Supercar Shaker

Read the full magazine article here.

An interlude in the action. A brief pause for a comm’s catchup and some sleep in a busy two-day schedule. There was a lot to get through.

Tomorrow things will be getting serious. Rather than the same old comparisons, we’ve foregone the Porsches and Astons and GT-Rs for something, well, a bit different. And first thing tomorrow morning the R8 will square up against this protagonist at Kyalami, with racers at the helm of each, for some friendly lappery. The Audi might appear to have a mountain to climb, but at Drive ultimate track times are not exclusively the measure of a car.

Particularly a car as downright delectable as this one. An R8. No not only an R8 in fact – the Big Boy. The full-fat unfiltered V10. Ingolstadt’s supercar, nothing less.

But is it?

There are plenty, however, who question its status as a full-blooded supercar. Too useable day to day, too clinical, too efficient, too sensible, too “mainstream” a badge. We’d like to take this opportunity to give you our take on the matter. And it has to start with clarity on our ultimate definition of the term.

Very strangely for the Drive office, we’re actually all broadly agreed on the essential ingredients necessary for supercardom. In no particular order they distil down to these points;

Earth-moving looks. Aesthetics which, in short, quicken your pulse even before any of the mechanical experience hits you. Which turn heads wherever you go. Which you cannot help but look back at when you walk away. And most importantly, which causes ripples like the landing of little green men wherever it goes.

Mind-scrambling performance. Power which just piles on speed relentlessly, pinning you to your seat through the first four gears, and then charging on to three figures beginning with a 3, preferably. The sort of thrust which just never seems to run out of breath.

Soul-nourishing noises. A soundtrack nothing short of epic. An event just to hear scream by, and a constant reminder of the quantity of engine shoehorned into as compact and lightweight a platform as possible. Preferably spinning smoothly but with zero-inertia alacrity to unfeasible rev-limits.

Today I’ve been blatting about Jo’Burg in this R8 V10 seeking the answers to the tricky question, “Is it a proper, red-blooded supercar?” all over. Tomorrow after taking on the ‘Blade we’ll also be heading out to some favourite mountain roads to cement our thoughts, but for now it’s been all about asking as many people’s opinions as possible, giving joyrides to friends of Drive, and even a couple of enthusiastic members of JMPDs finest!

In fact, perhaps that story is a good place to start.

So you have an R8 V10 for a couple of days and are keen to do something interesting with it. Yet here you are, stuck in a hot and sticky logjam waiting for the police to steadily work their way through roadblocked cars up ahead. Of course, the R8 can’t avoid getting pulled.

“What do you need officer, my license, car details…?” I begin.

“None of that really, but can you give me a ride up to those robots and back in your car, flat-out?”

“Errr, sure jump in,” is my response. Then to his supervisor who has taken the rapidly-vacated place at the driver’s window. “You know, I’m going to be touching 200 by the time I get to those lights. You’re not going to arrest me then are you?”

A hearty laugh reassures me. “No we won’t don’t worry, go for it.”

This is the power of a supercar at work. I’ve been yanked in some serious machines before, Aston V8 Vantages, Bimmer M6s, Porker Boxsters, and each time been met with belligerence and general aggression. That’s because these are “mere” sportscars, and lack the gargantuan presence of this surprisingly compact little rocketship.

It isn’t only police who are affected. Park the R8 up anyplace at all and the crowd quickly focusses. If you happen to be getting-in, the simple act of starting the engine is enough to please most of them, the V10 ripping into life with a little blip up to 2000rpm, sounding every inch the supercar powerplant supporting the outlandish looks.

Its seemingly gravitational force of attraction for everything around it has been supremely crafted. Start with a standard R8 V8, itself a stunning car but decidedly more girly, more TT, than this V10 version. The front gains huge air-inlets beneath each headlight cluster complete with piano-black crossbars in front of menacing black meshed grille. The back end is made similarly more purposeful, piano-black slatting dominating everything below the high-mounted LED taillights, and eventually this area is truncated itself by a pronounced splitter sprouting from beneath the two, big-bore oval exhausts. The ride is lower, the extended wheelarches perfectly filled by the sticky 295/30/19 wheels and tyres, and there’s a new lip to the front splitter as well.

