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21st
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RIMINI, Italy - I've got 525 horsepower at my disposal, and I can't see a bloody thing. What started this morning as a light rain has now become a deluge, and I'm blinded by the spray from the car in front of me.
A 4.064 km track shaped roughly like a crossbow, the Misano World Circuit was built to host various Grand Prix of motorcycle racing.
In 2012, it was renamed the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, to honour a local motorcycle champion killed in 2011.
This is not a comforting thought as I approach the first hairpin and back off a little to put some distance between me and the car in front. Although the wipers beat furiously against the windshield, they're fighting a losing battle against the driving rain.
What is comforting, however, is the performance of the 2014 Audi R8's legendary quattro all-wheel drive system beneath me. The powerful rear end squirms on the wet tarmac, but the torque vectoring kicks in and the car regains composure effortlessly. This is the technology that conquered a thousand world rally stages on snow and ice -- a little rain is hardly worth worrying about.
A few seconds of hydroplaning causes an intake of breath... to be exhaled in relief once grip is restored.
The 2014 Audi R8 really is a glorious beast. There are great gobs of power, but they're doled out in such rapid fire, linear progression by the dual clutch S-tronic transmission that it feels almost civilized. Almost.
That gruff bark that escalates to a banshee wail reminds me that this seemingly docile performer is a full-on supercar. There's an option to switch off the traction nannies, but I wisely decide (given the soupy conditions) that I'd be better off with them on.
The flat-bottomed, suede-wrapped wheel feels heavy in my hands, and indeed the steering is rather substantial too -- but far from leaden.
After four laps, I grow braver. Visibility hasn't much improved but I've "learned" the track enough to go a little faster. Through the hairpin and into the straight -- 140 km, 160, 184km. Hardly earth-shattering, but enough to give me a glimpse of the latent power of the car, without (God forbid) being "that guy" -- the poor soul who becomes an internet pariah by spinning, or even worse "pranging" the car.
Then I'm offered a chance to see how it's really done.
On hand is Audi Works driver, Frank Stippler, one of the winners of this year's 24 Hours of Nurburgring, with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra race car.
A stripped-down, snarling beast, the R8 LMS crackles, pops and blatts as we head out of the pits, haunches squirming at every turn. The engine reaches a deafening scream as Stippler deftly guides the R8 around the slippery course -- at times counter-steering in a slide through the hairpins on the very limit of control.
It was an exhilarating ride, and over far too soon.
A 4.064 km track shaped roughly like a crossbow, the Misano World Circuit was built to host various Grand Prix of motorcycle racing.
In 2012, it was renamed the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, to honour a local motorcycle champion killed in 2011.
This is not a comforting thought as I approach the first hairpin and back off a little to put some distance between me and the car in front. Although the wipers beat furiously against the windshield, they're fighting a losing battle against the driving rain.
What is comforting, however, is the performance of the 2014 Audi R8's legendary quattro all-wheel drive system beneath me. The powerful rear end squirms on the wet tarmac, but the torque vectoring kicks in and the car regains composure effortlessly. This is the technology that conquered a thousand world rally stages on snow and ice -- a little rain is hardly worth worrying about.
A few seconds of hydroplaning causes an intake of breath... to be exhaled in relief once grip is restored.
The 2014 Audi R8 really is a glorious beast. There are great gobs of power, but they're doled out in such rapid fire, linear progression by the dual clutch S-tronic transmission that it feels almost civilized. Almost.
That gruff bark that escalates to a banshee wail reminds me that this seemingly docile performer is a full-on supercar. There's an option to switch off the traction nannies, but I wisely decide (given the soupy conditions) that I'd be better off with them on.
The flat-bottomed, suede-wrapped wheel feels heavy in my hands, and indeed the steering is rather substantial too -- but far from leaden.
After four laps, I grow braver. Visibility hasn't much improved but I've "learned" the track enough to go a little faster. Through the hairpin and into the straight -- 140 km, 160, 184km. Hardly earth-shattering, but enough to give me a glimpse of the latent power of the car, without (God forbid) being "that guy" -- the poor soul who becomes an internet pariah by spinning, or even worse "pranging" the car.
Then I'm offered a chance to see how it's really done.
On hand is Audi Works driver, Frank Stippler, one of the winners of this year's 24 Hours of Nurburgring, with the Audi R8 LMS Ultra race car.
A stripped-down, snarling beast, the R8 LMS crackles, pops and blatts as we head out of the pits, haunches squirming at every turn. The engine reaches a deafening scream as Stippler deftly guides the R8 around the slippery course -- at times counter-steering in a slide through the hairpins on the very limit of control.
It was an exhilarating ride, and over far too soon.
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| Photo: Lesley Wimbush |