While there were some R8s that burned in the development phase, Audi worked hard to massage the platform and make it production ready. These pictures are reportedly not a mule, but a production R8 that went up in flames. Scuttlebutt has it that fuel spillage was the culprit here, though speculation of something else is also offered if you click through and read the related thread on the R8talk forum. Either way, it's a tragic end to this particular R8's short life. Of course, in the end, it's only a car, so as long as everyone escaped unharmed, it's not even a blip on the cosmic scale.
So Sad: Audi R8 mysteriously burns - Autoblog