The Audi Sportscar Experience // My Wifes Perspective

[iamaudi]

My wife and I recently spent some time in Sonoma California at the Audi Sportscar Experience and it was
awesome! My wife took the time to write about what she thought of everything, so if you need some help
convincing your better half this article just might do the trick. Click the link for the full thing with pictures.
Also if you just want to drive the V10 R8 I suggest you take advantage of this program.

"I can’t say for certain what my expectations were when Scott first mentioned going to Sonoma for the R8
Sportscar experience. I was of course excited to go to Sonoma. Any excuse to get to California works for me
– but racing cars, on a track? Not sure about that!"



Link to her full Article:

The Audi Sportscar Experience // The Ladies Experience

[swansailor]

My wife and I recently spent some time in Sonoma California at the Audi Sportscar Experience and it was
awesome! My wife took the time to write about what she thought of everything, so if you need some help
convincing your better half this article just might do the trick. ....



Link to her full Article:

The Audi Sportscar Experience // The Ladies Experience

Thanks for sharing this. My wife watched me for two days at Sonoma and now comes and watches at Audi Club events (or goes out fearlessly for fast laps in the passenger seat with the instructors) but I can not persuade her to get behind the wheel. I will show her the article and hopefully it will make her re-think.

[SBFV10]

Hey Scott. How are you doing?

Hope to keep in touch when you are at your new place!

Steve

[iamaudi]

Thanks for sharing this. My wife watched me for two days at Sonoma and now comes and watches at Audi Club events (or goes out fearlessly for fast laps in the passenger seat with the instructors) but I can not persuade her to get behind the wheel. I will show her the article and hopefully it will make her re-think.

Your wife would love it!!! The first thing my wife asked when we finished was "When do we get to come back?!"

SBFV10 - Of course we are going to keep in touch, things are going great the future looks very exciting.

[z356]

Re: "Also if you just want to drive the V10 R8 I suggest you take advantage of this program"

I attended the one day program at the Audi R8 Driving Experience just one week ago at Sears Point. Just for the record, the school's R8 fleet has just been changed. Most of the v10's were taken away (probably to be sold at auction) and replaced with v8 R8's. They were allowed to keep one Sepang Blue v10 for demonstration laps but the car is normally NOT available for driving by the students. We had a smaller group so they gave a few of us the opportunity to drive it for one or two laps around Infineon. The organizers on site didn't know when other v10's would be returned to the fleet (next fall?) or if they would get one of the latest v10 GT for testing or promotional use. But they were hopeful. z356

[willyjp]

Re: " Most of the v10's were taken away (probably to be sold at auction) and replaced with v8 R8's. z356

Under the heading of idle gossip, and fwiw, when I attended the ADE @ Infineon, the original v8 fleet was beginning to show it's age just a tiny bit. I asked one of the staffers, just out of curiosity, what would be the fate of those cars, thinking they might make somebody a good deal, perhaps as the basis for a race car that would be totally gone through anyway.

He said that a sampling would be subjected to wear analysis, but that this fleet (and factory "demo" R8s generally, including the press fleets) were eventually headed for the crusher! He said that though these cars have had regular and faithful maintenance, they've been USED long and hard and Audi didn't want any cars of questionable provenance out there to sully the image of the breed (or lower the cost?...just my idle speculation!).

I certainly wouldn't take that to be an official statement of Audi USA, but it sounds like it could well be true? Some years ago I knew a guy who was a GM exec and had worked in several different divisions. I asked him once about factory demo and "executive" Corvettes and he told me pretty much the same thing.

Reassuring, I guess, that if you buy an "Audi Certified Used" R8, you won't be getting a retired "Driving Experience" track car!

[z356]

Willyjp: Are they destined for crushers? Perhaps. Let me tell you my experience with another equally respectable German auto manufacturer. Back when BMW was selling their much vaunted aluminum bodied Z8s (MY2001 to MY2003), they had a fleet of Z8's at their South Carolina test track (next to their X5 plant) where each US owner was invited to a two day Z8 Driving Experience. The US Z8 owners club (Andrew Macpherson's) recorded each and every vin number on those cars. And by checking these vin # when they surfaced 'for sale' years later is how we found out that BMW had sold them at auction (Manheim). That is how these hard-ridden Z8's filtered up to used car lots and were bought by unsuspecting customers.

In the case of the Driving Experience R8's, it would be very beneficial if Audi, instead of selling them or sending them straight to the crusher, takes them apart and inspects closely for any impact damage on the aluminum chassis (e.g. as reported by Danko in a previous thread on this very forum). That would be the 'wear analysis' that you reported. With the Z8's we also had reports of damage to the front shock towers in regular customer's cars and the news made it all the way to the national press in this country and Europe. Needless to say, this is very bad publicity for the manufacturer for their flagship vehicle and effects consumer confidence in the product. BMW finally had to physically inspect all Z8's and come up with a bracket that alleviated owners' concerns. I sincerely hope nothing like that experience with our Z8's ever effects the R8's. But remember, we are dealing with 'delicate' aluminum chassis issues in each case, since aluminum chassis construction is relative rare in the industry. Audi has to be proactive to investigate these reports, determine the cause of the damage (if any) and offer solutions if/when necessary. They need to make certain the values of their R8's are not tarnished by reports of real or imaginary defects, which is something the Z8 owners experienced with the delayed manner in which BMW attended to these issues which infuriated so many owners. z356

[peterh]

My wife and I were just there a few weeks ago as well - heard we were about the last ones to drive the V10's before they got replaced with the V8's.

No way is my wife going to be sitting on the sidelines watching me drive!

[desperado]

Thank you for sharing your wife's story. I will be sending the link to several friends whose spouses are interested but still have reservations.

[SFR8]

Great write-up by your wife. It made me want to sign up for Audifest 2010 at Infineon.