts going into the build:
Body
Genuine R8 LMS Parts:
- Front Bumper
- Front Splitter/Floor
- Front Canards (4-piece LMS Cup variant)
- Front Grille
- Vented Hood
- Front Arch Liners
- Front Fenders
- Wing Mirrors
- Side Skirts
- Ultra Sideblades (just had to go extra wide
) - Rear Quarter Panels
- Rear Arch Liners
- Rear Bumper
- Rear Wing + Chassis-mounted Uprights + Endplates
- Rear Baseplate
- Special Edition GTD Diffuser
And the pièce de résistance... the super rare GTD Diffuser brand new from Audi Sport:
Exhaust
R8 LMS Center Exit Exhausts (Catted) but keeping the stock manifold.
Suspension
I have the KW V3 + HLS4 Hydraulic lift coilovers being fitted to the car to give me that needed lift mechanism to save the car from roads and speed bumps.
Wheels
Jury is still out on wheels for the build. I'm looking to have the genuine R8 LMS OZ Magnesium Centerlock wheels and have sent one of the wheels to Braid who are looking at making a custom set of Centerlock Adapters for me. If that doesn't pan-out I may just resort to a set of retail 5-bolt OZ wheels then look to do a centerlock conversion at some point in future. Watch this space.
Finish
The entire car will be finished in exposed super-gloss carbon fibre. To complete this look Gary will be carbon-skinning the roof, doors and tailgate for me (I opted against the LMS rear-hatch as I'm not really a fan and soooo much crap would end up in the engine bay from where I live). Gary will be working to ensure the weave of the carbon skinning lines up as perfect as possible with neighbouring panels.
I will also be having a few parts painted including the front LMS grille and the fuel cap which will be all gloss black
Fitment
Naturally, any GT3 conversion requires alot of magic to fit properly but thanks to Osman (@R8-Stuff) I've studied the LMS blueprints and acquired all the genuine LMS fixings, brackets and bars as well as all genuine bolts from Audi. It's surprising how much of the GT3 racecar is shared with the roadcar. Gary agreed that the way Audi have done it makes it by far one of the most straightfoward conversions he's seen.
Cooling
However one of the key differences in the LMS racecar is the cooling. The LMS car does not have the side coolers; only one large center radiator from which the hot air is directed out upward through the vented hood. This means that the wheel arch liners are not vented and the splitter floor is also not vented like the stock car.
For my personal use I am looking to keep the frunk so I will not be doing the full center radiator conversion. I also plan to therefore keep the side coolers also like stock. This means cutting out the front bumper side grill vents and I will be having small vents cut into the wheel arch liners, along with two exit vents cut into the splitter/floor. In addition to this Gary will be closing the vented hood with a smart carbon panel and drainage solution (to prevent my frunk filling with water!).
I'll be keeping the brake duct intake pipes built into the front bumper for a future enhancement where I plan to complete the piped LMS brake ducting to the front brakes.
Timeframe
The entire build is estimated to take about 6 weeks but I will keep this thread up to date with any updates as I get them.
And for those of you who don't know who TJR Bodyworx are, they're the magicians who just built Phil from Driftworks' Murcielago GT1. Really looking forward to seeing their work first hand.
