It didn't take much convincing to get my dad to sign up for the R8 school and bringing me along. Ever since getting his car, he has been anxious to see how it really performs at the limit.

The program starts off with some brief classroom talk and then they get you straight into the cars. The class had 12 people in it and everyone pairs up. Within an hour we were outside doing a slalom course in the parking lot. It was immediately evident that this car has enough power that getting through the course as quickly as possible would require 100 runs through. We then moved on to a small autocross course.

Halfway through the morning we made it onto the big track. The runs were set up such that groups were made up of 3 cars each with an instructor car in front, at this point they were in RS4's. It is all lead follow with the pace line making rotations after each lap.

My first thought was, this car's performance is way out of my league. I have done Skip Barber, Porsche's driving school, and some ACNA DE's, but I was intimidated by the grip the R8 afforded. In the afternoon the groups were reorganized according to skill levels. I had noticed that the novices didn't seem to understand what hitting apexes meant, and no matter how many times the instructors told them they were feet from the cones, they never corrected. By the end of the afternoon, it was evident that the instructors in the RS4's had reached their limit with our group as we were on their bumpers going through the turns.

The second day the instructor in our group switched to an R8, after that it was impossible to push them. I had to do everything I could just to keep up. After having some trouble with our 3rd gear synchros (hopefully not our fault ;-) ) we decided to try out a R-Tronic equipped car. The difference is substantial on the track. I consider myself pretty good at heel-toe braking, but even still it was much easier to concentrate on the other aspects of driving as well as being able to brake much harder when not thinking about shifting. I think on the track I would always option for the paddles now, although around town that transmission could be a bit rough.

As can be expected, people made a lot of mistakes driving in this car, myself included. Cars don't like big throttle adjustments mid corner, especially in a mid-engine car. As the instructors called it, this caused a lot of "moments". In turns you could see the cars fidgeting and twitching when someone fcked up and the ESP was kicking in. It was especially evident on this big down hill cambered turn called the carousel. The yaw and G sensors in the car didn't like the angle at which the car was positioned in this turn and kept trying to kick in to correct it, even at slower speeds. I can't imagine what would have happened without the ESP, I certainly had times where I thought I was going to lose it, but the computer would come in and sort everything out. Absolutely amazing. And I think that is part of what makes the R8 a supercar. The performance is so accessible in that car. With linear power, Quattro, pretty neutral handling, and ESP, it makes it easy for even a novice to go fast. Where as a Porsche takes quite a bit of driving experience to get the most out of, the R8 allows even a ham-fisted driver able to go fast. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Overall, the experience was amazing. I felt I was able to get to my own limits in the R8, and yet still had a lot to learn to improve my times around the track. I always thought the R8 was a great performer, but this has emphasized it. I think it's incredible how Audi was able to nail it on their first try for a true performance car. I can only imagine how fast the V10 is going to be. I highly recommend this course to all R8 owners, and anyone else who wants to experience what this car can do (and who can afford it).

Here are some pictures.

Got R8?

<img src="http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510069_8208.jpg">

White is right

<img src="http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510077_948.jpg">

sharing the track with the Jim Russel racing school driving Formula 3 cars. 1300 pounds, 350hp. 1300 pounds of down force at 90mph.

<img src="http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510078_1301.jpg">

I like

<img src="http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510079_1649.jpg">

R8 doesn't know the meaning of body roll

<img src="http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510081_2355.jpg">

Over a million dollars worth of R8's

<img src="http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510083_3048.jpg">

gourmet lunch with pasta station

<img src="http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510074_9920.jpg">

Even had time to see redwoods at Muir Forest

<img src="http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510085_3765.jpg">

and the coast

<img src="http://photos-h.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v338/29/108/12801226/n12801226_34510087_4956.jpg">

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I also preferred the R tronic on the track, but wouldn't want it for the street.

 

Looks like it was fun!

 

Looks fun, I would like to do an all day event to test drive all the exotics especially the R8, Ferrari F430, Lambo Gallardo.