In other news, man find rock falls when dropped from height!
Film at 11.


Just kidding....
I drive my M5 all year round and once the average daily temp drops below 45F, my winter wheels and tires get mounted on the car.
We have amazing machines that have some rather basic rules - good traction being a fundamental one. It would behoove us to ensure that we get to enjoy many more days of fun motoring by swapping winter rubber on at the appropriate time.
Glad you found out the limits of the summer rubber without injury

 

As a follow up - I haven't found any wheels that would clear the R8 at smaller sizes for winter use.
Have you done much research on that?
Any thoughts would be valuable for other members including me

 

I elected to not drive my car in the winter so I did not purchase winter tires. When we had a warm day in MN. I could not stand it anymore and took my car out for a drive. BAD idea. Next year, even if I don't drive it much, I will get snow tires. My life is worth more than a couple grand for tire rubber.

There is a tread on this site that provides information on available winter tires for the R8.

 

You are absolutely right... cars like the R8 that push the envelope are far less tolerant of conditions that other cars would be "okay" in.
I'll try a search for that thread and thanks!

 

Snow tires will work great in the snow, but no tires will work on ice, period.

 

For those who might think that since tires are black =they are for black ice...They are NOT.I may have just saved a life today ! What country races on ice...many but they have the right tires.

 

Black ice is a trill ride in unto itself. At Disneyland in the 50's they called it the E ticket ride. Accelerating hard as you approach black ice helps you focus on the present...and watch your life pass by your eyes. )

 

I still have a few E tickets put away ! They must have been in use up to the 70s . I would rather crash in the R 8 than in these other Plastic fantastic super-cars. I have personally taken the front end off of my R8 and boy was I impressed.VERY solid construction. Still no crash tests that I am aware of though !! Have a good one !!

 

Umm, summer tires are just that... for summer. It's winter right now, and you're in MN, no less.

 

Even summer tires work fine in the winter, so long as you are careful. The TC is very good in the car. Some tires may do it better, but the regular ones do just fine. I've never had winter tires on a car, and never will.

 

One quiet evening in December, while it was freezing, but only just, I turned into the road where our farm is located. Since it's a hairpin and a very narrow road, I was driving slower than walking speed.

The hairpin is slightly inclined and the next thing that happens is that the steering no longer responds and the front goes straight. Somehow the car stopped just before hitting the tree stump towards which it was pointing.

Summer tires on an R8 do not work fine in the winter. If it's slippery, you cannot control the car.

Just to keep things in perspective, I did a 4 day racing course with a series 3 BMW on summer tires. Even in a cold morning with a very slippery track and snow flurries there is nothing like the loss of control that my R8 had that famous evening.

 

Amen to Rob A,
Snow on the ground...I pulled into a restaurant parking lot that was on an incline so I gave it a LITTLE gas to get up the hill as I was turning into the lot. There was so much torque the rear of the car slipped out to the right and I hit the curb. I was NOT going 3 MPH. No damage, but geez. As I was leaving the lot I went to turn right..again at less than 3 MPH and the car would not steer or stop. Fortunately I could go straight and left with no harm to foul.

A warning with experience...be careful in the snow and ice with summer tires. I have NEVER been in an accident. I am very careful driving. I am getting winter tires next year.

 

And I didn't even give a little gas. I MAY have been touching the brakes when I started the turn.

Extra wide summer tires, that's the only reason as far as I can figure ...

My only consolation is that the MB SL 350 is even worse.

 

I am in Canada North of Minneapolis. I have a 2001 A6 with "all season", which is another word for summer tires in my opinion. I have never felt a need for winter tires, and have driven in all kinds of horrible conditions.

This is not to say that the R8 would not need them. Maybe the big step up in torque would make a big difference? I have not driven mine on snow yet, so I have no personal experience on how it performs in snow.

 

Never say never! Driving on ice with the R-Tronik sounds like a tricky test of nerves to say the least .Some say their R tronick makes the car sometimes jutter which would make me shudder (on ice).

 

The poor performance of high speed summer tires on snow and especially ice should not be surprising and is not limited to today's high performance cars. In 1985 (i think) my father purchased one of the first Audi 200 turbo quattro sedans in Europe and we immediately drove to Cortina in the Italian Alps to enjoy the car. It was dry all the way up but on the second night there was ice and some snow. On our first outing that day the car actually slid backwards down a 200 meter road performing no less than 10 perfect spins! Long story short the car was undrivable and Audi had to deliver and install winter tires the next day! Once the winter tires were on it was like a rally car!

