Auto For Speed

It’s hard to improve on greatness, so when Stasis Engineering offered us a short drive of its modified Audi R8 Spyder, we were excited and skittish. The last time we debarked from a stock Audi R8 5.2 FSI, we concluded that Audi had improved upon near-perfection. Could Stasis improve the R8 even further, or would its upgrades actually set the car back? We intend to find out.

So now I’m sitting in Stasis’ impeccable show car with Henry Hsu, the company’s director of engineering. When traffic clears, Hsu unhesitatingly double-slaps the R Tronic’s left paddle until a bright “2″ appears on the dash. Revs erupt as the twin oval pipes’ bark turns into a menacing roar. Eaton’s biggest automotive supercharger whines and churns at a maximum 7.5 PSI. Everything blurs. My eyes water. WHOA.

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British designer Niki Smart wants his concept to go to production.

Smart is the designer of the Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept which debuted at the Los Angeles motor show earlier this month. He believes that Cadillac needs a compact city car like the Urban Luxury in its lineup to compete against the likes of MINI.

“The time is ripe for Cadillac to make this car,” Smart said in an interview with Autocar. “We need a bigger spread of models, particularly for Europe. The MINI’s success is proof of people’s open-mindedness.”

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