Out of this world
The R8 may be the fastest Audi yet, but can it fly? All the way to space and back?

Words by John Silcox
Photography by Juan Trujillo Andrades

THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED HERE IN AUDI MAGAZINE

You couldn’t imagine a more unlikely site for the launch of  a space mission than Worrall Park, just north of Sheffield. This area is a green haven, where dog-walkers can enjoy views of the countryside around the ‘steel city’. But today it will also be the starting point for an out-of-this-world journey. Our mission? To send an Audi into space for the very first time.

It may sound impossible – but there are a few caveats: the car in question, an Audi R8, is actually a 1:43 scale model, and ‘space’ is actually the high stratosphere, about 20-30 miles high. That’s three times as high as Everest, and way above the ozone layer.

‘During the Audi’s flight, it will still technically remain within the Earth’s atmosphere,’ explains Dan Blaney, who’s lending us his expertise on today’s mission. Dan is an engineer from Sent Into Space, a Sheffield-based start-up that specialises in launching objects using helium-filled weather balloons. ‘At that altitude you get some incredible space imagery such as the curvature of the Earth and the blue ring of the ozone. Plus there’s no firm boundary to where outer space actually starts, so you’re not going to get into trouble for making such a claim.’

For us, our little stunt is jumping on the back of a scientific experiment, helping the team from Sent Into Space to track data and develop a better understanding of how high-altitude winds works. Our second goal is to highlight the fact that Audi is taking part in a real space mission in 2018: two ‘lunar quattros’ will be sent to the Moon to capture high-resolution video imagery and help scientists learn more about that familiar lump of rock in our night sky.

We fill the helium weather balloon and attach the R8 to a special payload that carries the measuring instruments and cameras, as well as the landing parachute that should bring everything back to ground in one piece. Then we release it all and watch it float rapidly upwards into the sky. Dan has run some simulation flights on his computer and expects the journey to take around two hours, but it’s hard to be exact. 

‘The actual course the balloon finally takes depends on when the balloon will burst,’ he explains. ‘When it is on the ground it measures a few metres in diameter but at altitude it can measure more than 10 metres in diameter. It’s impossible to accurately predict how long it will hold out before popping.’

We’re able to track the flight in our Audi Q5 S line 2.0 TDI quattro. Dan sits in the front passenger seat and monitors the R8’s position from his laptop, using the signals that are being emitted from the beacons in the payload. As we drive, he gives us updates on the location and altitude of the flight. 

To start with, the balloon travels due east as it climbs. After about an hour and a half, Dan gives an excited shout. ‘We have beaten our all-time record in altitude,’ he claims. ‘I can’t believe it. Today is the first time we have ever had a launch that has gone over 40km!’

Then he reveals that the balloon has burst roughly above Hull, and is being pushed west by another wind channel. According to Dan’s calculations, the R8 will land somewhere in the Howardian Hills north of York – so we speed up.

The final miles of the journey are a race against time. There is traffic on the motorway, and then we have to tackle muddy, narrow country lanes, where quattro technology comes into its own.

Suddenly, Dan shouts at us to stop, and we all jump out and look to the sky. Before long an orange parachute comes into view and passes over us, landing in a field a few hundred metres away.  

We sprint over to the spot to retrieve the R8. Upon impact with the ground the model has sustained slight damage to the wing mirror, but otherwise it is intact. It appears that it was put together with the same dedication to quality that all Audis are made with.

The all-important footage is on the camera’s memory card, and we hurry to load it onto Dan’s computer. An image loads onto the screen as proof of our success: a shining red Audi R8 floating in the sky on the boundary between the sheer blackness of space and the benign blue curvature of planet Earth. Ingolstadt: mission accomplished.