andrew1111
June 4th, 2008, 08:00
Hi all
just wanted to share with you my impressions from Audi R8 Sports driving experience.
Event was in Sachsenring (Germany) and took 1 full day. 1000EUR.Organization, instruction, and cars were fantastic. Weather was good, 30C (hot). group of 32 people, 16 cars. All V8, alhtough I did see V10 near the hotel. All were equiped with std. r8 seats (no buckets ala rs4). no ceramic brakes.
1/2 day learning track segment by segment. 1/2 day driving full track full speed behind instructor. might sound not enough fun, but believe me, it was not always easy to keep up with instructor car... there was more then enough high speed, trail braking, mild midcorner drift etc. etc.
So onto driving impressions. Acceleration from start- very nice & progresive but not "explosive" which is as expected. from the corner progressive & nice but never brakes traction if not provoked. those 295 tires at rear stick well. Turn in is impressive. You still find it understeering but speed at which you find this limit is very high. std. seats are not supportive enough for track work... The most enjoyed aspect of the car for me was mid-corner speed, overall balance of the car, and ability to throttle-steer. this is really exceptional in this car.
Brakes were strong. I asked audi if pads were standart they confirmed that yes, which was a surprise to me. they held up quite well.
manual vs. r-tronic. in short- more people preffered r-tronic at the end of the day. it is still personal preference obviously. with r-tronic you do need to get learn smooth full speed upshifts- you need to take a fraction of accelerator of to avoid a VERY jerky shift (and thats takes some practice). when you do lift just abit of- it produces very smoth and fast shift.
you do feel that engine is in the back when braking... , but although new experience it never felt like its going to break rear traction under trailbraking etc. still this video where r8 follows viper and then looses control is shows you need to respect that layout.
i took few pics, you can find them here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jurgita.x.tolockaite/R8Sachsenring
in summary excelent event I highly recommend it to everyone interested.at 1000eur audi is making a loss as cost is i think higher.. :applause:
sad news is they are all booked out fro this year.
all the best
just wanted to share with you my impressions from Audi R8 Sports driving experience.
Event was in Sachsenring (Germany) and took 1 full day. 1000EUR.Organization, instruction, and cars were fantastic. Weather was good, 30C (hot). group of 32 people, 16 cars. All V8, alhtough I did see V10 near the hotel. All were equiped with std. r8 seats (no buckets ala rs4). no ceramic brakes.
1/2 day learning track segment by segment. 1/2 day driving full track full speed behind instructor. might sound not enough fun, but believe me, it was not always easy to keep up with instructor car... there was more then enough high speed, trail braking, mild midcorner drift etc. etc.
So onto driving impressions. Acceleration from start- very nice & progresive but not "explosive" which is as expected. from the corner progressive & nice but never brakes traction if not provoked. those 295 tires at rear stick well. Turn in is impressive. You still find it understeering but speed at which you find this limit is very high. std. seats are not supportive enough for track work... The most enjoyed aspect of the car for me was mid-corner speed, overall balance of the car, and ability to throttle-steer. this is really exceptional in this car.
Brakes were strong. I asked audi if pads were standart they confirmed that yes, which was a surprise to me. they held up quite well.
manual vs. r-tronic. in short- more people preffered r-tronic at the end of the day. it is still personal preference obviously. with r-tronic you do need to get learn smooth full speed upshifts- you need to take a fraction of accelerator of to avoid a VERY jerky shift (and thats takes some practice). when you do lift just abit of- it produces very smoth and fast shift.
you do feel that engine is in the back when braking... , but although new experience it never felt like its going to break rear traction under trailbraking etc. still this video where r8 follows viper and then looses control is shows you need to respect that layout.
i took few pics, you can find them here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jurgita.x.tolockaite/R8Sachsenring
in summary excelent event I highly recommend it to everyone interested.at 1000eur audi is making a loss as cost is i think higher.. :applause:
sad news is they are all booked out fro this year.
all the best