Audi Driving Experience - Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia

[r8vten]

Hi Guys,

Was invited to an 'Audi Driving Experience' at Phillip Island yesterday (where they hold the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, and several V8 Supercar races). They had a pretty good line-up of cars to drive:

R8 V10 Spyder
R8 V10 Coupe
R8 V8
RS6
RS5
S5
TTRS
TTS

The instructors each led a pack of 4 cars, and were typically in a lesser vehicle (e.g. an S5 leading the R8s, a TTS leading the RS6's/TTRS's, an S5 leading the RS5's). There was an instructor out from Germany, plus a guest V8 Supercar driver (Brad Jones) handling the R8's.

Was a fantastic experience! I was mightily impressed that even a relative novice (me) in an R8 V10 R-Tronic coupe was able to keep up with a professional racing driver in an S5 (he kept picking up the speed until I could see he was at the limit of traction at the rear. After 1 lap we almost came to a stop for about 20 seconds to let the other 3 R8's catch up, as those drivers weren't quite as enthusiastic as me - you're not allowed to overtake anyone, especially the instructor, but I could have easily down the straight).

Here are some high-def you-tube video clips from the day. Hope they give you a feel for what awesome fun can be had, and I strongly recommend it if you get the chance!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-UcJLi3iMY[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB9Jaf9ulak[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxYsd2eezjI[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-wv6O8OPk[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBm_4y3XJz8[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyHNJRbPfQ[/ame]

[gazza1]

Just got back myself from this great day.

Like you it was some fun in the R8's to push Brad.

Few things I took away were..

Spyder didn't rock my boat in the flesh.Beautiful car BUT 450K.

Give me a Lambo spyder pls.

Fell in love with the manual V10 coupe in performance and feel..must order monday and will change the exhaust as they almost asthmatic and sound very average on idle..

With respect to all RTRONIC owners out there..how do you live with it??
Thuds into gear and just doesn't compliment the high degree of finesse built into the R8.

RS5 was a blast and the Stronic was just so much better.

Thanks Audi..blast of a day.

[mngolfer]

I would never go back to manual after tracking the R-Tronic. I can keep both hands on the steering wheel and shift faster than anyone in a manual. I guess it is to each his own. I would agree with you if you used the manual mode of R-tronic. That is just downright terrible. They have improved it greatly, but it still is not how I drive the R8.

[conm]

Gazza, how did you here about the Drive day....in Newcastle we are in the dark for these events.....
Con
p.s.
interesting comment about the r-tronic

[r8vten]

The S-tronic in the RS5 was generally smoother for sure, but I found the DSG in the RS5 caused the car to lurch very disconcertingly when changing down around the sharp corners (probably more an issue with the suspension than the DSG itself), whereas the R8 r-tronic was much better albeit with the occasional rough change accelerating hard out of sharp corners (but it never upset the balance of the car).

[gazza1]

Gazza, how did you here about the Drive day....in Newcastle we are in the dark for these events.....
Con
p.s.
interesting comment about the r-tronic

Hi Con,got invited by my Audi Dealership.

Re the Rtronic,its each to his own but I tried it in both sport auto and manual and just didn't like it.

Another frustrating thing was how the paddles are mounted on the wheel and not the column and I found mid corner if I was accelerating out and wanted to go up a gear I was searching for the paddle somewhere on the wheel.

Manual with the V10 behind was a gorgeous combo


Red interior on the spyder I thought actually looked much nicer in the flesh than pictures i had seen

[RS5]

Hi,

Hope you can help, I need some information about one of the cars that was at the track at Phillip Island for the Audi Drive Experience Day in 2010, Daytona Grey RS5, Rego NXT33F, seen in a number of your video's on Youtube.

Cheers RS5

[gazza1]

Hi,

Hope you can help, I need some information about one of the cars that was at the track at Phillip Island for the Audi Drive Experience Day in 2010, Daytona Grey RS5, Rego NXT33F, seen in a number of your video's on Youtube.

Cheers RS5

How can we help??

[jimmay]

How can we help Mr. Insurance Adjuster??

:-)

[jh001ace]

Just got back myself from this great day.

Like you it was some fun in the R8's to push Brad.

Few things I took away were..

Spyder didn't rock my boat in the flesh.Beautiful car BUT 450K.

Give me a Lambo spyder pls.

Fell in love with the manual V10 coupe in performance and feel..must order monday and will change the exhaust as they almost asthmatic and sound very average on idle..

With respect to all RTRONIC owners out there..how do you live with it??
Thuds into gear and just doesn't compliment the high degree of finesse built into the R8.

RS5 was a blast and the Stronic was just so much better.

Thanks Audi..blast of a day.

RS5 S Tronic feels like a slush box IMHO, all far too sterile