Some people have cars that overheat during hard track sessions.
One guy (confirmed) had one that overheated in traffic. That was from a faulty reservoir that his coolant fill cap wasn't sealing in.
Motortrend posted an inexplicably odd image of one giving an overheating warning, but also was showing the coolant temp in the same picture which was at the normal operating temp.
As for the cooling, the A8 is going to have some cooling issues. That was always known. The M7 cooling is right on the edge of sufficient, and the A8 takes the extra heat generated by the transmission and dumps it right in to the same air flow that is cooling the engine. This was pretty obvious that it was going to happen with the waste heat produced by the power levels on this car. Now, as far as the M7 goes, a few people have had some issues. Personally, I have not at all, but I haven't hit the track that often this year. At this point, it isn't clear if driving style (being harder on the car isn't always being faster), specific car, or specific track is the biggest contributor, but yes, it does happen. It's hard to really understand the issue at a casual glance because car forums are filled with trolls even more dedicated than the video card section on this site. That isn't to say there is no issue, the cooling is obviously marginal, but it isn't nearly the magnitude that some individuals want you to believe.
As far as ways to mitigate it, following the manual track prep is extremely important. That is, a different oil weight is prescribed for track duty as well as a different ratio for the coolant. There is a $1200 aftermarket radiator that is out now that I am waiting on more customer reviews before I take the plunge. On an $80k+ car adding a $1200 upgrade for track duty doesn't really phase me. Pushing cars hard always finds their weak points. However, I need to make sure that I am not going to get any pushback on future warranty issues if I chose to do this.
tl;dr version: A8 version needs better cooling, m7 version typically is sufficient. An upgrade exists if you are an individual experiencing problems. You will only have potential problems at intermediate or better road course levels of driving. Nothing a street driver could do will ever come anywhere close to raising temps. If you go to the track and ignore the manual's requirements for track set up, you're just dumb and might have issues due to that.
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