It may look like a boggo Gallardo being hammered around the Nürburgring, but have a close look at the exhaust layout of the Lamborghini and you'll spot some rough and ready bodywork - and four smaller exhausts rather than the traditional two drainpipe-sized tailpipes. That's because this mule is running the all-alloy direct injection V8 from the Audi R8.This is a cut-price Gallardo. That's the thinking behind pilfering Audi's powerplant, but it's all relative, remember. The current V10 Gallardo costs £127,000, so expect this new derivative to cost around £105,000 – a decent saving but still enough of a premium over the £76,825 Audi R8 to justify its Raging Bull badge. Expect it to arrive at the Geneva motor show early next year, with a Spyder to follow for the start of 2009, neatly fulfilling Lamborghini's promise of a 'new' model each year.
It may steal the R8's engine, but don't expect the Gallardo to play second fiddle to the Audi. Although the superb V8 will get a mild power hike to around 430bhp, the Gallardo's lighter kerbweight (130kg less than the R8's) will give it a useful – and, from a marketing point of view, absolutely essential – in-gear performance advantage over the R8. Expect it to rip to 60mph in 4.5 seconds and on to a 195mph top speed.