New car: 2011 Audi R8 GT

When the Italians build a special edition supercar, it usually a zillion horsepower, a paint shade that could be seen from Mars, and a neon belly dancer affixed to the rear wing.

When you see it, you know it's special.

But when the Germans do it™it's usually a bit more subtle. While it will hit the same supersonic speeds as the Italian car, the German supercar usually it does it in a nerdy, scientific way.

So, think of the Audi R8 GT as™a supercar, with a pocket protector.

What they did was, took a V10 R8 and tweaked the engine management software. This added 35 extra horsepower, bringing the total to 560-hp.

, they reduced the car's weight by 100 kg's.

The windshield is made from thinner glass. The bulkhead between the passenger, and the engine, along with the window over the engine is made from lightweight polycarbonate. Saving a total of 20lbs.

The front boot lid is made from thinner steel (5lbs saved). The rear hatch, back bumper, side blades, rear wing, and the rear diffuser are made from carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) for a savings of 31lbs.

Inside, there's new lightweight carpet (-17lbs), and the seat frames are made from glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) (69lbs saved).

The side blades are even made from a matte finished carbon fibre composite.

After putting the R8 on a diet, they tweaked the aerodynamics.

By adding a bunch of carbon fibre fins, and slats, Audi engineers were able to give the R8 GT more downforce at speed than the stock R8 5.2 FSI.

This no doubt aides the R8 GT's impressive performance numbers:

0-100km/h: 3.6 seconds

Top speed: 320 km/h