Would be weird to go neck and neck with a car in a race only to have a look at the driver only to find him eating a sandwich and not paying attention to the road. Or how about looking over and finding no one behind the wheel. That should f*ck your nerves up big time. Maybe that’s what Audi is trying to do developing a “driverless” TT.

The “driverless” car will see some action in next year’s American Pikes Peak Hill Climb event. While, Audi will not be able to bag prizes for the car, they say they’re doing it as a tech showcase.

The car is equipped with guidance systems using some really fancy telementry with a 20-mile range.

The technology is aimed to eventually trickle down to production cars to help drivers out in times of distraction or amateurish driving. Audi learned this lesson when amateurs go around with the old TT only to crash them due to some spirited driving.

Source: CAR

Now for today’s tuning madness. With all modern cars relying on the computer to run, a simple remapping and tweaking the ECU’s settings. Through an ECU tweak, German tuner McChip is able to get a whole lot more out of the range-topping Audi TT RS.

McChip’s treatment boosts the turbo and pumps more fuel into the engine. The result is a power jump from a (mere) 335 bhp to 380 bhp. It’s max torque is a massive 405 lb-ft enabling the car to go to a blistering 186 mph – supercar territory.

As for acceleration, it trims the 0-62mph time by 0.6 seconds from 4.7 seconds to 4.1 seconds, making the car even quicker than the Audi R8 supercar. How about that? And the McChip ECU tweak only costs £770. With that much performance from a TT, who needs an R8?

Well, you still have to check the changes in fuel efficiency and emissions due to this ECU tweak. A boosted turbo and more fuel pumped into the engine also means the car will guzzle gas. McChip hasn’t provided figures for that though.

Details of Audi’s new Audi TT RS have been released, along with a teaser image and a sound clip featuring the roar made by the TT RS’s turbocharged engine. From what we can tell, it’s bound to be a stunner when it is formally unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

The TT RS will have a 2.5-liter five-cylinder turbocharged V10 engine under the hood, pushing the car to 340 brake horsepower at 330 lb.-ft. of torque. To top that off, the power plant is equipped with direct injection technology, which guarantees improved fuel efficiency. Top speed is pegged at 155 mph, with an option for a raise to 175 mph.

The engine is mated to a quattro 4WD and a six-speed manual transmission. Sources say that the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is unlikely to be available for the TT RS. The car has also been given styling updates, including a rear spoiler and intakes resembling those of the R8’s.

The coupe version of the Audi TT RS is set to go on sale next week, with a roadster version due sometime later in 2009.

Source: Autocar