At the last SCDA track day on May 27 at NHMS, I instructed a student in an Audi R8. My student had 15-20 auto-cross days under his belt, but it was his first time out on a larger track.
The R8’s specs are pretty impressive. It produces 420 bhp from its 4.1 liter V8, does 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and will top out at 185 MPH. It is a heavier car, with curb weights estimated at between 3400 - 3600 lbs. The interior is typicaly Audi quality - elegant and refined without being excessive or gaudy.
I was overall very impressed with the R8, even from the passenger’s seat. The car exudes an air of confidence and assurance, both when parked in the paddocks and when rocketing full steam out of the Bowl at NHMS and past the treehouse. It would do what was asked of it smoothly and without fuss.
The best feature of the R8 is its sheer utility. It is a perfectly fine daily driver, as well as a formidable track beast, and can migrate back and forth without pause. It is the perfect car for driving a track event by day, and taking my supermodel date to the Capital Grille by night, a dual feat few cars are truly capable of performing.
on March 22, 2009 at 12:14 am anon wrote:
Noah, This article reads much like an advertisement. Were you paid by Audi to write it?
The performance statistics between the Audi R8 and the Chevrolet C6 Corvette are not that different. Both have sex appeal and can be daily drivers as well. The Corvette has more storage room and weighs less. What is different is that the cost is about 80k more for the Audi. The Audi R8 is an overpriced exotic. It has nothing to do with utility. There are a lot of downfalls to owning an exotic.
This article totally ignores the realities of exotic car ownership like waiting months for parts or being mobbed in public. Coming outside and finding your tires cut and the car scratched to hell with a key. Being cut off in traffic by jealous drivers who purposely slam on their brakes to cause an accident in order to sue you for a large insurance payout claiming you crashed into them.
A taste of the reality of owning a R8 - http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4249347.html
on March 22, 2009 at 10:44 am Noah wrote:
Your comment totally ignores the point of my post. I instructed a student who was driving an Audi R8, and I gave my impressions of the car from riding shotgun around NHMS for 2 hours in it.
You seem to miss my point entirely about utility too. Perhaps a little context will help: my preferred track car is a car that is totally stripped of everything and anything that doesn’t make the car go, stop, or turn, with every part of the car dedicated to being driven on the track. Such a car CANNOT be driven on the street - both legally because it would no longer be street legal and practically, because the suspenion would make any bump a nightmare for you and the car. And why would I bother to get street tires for it, and why oh why would I waste R compounds on the street?
Enter the R8. It was insanely fast on the track, and perfectly acceptable on the street. So too was the 911 that I drove. And so too would be any myriad of other cars that cost far less and far more than the R8. But just because other cars may do the same for less in no way mitigates the performance and utility of the R8. Oh, and if you think getting parts for something like an R8 is a pain, please try locating a replacement door lock for my 1991 CRX. Which I paid $900 for, incidentally.
If you want a report comparing the trunk size and price of various cars, Popular Mechanics will suit you fine. That is not what we do at Pansy Patrol. If you want to know how cars perform on racetracks, stay and look around our site.