The world has long awaited the arrival of the Audi RS5 which will be a high performing RS variant of the A5 mid-size executive coupe. The news is that the arrival of Audi RS5 is hopefully around the corner as a brochure with 18 images of the beast has hit the web. The brochure comes laden with some stunning RS5 images but unfortunately, it doesn’t talk about the engine details and the performance specs.

What the brochure does mention are three types of seating and four types of wheel design choices. As far as gear transmission is concerned, the RS5 will only feature the 7-speed dual clutch S-tronic unit as the catalog doesn’t talk about a six-speed option. Slated to debut at the Geneva motor show next month, the high-performing commuters’ engine is still a mystery and it could stage anything from a Supercharged V6 to the 5.2-liter V10 from the R8.

Spying up on a 2010 Audi RS5 has to be a real adventure. I mean imagine that you should chase that monster on a highway … Yes, I know, it sounds hard. Due to be launched next year in July, the two-doors sports car has been found doing circles at Nürburgring. And it was wearing a stylish new retractable rear spoiler. With a rumored 4.2-litre V8 engine paired to a 6-speed manual or 7-speed DSG gearbox, the new RS5 is expected to output a good 450hp (331kW), to feature quattro AWD and a set of two massive oval tailpipes for an amazing “roaring” sound and a tinge of agressiveness. Looks like a winner all the way down, don’t you think? [germancarscene.com via WCF]

It seems that these days the first look that we are getting of the big, fancy cars is when they are still on testing tracks and long way away from release. Coming from Nürburgring, Germany, the spy pictures of the Audi RS5 reveal the small rear spoiler integrated into the boot, wide fenders, two massive oval tailpipes. And big air intakes at the front, pointing towards an engine that needs its fair share of fresh air and apparently is making quite a beautiful sound as it races across the RS5! At this point it looks like the RS5 will be powered by a 4.2-litre V8 twin-turbocharged engine which could have an output of around 450hp. The car is scheduled for release in July 2010, so its release could not be too far away. [via WCF]

The new-to-come Audi RS5 has been spotted at Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. It’s big teaser to all of us waiting to know more and see it running the streets we live in, but except for these pictures where you can see the beautiful quad exhaust pipes we don’t know for sure what the final design will be. I just hope for an angry face that will charm the ladies.

The new Audi RS5 is expected to debut in Detroit in January and a possible “configuration” is a 4.0-liter turbocharged TFSI V8 engine that will develop 450 hp. Want one? -via WCF

Most, if not all Ferraris are developed on the twists and turns of Fiorano. But its safe to assume that the most track focused production car that Ferrari has ever produced, the 430 Scuderia (although based on the F430, the F is dropped) has spent more than the average time being thrashed around Fiorano in its development.

Fiorano Circuit is the private track owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes. It is located near the Italian town of Maranello.

It’s 3.1Km long. Average F1 lap speed is over 160 Km/h and top speed of only 290 Km/h. Because it’s a testing track, it has many different kinds of turns and corners, with corner diameters between 13 and 0.3 meters. All in all it has a lot of similarities with most European GP circuits. Fiorano has witnessed many great Ferrari drivers at work such as Lauda, Prost, Mansell, Alesi and of course Schumacher. Also you’ll find many tourists clawing on perimeter fences hoping to get a glimpse of a new model being tested. And most people say if you more than lucky to be in Maranello when the F1 team is testing, you are bound to hear the sound of the cars wailing at 19000rpm echoeing through the town from far on the Modenese wind.

However, like the Nurburgring, there is much myth and mystery surrounding lap times at the circuit. Some are official and others not as they are posted by various drivers or the very lucky few journalists like Fifth Gear’s Tiff Needell that gets invited to the track, of which a video can be seen on a earlier post on CarBlog.

So coming back to the shoot out, here is a sample of the current times held at Fiorano:

F2004 (Schumacher, 2004) 0.55.999

F2007 (Massa, 2007) 0.58.360

FXX Evolution (2007) 1.14.000(est)

FXX (2005) 1.16.200

Enzo (2002) 1.25.000

430 Scuderia (2007) 1.25.000

360 Challenge Stradale(2003) 1.26.500

599 GTB Fiorano (2006) 1.26.500

F430 (2005) 1.27.000

So it can be seen the 430 Scuderia is as fast as the Enzo and the 360CS as fast as the 599 which is extremely impressive. But due to nature of the turns at Fiorano, the Enzo struggles to get to its limit. On any other track with longer straights the 430 Scuderia might be in the shadow of the Enzo and who knows the 360CS in the shadow of the 599, but never the less they up there with the best of them besides of course the old V10 F2004 of Schumacher (as apposed to the new F1 V8s ) which just seemed to have been in a league of its own with a whopping 55.9 seconds record that still stands today.

(Lap times sourced from Evo magazine)

The Gumpert Apollo (pronounced gum-pair-h) is the first supercar produced by Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Germany. The project is the creation of Roland Gumpert, a former Audi employee who oversaw many a rallying success working as competitions chief in their Quattro division. Gumpert’s partner is Roland Mayer, the boss of German tuning house MTM. (more…)

Audi is busy prepping three new versions of its new A5 coupe – headlined by this blistering 450bhp RS5 that arrives early next year to take on its new BMW M3 and Mercedes C63 rivals. Like all R models, the topdog A5 has been fully developed by Quattro, Audi’s in-house go-fast engineering team.

As our impressions show, the RS5 will get the full Quattro treatment. The glorious high-revving 4.2-litre V8 that powers the RS4 gets plumbed into the RS5’s nose, complete with two small and highly responsive turbochargers that will take peak power up to the 450bhp. That’s not a great deal more than the S5’s 354bhp, but the RS5 searing pace will come from its phenomenal blower-enhanced torque – expect at least 500lb ft of twist action to plateau across the rev range.

Read more after the jump