 

If you lose control of the car, it usually means that you've given it too much power. How you could lose the car going slower than a walk is beyond me.

Ice is ice, and no rubber will help you with that, but snow is no problem with summer tires. Just don't plan on going as fast as you would with winter tires.

I ran over a patch of compacted snow with R888's on and TC on. I gave it some significant gas to feel the TC. The back end stepped out, but I was able to keep it in control with relative ease. And that was with excessive gas.

 

If you lose control of the car, it usually means that you've given it too much power.

All it takes is a slightly inclined road.

 

The most important variable with driving on snow and especially ice, is the temperature and relative humidity. At extremely, low or sub-zero temps, all packed snow, and even shear ice roads are fairly easy to drive on as the ice crystals form a very, dry, larger granular texture.

As you hit 0C, or 32F, the presence of liquid water interacting within the ice, and snow crystals gives a much more slippery surface. At low melting temps, all icy or snow (slush) surfaces are at their extremes. At just above freezing, on shear ice, it is certainly possible to find an ice surface in a condition where no tire, without some studs or chains, will hold with any significant traction. Its hydroplaning on a thin sheet of water over smooth ice. You can do it at 1 MPH on such surfaces.

 

No car could be better than the other on ice if they all have summer tires on.

 

I must differ with you on that one.

I remember from my youth that a classic Mini with summer tires will beat just about any car with summer tires on slippery surfaces. With summer tires they're not great on ice, but they are a lot better than other cars.

They weigh around 650 kg I believe, which explains a lot.

 

Ice below 10 deg F is very granular and there is good traction as has been said. I have driven all winter in a variety of conditions from packed snow to ice. The R8 with snow tires has done very well and has been on par with my ML-500/Yukon XL both with AT siped tires. As the temp gets more toward 32 deg F the ice melt was very slick and it really doesn't matter if you have summer/winter tires or tank treads. You will still slide. I have found the car very easy to control in slides. Hit some black ice in early February for a little bit of a white knuckler. It is an unusual sensation as most cars fishtail on an axis of the rear end. The R8 seems to spin on a central axis. Traction control came on and I was able to control it well. The spin on the center probably has more to do with the weighting of a mid engine.

I have put half of my current 5800 miles on the car on snow covered roads/interstates. The only thing that stopped me was the drifts.

 

Toe cutter is on par with the more radical European enthusiasts!! The best formula drivers also excelled in the wet. Ice travel has to sharpen driving skills too !!

 

Seems you are right.I am expecting to hear some early VW ice stories now too.No snow or ice where I live. But I took my '58 Vw bug on ice/snow years ago on summer tires and I am still alive. Absolutely no experiences with those Mini's.There are plenty of Mini Coopers (new style) here in So. Cal. The Mini Cooper is VERY popular here in california.

 

I never drove a new Mini though I did look at one.

The level of finish wasn't what I was expecting for a car of that price unfortunately. In my book, if you're going to pay a premium price for a car you expect a premium interior.

The classic Mini was great fun. Not much power but incredible handling. I've been looking on and off at getting a tuned one for historic racing, but I haven't quite convinced myself yet.

 

Audi R8 on Ice. Watch the whole thing on the R8. Its also a very good review of the R8 V8, and its place in the sports car/ super car world.

 

Thanks Bodhii ! That was a very cool video !!

 

I really enjoyed this great R8 review, thanks for posting it! There are some classic quotes:

"This car makes you feel like jail would be worth it!" [for excessive speed]

"This car is so good at everything it does that it would just make your life better. ... It would."

[I notice he got the spoiler up on the ice, so he wasn't just spinning his wheels!]

 

Great video!

I really enjoyed this great R8 review, thanks for
posting it! There are some classic quotes:

And then there's this one..

"My life would be just fine if I had a R8"

I'm gonna' go drive..

 

I have had my moment about 3 months ago and was just a little too ashamed to post. I was whale-tailing through a curve with a moving vehicle and plastic lane separators next to me. after about 3 opposit locks, the TC put the car back straight... great traction once back in control but so helpless on and immediately after the ice.