This is one story that sounds a little hard to believe given the secrecy that usually surrounds new models but hey, stranger things have happened.

According to the folks over at AudiWorld a few Florida based current owners of R8’s have been handed Audi’s much rumoured and speculated upon V10 version – for evaluation purposes of course. Hard to believe…you bet!

Even harder to believe is that Audi would trust a bunch of off-the-street petrolheads with the secret and while I am sure there were all sorts of agreements signed before the keys were handed over, the secrecy agreement appears to have been ignored with these pictures and even a video hitting the blogosphere overnight.

So what we see here appears to be proof that a V10 version of the R8 (RS8?) does exist. Aside from the extra two cylinders the most notable difference is the revised fascia and oval exhaust pipes.

The V10 will be the same basic engine found in the current RS6, although it is not known if the twin-turbo set-up will be included in the transplant – listening to the engine note in the video (between the heavy breathing and giggling) it certainly sounds naturally aspirated.

[Source: GermanCarBlog]