Lottery winner's Audi R8 inexplicably burns to a crisp

A former Powerball lottery winner's week-old Audi R8 has unfortunately bit the dust - or more accurately, gone up in smoke. The CTPost reports that the R8's owner, Rahul Patel noticed smoke coming from the car's engine bay whilst driving northbound on Connecticut's Merritt Parkway. Luckily being able to pull over and exit the vehicle, the R8 was eventually engulfed in flames on the side highway.

Considering many lotto winners would most likely take a page out of Xzibit's handbook to 'pimping a ride,' it's really sad to see a guy with good taste in automobiles suffer a fate such as this. Although, it's said that Patel's Powerball win netted him roughly $8.7 mil (not to mention insurance on the car), so we're guessing he'll have a new R8 in his garage shortly.

It should be noted that the fire officials investigating the event know absolutely nothing about an Audi R8. The CTPost reports: "Fire officials said the car is only one of two of its kind in the United States..." The Fairfield Patch then expands on the fire official's exaggerations with: "Curry [Assistant Fire Chief Stephen B. Curry] said the car was a 'pure race car' and 'a street version of [Audi's] Formula One race car'." While we dig the fire chief's enthusiasm, his report is just a tad embellished.

Source: CTPost & Fairfield Patch via Jalopnik & Fourtitude
Photos: CTPost