We spent a day driving the R8 V10 at the Audi ‘driving experience centre’ at Gross Dolln, near Berlin
Gross Dolln used to be a Soviet-era air force base that had the second longest runway in the world. This air force base, which had lain in disuse, was later converted into a ‘driving experience centre’ with different kinds of courses such as skid pads, slalom, ABS and handling tracks of different shapes and sizes.
There was a short briefing by chief instructor, Marco Werner, three times Le Mans winner and a works driver for the Audi racing team. He emphasised how the weight transfer of the car under braking and acceleration changed its handling characteristics from oversteer to understeer. We were then split into three different groups. We had three different types of driving exercises and we were lucky to start off with the slalom, then on to the ABS test before moving on to the next course as this gave us time to get used to the car and get ourselves warmed up before we got on to the handling track.
It was wet and cold in the morning and there was a drizzle too. The conditions were far from ideal for flat-out driving. Even in those wet conditions we had to push really hard to get the car out of shape during the slalom, thanks to the leach-like traction of the R8 Quattro.
The lane change ABS test was so easy in the R8 V10 compared to some other cars because there was so much grip and stability that it steered normally with full pressure on the brake pedal and the ABS activated.
The two-kilometre-long handling track had different elevations. There were different types of corners, from tightening corners to double apex turns, and some of them had a totally blind approach as the braking point was before the crest and the turn in point was immediately after the top of the climb.
After a small briefing on the lines we should take through the corners, Marco Werner led us round the track, building up speed gradually, so that we could keep up with him in the lead car. As I started going faster and faster on this short handling track, I was either on power or braking hard into the apex of the corner. Even with the Quattro and leach-like grip you could feel the tyres squirming while exiting the corners under the brutal power of the V10 engine. The R8 V10 is extremely driver-friendly compared to most mid-engine super cars with a rear-wheel drive thanks to the Quattro system.
The icing on the cake after a day of driving nirvana came in the form of a drive with Marco Werner in the R8 LMS car. The flying laps that I did with Marco were a lesson of sorts for he was smooth as silk and inch-perfect as he cut all the apexes and used the entire width of the track compared to what we were doing. The LMS car is a rear-wheel drive only as the rules do not allow an all-wheel drive.
A number of people buy these super cars but hardly use more then 20 to 30 per cent of their potential. The Audi driving experience is what we need in India so that the owners of these cars can learn how to use their expensive cars in a safe environment under proper guidance.
The icing on the cake after a day of driving nirvana came in the form of a drive with Marco Werner in the R8 LMS car
Story: Aspi Bhathena