All suggest whole new levels of performance in all areas – aerodynamic, accelerative, aesthetic, which ought to just about be enough to propel the R8 firmly into supercar territory.

We’ve got two days, well Monday morning to Tuesday evening, to find out for sure. In this time we’ll end up covering around 850kms, throwing everything SA has at the car including Kyalami, the egte Bushveld, inner-city Joeys and a huge degree of highway surfaces along the way. And we call this work. We know, you hate us.

Conquering the road

Driving an R8 V10 around Jo’Burg and surrounds even if just for a couple of days was a rare privilege which we worked to its fullest. It is just addictive in every way. Once you’ve gotten beyond the sculpted but intimidating look, bum firmly ensconced in the Command Seat, well there’s still a whole lot more to look forward to, the tacho redlined at a dizzying 8500 rpm and speedo running right round to 350km/h (both dials now rimmed in red specifically for the V10) sombre reminders of the utterly ballistic nature of the device.

Reminders you really don’t need, as long as that engine is running. An absolute gem, it idles with a distinct bassiness, opens its throat into full song at 4000 – 5000rpm, and then just goes berserk with a cultured shriek of frenzied acceleration. It wakes you up every time. And yet despite the crazy redline, it’s so civilised and flexible, pulling meaningfully even from 2000 rpm in top. It’s just indomitable everywhere, mind-sharpening thrust just a flex of the ankle away.

I couldn’t quite understand the queasiness in my gut all morning, worried I was coming down with something that was going to ruin my time with this beauty. I did recognise the sensation at last though, as sheer nerves. Butterflies, as they say, at piloting a near 400-kW mid-engined 300km/h plus monster through the vagaries of Joeys traffic. Yet it takes just 45 minutes in the R8 for that sensation to be (largely) dispelled. The car shrinks around you, shrugging off the R2-m pricetag and hardcore focussed dynamics to allow you to start exploring its limits quite quickly.

Not that there isn’t an edge, a sting just waiting to catch the unwary, in the dynamics of this version, especially compared to the crazy agility of the original V8. This is a far more serious proposition after all, and while you could treat the older car with absolute impunity this V10 demands a certain degree of respect. Perfect for a proper supercar, really.

The outright speed knocks your breath clear out your lungs. It’s savagely fast. And that R-Tronic ‘box, especially with Sport mode engaged, utterly brutal about shifting cogs flat chat. The way it slams second home has the ESP flickering as all four wheels try to spin up to release the excess energy being poured into them. I’d spec a manual for sheer mechanical sympathy though, the very stiff structure bucks as if it’s being twisted as the new ratio is engaged, and you can sense the halfshafts wincing under the strain. A human-controlled clutch pedal would be more sympathetic, for sure.

More than the rampant power though, what really pricks your mind into Whoa-what’s-going-on-here mode is the information. The R8 is, a bit unexpectedly, a vividly communicative thing. The steering and seat of your pants are both alive with rich, detailed feedback. So when you’re rushing through a fast sweeper at 200km/h, every dynamic nuance is telegraphed directly into your brain. On a balanced throttle the grip is immense, body-control impeccable if briefly unsettled by bumps due to the very stiff platform. Lift off, and you instantly sense the need for a fraction more lock, as the front wheels start to understeer just a touch thanks to the Quattro drivetrain. It is just about the only time the nose feels anything but laser-locked onto line.

More tellingly however, is that if you climb on the power instead, the manic engine, and the additional weight of this midships-mounted V10, come into evidence. This is that evil edge I talked about, the whole car suddenly starts saying “Sure we can do this, just watch yourself now” as the balance shifts into a natural degree of neutral oversteer. A tank-slapper at this speed would not be funny though, or affordable for that matter, and it feels as though if you take too many liberties the car will chew you up. Again, perfect for a proper supercar.

