Supercars are meant to put the fear of God in to you. With outrageous performance and ultra low driving positions most Supercars have rightfully earned fearsome reputations among drivers.
The traditional view is that a supercar would happily chew you up and spit you out just for thinking about trying to drive them near their potential. Not anymore.
The Audi R8 V10 is the most powerful supercar Audi has produced for the road, with 525bhp on tap from a 5.2 litre V10 petrol engine. Now, quite a few production cars produce 500bhp or thereabouts but few have such a lightweight body and sublime chassis as the R8. 525bhp is delivered through all four wheels with 90% going to the rear wheels and 10% to the front although this percentage can change depending on grip levels thanks to Audi’s clever ‘Quattro’ set up.
My test car was fitted with the stunning ‘R Tronic’ automated manual gearbox. You can leave it in automatic mode and realistically potter around town or if you want to have a bit more fun use the steering wheel paddle shifts or the gear lever to manually shift the cogs yourself. The R8 has a very long wheelbase and this makes the car far more forgiving when pushed hard as it resists swapping ends nicely.
I drove the V8 power entry level R8 (€176,860) on the racetrack last year and loved it, so it is no surprise to find the V10 had me grinning from ear to ear. 0-100kph takes just 3.9 seconds while top speed is 316km/h (196mph). The car savagely quick, but very smooth and progressive at the same time. The host of standard driver aids are best left switched on, but if you want to be a hero, the car can be set up to behave in a more thrilling way with the press of a button or two, although why there is ‘Sport’ button in a supercar is beyond me. However when it is pressed things do get a little more interesting. A bunch of lucky Audi customers got the chance to drive the R8 at Mondello last week thanks to the ‘Audi Sports Car Experience’. The event not only let potential punters drive stunning performance Audis but also included instruction from some of Europe’s best race tutors.
Audi is on a roll at the moment having just launched the Spyder (cabriolet) R8 that uses the same V10, while at last week’s Frankfurt Motor Show the ‘e-tron’ electric R8 concept car was revealed (pictured). ‘e-tron’ is powered by four electric motors – one for each wheel and there is no internal combustion engine, even as a backup! It can do the sprint to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds and has 313bhp but get this; a massive 4,500nm of torque.
Okay so the V10 R8 is a toy for rich people but it is a practical car (relatively speaking) as you can fit luggage and even a set of golf clubs in it should the need arise!
Supercars have come a long way and if you do find yourself with ten grand shy of a quarter of a million Euro burning a hole in your pocket the R8 V10 will oblige.
Michael Sheridan
