New to me R8...

[S&W 10]

Hey all, I'm new here and hopefully will be taking delivery later this week of a used Silver 2009 V8 R-Tronic, carbon blades, interior and engine trim. The car has about 5,000 miles on it and seems to be in great condition (from looking at several good quality photos). This will be my first true performance car; it's also the first car I've purchased sight unseen (which is slightly un-nerving).
After lurking/learning here a while I've found this forum to be very informative and pretty civilized, so please keep up the great posts, as they have answered several of my questions; in fact some of the posts here influenced my decision to make the purchase.

[randombloke]

It's a great, great car - I'm sure you'll love it and find this site invaluable. It's worth adding your location to your profile here to get the most from the site.

[OEMplus.com]

Congratulations on the purchase! We'd love to see pics and hear about your plans for the car (aside from driving the wheels off)!!

[Monkey boy UK]

Welcome to the Forum & congrats, so, you have bought the car unseen, have you driven one yet? if not, your in for a treat! enjoy....

[S&W 10]

Thanks for the words of encouragement...
There was only one R8 for sale in the state to look at and sit in, so unfortunately for me; no, I haven't driven one before and I'm not really sure what to expect when I go to pick it up.
I guess I'll limp it home in auto mode, spend some time reading the owner/operators manual and do some more reading on here so I don't damage or wear anything before I "give it a go...wink, wink, nudge, nudge"!
(My poor attempt at a little humor for our UK amigos.)

[R84ME]

Yes, congrats! I'm sure you can hardly wait. I sat in a few before I took delivery but never drove one. You won't be disappointed!

[randombloke]

I think there's only really one thing that could throw a new driver in manual mode on their way home - and that's how the car automatically "pings" and goes to neutral after a few seconds of being stationary with no foot on the brake (or gas) pedal. If that happens, just press the brake pedal and pull the right hand paddle to re-engage first.

[ianerrid]

No the thing that will throw you (once!) is feeling a chump when you rev the nuts off in neutral - trust me, you only do it once ;-)

[kartking]

I just got mine a month ago, and I am loving it. The car is simply amazing.
Congrats and enjoy it!

[S&W 10]

Just got off of the phone with the dealer and was told it may be two more weeks before it arrives. They are having an issue scheduling proper transport...maybe the left coast guys just don't want to deliver to an Okie.