No, the R8 didn't kill our resident mad biker. But the Sun City weather, in full race leathers, nearly did! Respect.

R8 Versus Blade – Kyalami shootout

Unfortunately by the time we have the R8 V10, the mainstream print press has run every permutation of pretender-versus-established supercar premise. And Porsche SA, having just seen HQ release a slurry of updates to just about every 911 in the range but most particularly Turbo, wanted to send a newer model anyway for the best current representation, but didn’t have any in the country as yet just days after the international unveiling.

So, with Kyalami booked for a morning session, we decide the best test for this newcomer to the supercar ranks today, would be none other than a superbike. The screaming Honda Fireblade CB1000R to be precise. The age-old battle as well as an intriguing view into the outright performance of this monster all rolled into just short of two adrenaline-filled hours free of traffic, Metro Police, social acceptability, the lot. Let’s go.

Of course we aren’t leaving the performance from these super-fit machines in our own meaty paws, no we’ve got pros in their fields doing the piloting for us. Thanks to the Audi Driving Experience, 4Rings Driving Academy for loaning us their master instructor as well as resident 2-wheeled racer for this exercise. Endless thanks Riaan Neveling and Mark Allison (yes, like Drive’s own two-wheeled specialist). These guys pound around Kyalami all day long and know the place intimately, and both are talented wheelmen which very few mere civilians or even brash motoring journos would have any chance of outrunning without using a pencil for the lap timing sheets rather than the more-permanent ink of a pen.

It’s the bike up first. Naturally the rivalry has come up in the office already, for weeks now in fact ever since we first planned this outing. Steve reckons the bike even on street rubber should be good for a minute 55. I’ve seen reports (in hindsight, ones written using the aforementioned lead-based recording method) suggesting the Audi would run a minute 57, 58. Close enough to be interesting at the very least, and despite the evidence my flag remains firmly behind four wheels at all times.

The rains the night before give me even more hope. A damp track could see the R8 snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, four-wheel-drive versus one. But the morning dawns bright and clear, and the track nicely dry and grippy, although both drivers did find the slight sheen of residue from the evening’s precipitation made things a bit tricky.

The ‘Blade heads out, and Riaan is clearly having some fun with us, which is good since that was the whole thinking behind this feature. He has at least half a dozen sighting laps gradually building pace and tyre temperature before unleashing three full flyers and returning to the pits only when time constraints see us flagging him down. Then it’s the cars turn, and the pressure is on. The Audi gets a warmup lap and two full-on runs and that’s it.

At Clubhouse, first lap out, the R8 pirouettes through 180-degrees, the nose rotating within feet of the inside wall. A R2-m sigh of collective relief from our underwriters later, Mark quips; “Phew, these tyres are cold. Maybe I should just turn this ESP (which I’d kindly pre-disabled for him! – Ed) back on while we get some temperature in them.” Ahhhm, yes, let’s do that.

From the side of the track, the V10 is clearly moving and the driver fully committed, although both our pros have been informed they aren’t in fact qualifying for F1 championship points, a veiled plea which racers just cannot seem to remember when the smooth tarmac is flowing beneath their wheels. So, OK, he’s probably about 8/10ths committed in fact. But the V10 sounds intoxicating, if that little bit more relaxed than the screaming V8 version. The addition of just two cylinders and an extra litre in capacity making all the difference between zinging, high-revs V8 and yowling, high-tech supercar motor.

Now you want to know the lap don’t you? Car, or bike?

The slower time, a 2:01.6, was posted by the ‘Blade. The R8 a mere 0.4 s quicker at 2:01.2. As soon as Riaan gets this news sitting on the pit wall, he hops off with the look of a man who’s just getting started on his face. “I’m off to set that bike up properly,” he mutters back to my querying glance. Unfortunately, the challenge was specifically for a single-lap, sudden-death type result, everything totally stock, one hottest lap the decider. And therefore, decided it has been!

