Super sports cars are an exciting and highly emotional world in themselves. Only racing cars can give you even more goosebumps. With the With 640 hp at 1,400 kg, a limited edition of 99 units and the simply breathtaking look of a racing machine, the street-legal racer is aimed at sporty drivers and motorsport enthusiasts. This uniqueness gives the XGT a special appeal that will also delight collectors.
As a traditional racing team, ABT Sportsline has contested more than 300 races in the DTM since 2000, achieved dozens of individual victories and over 250 podium places and is currently the most successful active DTM team. The best conditions for an ambitious project like the XGT. But it’s more than just a project: “The challenge itself was the motivation to develop this unique complete vehicle. “The XGT is the quintessence of our heritage,” Hans-Jürgen Abt explains proudly. Because it wasn’t easy to get the GT2 racing car onto the road – the requirements of motorsport and road traffic are too far apart.
“It took two very intensive years from the idea to completion” says ABT Sportsline managing director Thomas Biermaier, who came up with the idea for the XGT after an exciting and successful race together with Ernst Christian Scherer, managing director of Scherer Sport. Biermaier and Scherer have had the dream of tackling such a project for a long time. Now things got serious: “Our engineers and mechanics had to overcome some difficult challenges.”
With around 40 individual approvals, the months-long approval process went beyond the scope of conventional vehicle development. The highlight: Visually, the road version only differs slightly from the GT2 racing car Audi R8 LMS. The XGT is not a super sports car with a racing look, but a street-legal racing car. Now 99 rolling chassis are waiting to be assembled by hand into individual pieces according to customer specifications.
Anyone who has always dreamed of sitting behind the wheel of a real racing car will get their money’s worth in the ABT XGT. The XGT is steered with a steering wheel specially made for the racing version. The technical modifications in the areas of thermal management, software and the highly complex vehicle diagnostic system were carefully implemented to preserve the character of the racing car. To make it suitable for everyday use, the standard refueling system was integrated, the instrument cluster was modified for civilian use and expanded to include a handbrake, central locking and even a reversing camera and immobilizer.
The control panel has been adapted to road traffic and controls the electrically adjustable exterior mirrors, the air conditioning and the indicators. At the same time, the special exhaust system including aftertreatment components had to meet the KBA’s exhaust gas specifications. Of course, the focus was also on safety: a complete XGT vehicle was used in the demanding side and front crash tests and, in extensive tests, all KBA specifications regarding brakes and noise levels were met.
In addition to the extensive driving tests, another maxim applied when developing the ABT XGT: as much of a race track feeling as possible. To achieve this, the XGT completed thousands of kilometers on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, the Sachsenring and the Hockenheimring to find the perfect setup. In addition to DTM driver Kelvin van der Linde, DTM driver and Scherer brand ambassador Ricardo Feller – both of whom will also compete for ABT in 2024 – ABT Motorsport director Martin Tomczyk and racing driver and Scherer brand ambassador Frank Stippler were also used as development Driver.
Your unsurprising conclusion: “The driving behavior, steering behavior and acceleration are incomparable to any road car”. Thanks to the two-way adjustable chassis with modified springs, ambitious drivers have the opportunity to find their perfect setup for every race track.
Scherer Sport is the exclusive distributor and service provider for the XGT. This collaboration is based on a long-standing partnership and a shared passion for motorsport, which is why it was natural to bring this unique project onto the road together. Customers can choose from four different color concepts; The manual implementation makes individual solutions and variants possible. The price of the ABT XGT starts at 598,000 euros including VAT.
Who exhibited the unique ABT there. In addition, the XGT will of course also be presented at ABT Sportsline in Kempten.
