Feature: Gated Keeper, a Manual Swapped R8 GT

This wasn’t David Sprague’s first go with an R8. He’d purchased his first, a V8 manual, back in 2022. That car met an untimely end when it was totaled after a minor front-end collision. He’d thought about other cars as a replacement but kept coming back to the R8 and the driving experience it offered. This time though, he wanted a V10.

David’s only real stipulation was that he wanted the car to be a manual. There’s nothing quite like the experience of the R8’s gated shifter. Finding a first-generation R8 manual was proving to be a challenge due to increased demand and prices. He searched for months and still wasn’t finding the right one for sale.

Then, one day when he wasn’t using the manual filter in his search, he ran across an R8 GT. A local friend had completed a manual conversion on his own R8 the year before. Not really serious, he half jokingly mentioned to him that if he bought the GT, perhaps he’d consider completing a manual conversion for him too.

His friend wasn’t joking. As the two discussed the idea, a conversion became more of a realistic possibility. He recommended a supplier where David could source the parts he’d need to complete the task. It was a compelling case, so compelling that he purchased the R8 GT at the beginning of July with the optimistic goal of having the conversion completed by Monterey Car Week in August.

As soon as the sale was complete, he placed the order for the necessary parts. In the meantime, he drove the car for a couple of weeks as he waited for the parts to arrive. 

David admits he’s not the most mechanically inclined, so he leaned heavily on the knowledge and experience of his friend who had already completed the conversion on his own car. They spent two weeks start-to-finish working out of his garage. David looks back on it and notes that it was a learning experience for him. He enjoyed becoming more familiar with the mechanics of the car and learned an appreciation for the complexity of the engineering that went into designing the R8. He enjoys even more the experience of shifting the gears, and being in an R8 GT takes the R8 experience to a whole other level.

From David’s perspective, the R8 GT with the manual is the pinnacle of any generation. It may not have the fastest quarter mile time or 0-60 sprint, but by his estimation it has one of the greatest driving experiences of any road car ever made.

Fortunately, the project went smoothly and he was able to attend Monterey Car Week, debuting it at Legends of the Autobahn where he could share it with Audi enthusiasts alongside other fine examples of R8. He even met the original designer, Frank Lamberty, and saw the R8 take its final laps around Laguna Seca while being driven by Tom Kristensen. While the Audi community celebrated the end of R8 production, the R8 experience is just beginning for David. He looks forward to the incredible experiences this car will no doubt continue to offer and hopes to meet more Audi Club North America members at meet-ups and events.