It’s an astonishing result. It’s an astonishing car too. That bike is properly quick, nothing but a true red-blooded supercar can hope to match its pace. But the R8 V10 is an absolute weapon, shattering the V8 cars reputation for being merely quick rather than positively scintillating in one fell swoop.

Hear them roar...

On the Run

These two speed machines stay together the whole day and it isn’t long before I get a vivid example of just how the car was able to beat its lap time. You imagine that the R8 would corner faster and brake harder, and the superbike then have it’s way again on the straights. The thing is, it definitely does turn with a substantial amount more speed, and brake so beautifully and, again surprisingly, with fulsome feel coming back through the middle pedal, but then when the road opens up and the Blade in front is twisted round to it’s stop, the Audi’s throttle is already nailed and the shove is immense, the response positively tigerish.

In a sprint from a decent cornering lick of 60 km/h to beyond 200km/h sees the ‘Blade put about a car length, at the most, on the demented V10. Yes, it is that fast. And the lumps and dips of a regular South African road actually give it an advantage, where the bike is having to tap off just a fraction now and again as the weight unloads off the rear-wheel, the AWD Audi can stay totally focussed.

And so completely does it engage emotionally, that even when a superbike isn’t filling your screen you’re tempted to unleash the glory that resides just over your left shoulder at every opportunity. You somehow feel that other road-users have clocked the supercar shape and are expecting the entire show, and the R8 gives them what they’re looking for as the electronics blip the seemingly zero-inertia engine for the downshift, and that scintillating bellow erupts from the pair of large oblong tailpipes!

It’s multi-dimensional satisfaction as well, the Audi is no one-trick drag-strip specialist. It’s pliant enough to be used on the vast majority of our road surfaces without going home with a broken front lip (we did scrape it once, on a particularly nasty speedbump) or firing you off into the Bushveld due to the extreme stiffness of the thing. Yet the control is absolute, provided you bear the weight of the V10 and the extreme speeds you’ll be travelling at in mind, the AWD traction practically unshakeable and ultimately tuned for safe understeer in the worst of situations. Not that it can’t be provoked into gratuitous controllable slides using the full fury of the Lamborghini-related motor.

We can see some of the points those that dismiss it from the supercar ranks have made. The interior is, in fact, decidedly familiar to other Audi drivers, perhaps not matching the exotic nature of the metalwork for sheer flair, but that also means it’s beautifully-built and everything is perfectly placed! It’s even easy to see out of, and you aren’t left blind while reversing.

From the outside, we can also see how the original V8 was considered slightly too dainty for entry into the hardcore supercar club as well. But the changes made to the V10 highlight this by transforming the car into the complete opposite without completely changing the gorgeous, flowing shape.

Yes, for a supercar, the R8 is almost sensible. Even in this more pumped-up guise, you could consider using it daily, the tractable motor is never anything less than completely on top of proceedings, and although it draws gazes like flypaper it isn’t compromised at low-speeds or too fazed by bumpy tar. It even has a fair-sized “boot” in the nose, and is very comfortable for hours on end inside.

But the V10 introduces the precisely right kind of madness to the mix. Mad speed, mad power, mad cornering abilities. And a noise so beautiful and pure, yet so utterly savage that it is the epitome of unfiltered madness.

In fact, it very nearly makes the pricetag of just on R2-m, without options, seem like rather good value. It is an Audi after all, and therefore inherently well-built and reliable, and yet it runs with the most hugely expensive exotica on emotional terms, every single day if you really want it to. You’ll never tire of it, never feel short-changed regardless of what pulls up beside you at the lights, and never once think of it as anything less than a supercar to its wailing V10 heart.

It is quite simply sensational, and a huge step on from the V8 particularly from an emotional point of view. And, with absolute conviction, a genuine supercar.

Russell

Liked

Be serious now. Every single moment!

Disliked

V10 consumption

Quirky fuel-release button placement

Having to give it back!

For more information, check out the Audi SA homepage.

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