Blackberry, the reason i posted the charts i did, is because the weights you are using appear to be off.
empty is 3050, max load is 4272 for a standard A8, it also lists the HP as 1700.
how you want to interpret that is up to you.
Oh, you might want to rethink your view on available HP at altitude, @5,700m it increases the engine power to 1,440HP at sea level it does what you say, but your not going to be diving much at sea level me thinks!
as for when the A8 was produced, i am well aware, this may interest you regarding production.
factory produced, serial numbers, numbers and dates.
