The news of Audi R8 caught fire during Super Car rally held at Bandra-Worli sea link Mumbai spread like a fire in the jungle across the country. As per tweets by Mumbaikars on twitter the Audi R8 was on fire during the rally today. The fire was immediately shut down by fire service personals. Anyhow there were no news about any injury to the humans.
From this image, we can see there is actually nothing left on the composite sections of the car as fire fighters move material away with shovels to slow down the burn. This is was definitely an unhappy day for one Indian supercar owner.
The unconfirmed sources say Audi R8 was burnt to hell due to some spark in the engine. This was not the first time that Audi R8 has caught fire, earlier there were 2 similar incidents which has been reported in Netherlands (2009) and Toronto (2012). After VW Vento and Skoda Rapid this was third incident reported under Volkswagen domain in India. So, Volkswagen get ready to answer for some serious questions?
Updated – The folks at Rushlane report that although the incident took place during the 2013 Parx Supercar Rally which began from the Mahalaxmi Race Course, the Audi R8 sportscar which was engulfed by flames, was not part of the event. Co-incidentally, Head of Audi India, Michael Perschke was also the part of this rally, and he too was driving an Audi R8 along with India’s Formula 1 driver, Karun Chandhok.
Speaking to the media about the incident, Michael said they are currently looking into the car and have found parts which suggest that the completely burnt down R8 had been modified by the owner. He asked media to be patient and added that he will give more update as soon as possible. Also the identity of the owner of the burnt Audi R8 is not yet ascertained, as he was not a part of the Supercar Rally.
Gautam Singhania, Founder and Chairman of the Supercar club of India, who too was a part of the Rally, addressed the media stating that the car did not belong to their club. He added that the Audi R8, in the picture here, raced at a very fast speed and overtake their cars who participated in the Rally. In doing so, the Audi R8 caught fire.
Being an experienced supercar driver, Gautam was asked, what could be the reason behind the fire that engulfed Audi R8. To this he replied that the manufacturer will be able to give a better answer. He later tweeted. “Today had a unique opportunity to save an unknown hapless driver out of an Audi R8 which caught fire on Sea Link, along with my SCC members.”
Check out the video below the jump.
Also see – 2013 Audi R8 sportscar launched in India at Rs. 1.34 crore
Source – Rushlane
Image Credit – MadhokNiketan (on Twitter)
