Eight years on from the car’s introduction, and the mirror unit in the Audi R8 reflects wondrous, scarcely believable things. The R8, which entered production in mid-2007, has presided over a growth curve at Audi that would flatter any company not named Apple. It might be hyperbolic to credit the German brand’s global sales surge to a mid-engine, $100,000-plus coupe that has shifted roughly 60,000 units worldwide – a mere 8,500 cars per year. Then again, it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to call the R8 one of the most magnetic sports cars ever produced.

Fascinating Cars of 2014 Editor Matthew Phenix and deputy editor Jonathan Schultz revisited the most fascinating cars of the year. Click here for more honorees.

That 2015 marks the end of first-gen car’s run would be cause enough to bequeath laurels. Instead, as it readies a long-rumoured replacement, Audi redraws the current R8’s performance profile with the R8 Competition, a car that explodes the “poor man’s Lamborghini” myth – a backhanded compliment lobbed at the R8, repeatedly, over its lifespan.

More than any other R8 variant, the Competition delivers on the coupe’s innate exoticism. “Side blades”, colour-configurable diagonal panels just aft of the coupe’s doors, immediately sound more fearsome when affixed to a car that hits 60mph from a standstill in 3.2 seconds, and charges to a rev-limited top speed of 199mph. The 60 cars in the Competition run all receive ceramic brakes, carbon-fibre trim pieces and tidily integrated diffusers front and back.

As its name suggests, the model commemorates the R8’s racing successes, particularly at Le Mans, Daytona and the Nürburgring. But the Competition is more than an R8 prone to humblebragging. It celebrates the ascent of its maker, and sets the bar tantalisingly high for what may follow.

Second Opinion: Chevrolet Corvette Z06

With 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is the most powerful production model ever built by General Motors. But this is merely the uppermost of the top-dog Corvette’s superheroic feats. In its home market, the Z06 coupe (there’s also a convertible) starts at $79,995 – a figure that is some $5,000 lower than the least expensive Porsche 911, yet the Corvette’s 6.2-litre supercharged V8 engine eclipses the output of the twin-turbo flat-six in the top-spec 911 Turbo S by a huge 90hp and 134lb-ft. The Z06 will howl from zero to 60mph in 2.95 seconds – quicker than the $85,000 Dodge Viper SRT, quicker than the $102,000 Nissan GT-R, quicker than the $323,000 Ferrari F12berlinetta. That, I’d say, merits fascination, and obsession. – Matthew Phenix

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