Skip to main content

Audi and Airbnb Bring You Death Valley House, an Auto-Inspired Luxury Travel Fantasy

Ever wanted to head out for the empty lake beds of the American West to test a high-performance supercar all while residing in a uber-mod house with no address, only coordinates on a map? If you nodded your head in the affirmative while reading that, then look no further than the 2016 Emmy Awards on September 18, when Audi and Airbnb’s official first collaboration will launch with the above TV spot entitled “Desolation.”

For the past six years, Audi has been the official automotive sponsor of the Emmy Awards. This year, they’ve gone a step further and teamed up with Airbnb to bring you the luxury travel fantasy of a lifetime. If you’re a serious gearhead with an admiration for architecture and a need for speed, then you’ll definitely want to tune into this year’s Emmy Awards for your chance to book one of seven guest stays at Death Valley House, located in the middle of the desert near Scotty’s Junction, Nevada. This two-night, three day, high-throttle adventure experience comes complete with a fully-fueled 2017 Audi R8 that you can drive under the guidance and tutelage of Audi’s VIP driving instructors, along with Audi’s Q7 for everyday driving, a chef to tend to your nourishment needs, and daytime staff and concierge to make sure your driving and relaxation are as high-performance as their vehicles.

“Once again, Audi is honored to support television’s brightest stars during its biggest night,” said Loren Angelo, Vice President of Marketing, Audi of America. “What better stage to introduce our marketing partnership with Airbnb than the Emmys? Pairing an acclaimed and architecturally stunning home with the award-winning Audi R8 offers fans the chance to experience the ultimate full-throttle driving fantasy.”

“Travel on Airbnb is all about experiences that liven up your sense of adventure and ultimately become a way of life,” said Airbnb CMO, Jonathan Mildenhall. “We love that Audi shares that same spirit and are excited to offer this experience with them to those who live to drive, live to travel and live to adventure.”

And experience it you will. As Audi says, “With an engine and chassis derived 50% from the R8 LMS racecar, and a powerful 610-hp V10 that has the potential to hit 0-60 in a mere 3.2 seconds, the Audi R8 is one beautiful beast of engineering.” And this is a beast you can tame yourself. Take it for a spin through the desolate, remote, 80 acre desert landscape and experience for yourself what it feels like to truly put the pedal to the metal.

If you’ve got a couple grand and free weekends in the coming months, be sure to check out the collaboration’s Airbnb page on September 18 at 6:00 PDT/9:00 pm EDT (during the 2016 Emmy Awards), for the first-come, first-serve opportunity to score one of these seven available exclusive bookings. One booking will be released each day at the same time from September 18 through September 24. Click fast, men. Speed is of the essence here.

But, don’t feel bad if you can’t snag a stay here, you always have the option of living out your own Mad Max fantasy a few states over at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.

However, if you do manage to secure one of these bookings, invite us along for the ride! We’re fun, we promise.

Photo Credit: Audi of America

Chase McPeak
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chase McPeak is the former Lifestyle Editor. Chase regularly appeared on Beards, Booze, and Bacon: The Manual Podcast where…
How fast do Formula 1 cars really go?
Max Verstappen driving a Red Bull F1 race car.

How fast do Formula 1 cars go? When you watch F1 races, it's easy to adapt visually to the speeds, and depending on subjective factors and the scale of the circuit section you see, it's common to lose all sense of how fast F1 cars can go. To answer the question fairly, it's important to qualify any answer about how fast Formula 1 cars go.

For example, the fastest speed for any F1 car anywhere anytime is 246.908 miles per hour in a 2006 Honda RA106 F1 race car, but that speed wasn't during a Grand Prix or any F1 event. Instead, the record-setting speed was recorded at the Bonneville Salt Flats, which is hardly a normal context for the question. Also, the Honda's aerodynamics, engine, and tires were modified for the Salt Flats speed test.

Read more
Bugatti’s next hypercar will feature a V16 engine
Bugatti gives a sneak preview of its next-gen hypercar
Bugatti's V16 Engine

Bugatti likes to be at the cutting edge; we saw it with the Veyron, we saw it with the Chiron, and we could be seeing it again with the V-16 hybrid powertrain the French luxury automobile manufacturer will be putting in its next creation. While you may have spotted something like this before, notably powering the W-16 Mistral and Chiron Super Sport, we can assure you haven’t.

The current engine is laid out in a W configuration, so picture two V6 engines stuck together. The motor featured in Bugatti’s next hypercar is in the V configuration. As for what else we know, information is pretty sparse beyond the fact that the new vehicle will be announced in June 2024. Bugatti has also included the words: “Incomparable in every detail, it is a pure embodiment of Bugatti’s DNA, created not just for the present, or even the future – but “Pour l’éternité.” So it’s likely they’ll want you to talk about whatever it is they come out with for a very long time.

Read more
New viral video shows Tesla’s Cybertruck’s shatterproof glass has come a long way
The Cybertruck's windows aren't just bulletproof
Tesla Cybertruck parked indoors in front of a black wall with headlights and taillights on.

A key feature of the Tesla Cybertruck seemingly makes the vehicle immune to one common car crime. Thieves in San Francisco, commonly known as “blippers,” were witnessed trying and failing to smash the vehicle’s “bulletproof” armored glass. Some kind of pick appeared to be used during the 45-second-long assault on the truck’s perdurable panes.

The would-be thief in question was even videoed jumping on the Cybertruck’s roof, but even that wasn’t enough to force an opening. The whole incident, along with photos of the truck’s windows, was shared on X by user Arash Malek, who added, “Cybertruck is California-proof. Armored glass beats criminals trying their best to break in – even when jumping on the roof.”

Read more