25 Apr 07
If you've driven any Audi built in the last decade, from the A2 to the Allroad, you'll be on familiar turf with the R8: everything is where it should be, and moves how you'd expect, and feels like it's been checked by the same quality controllers. But what no previous Audi will have prepared you for - not the £70,000 S8, not the RS4 that shares its engine with the R8 - is its remarkable combination of ride, handling and performance. It's all the good bits about Audi and none of the bad bits.
The four-wheel drive system has a clear bias to the rear, with the Quattro technology only making itself known when you're pushing your luck. Even the best of the recent Quattro-equipped Audis have tended to feel a little awkward compared to rear-drive rivals, but it seems Audi has learned something from Lamborghini about how best to harness the potential of four-wheel drive in a high-performance car.
The manual gearbox is a revelation too. Audi's manuals have got better, but they've been eclipsed by the DSG paddleshift system offered on much of the range. On the R8, however, the R-tronic automatic plays second fiddle to the standard - and cheaper - manual, which is precise and positive, and employs a metal gate that's straight out of the Supercar Book for Boys. The auto, to its credit, does kick down with thrilling brutality, but you can replicate that yourself with a well timed change using the manual 'box.
So much acceleration, such precise steering, such a stiff body, so much grip - and the ride is superb too. You can fiddle around with the settings, but basically it's superb from the get-go. You always feel connected to the road, yet there's no jarring or rattling. A brief passenger ride on the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France confirmed that its soul is that of a road car, not a race car, but an unusually stiff and composed road car.
Hitting the track is a good way of finding out what it'll do, and seeing if you can get close to discovering the limits of the Audi's grip, but don't expect to see many R8s on trackdays. It takes its name from the racer that won Le Mans every year from 2000 to 2005, but it's too comfortable and refined to be mistaken for a track car. Maybe when - if - it gets the V10 engine from the Gallardo/S6/S8, or a diesel inspired by the current Le Mans car, the R10. We'll see.
