Audi R8 V10 Spider

Our photographers have captured a pre-production Audi R8 V10 Spider driven by Robert Downey Jr. while filming a scene for the upcoming Iron Man II movie.

The highly anticipated Roadster will be offered with the same 5.2-litre V10 from the coupe with 525hp and 530Nm of torque.

Judging by the coupe’s performance the Roadster will be incredibly quick. Acceleration to 62mph should take about 4.1 seconds whilst going all the way up to around 180mph. These figures are slightly down on the V10 coupe only because of extra weight added for chassis strengthening.

The Spider has kept the V10 styling cues of the coupe that differentiate it from the V8 model, such as a chrome grille, LED headlights and larger exhaust tips.

Elsewhere, the Spider differs from its coupe brother with the removal of the aluminium side plates, additional air intakes behind the seats and a pair of safety roll bars.

Audi will officially announce the V10 Spider at the Frankfurt Motor Show with plans to begin sales in late 2010 for about £105,000.