Mention a ring to a young woman and her heart will go all mushy. Mention four rings to an auto enthusiast and he would salivate at the prospect of getting behind a thrill-monger of a machine from Audi. Audi organises driving experiences for its range of cars meant for different road conditions. So we have the Q Drive for Audi SUVs, and for the faster, sportier, lower slung machines, you have the Audi Sports Car Experience. We attended the event at the Buddh International Circuit. The lineup included the S5, Audi TT as well as the more exotic RS7, RS6 and R8. Here’s what it was like.
Audi R8 LMX – A different kind of Beast
Yes, you read it right. Audi…R8…LMX. I got to drive the brute, flat out, on a track. Not only is it a supercar, it was also the first car in India to feature laser headlights. Not that we needed it on a clearer (after a week of choking week long smog) Delhi afternoon.
I have been blown away by the way the Audi R8 looks from the very first day I laid my eyes on it. The love continues. As the car stood there in the pit lane, waiting for me, I saw the car from more angles than a teenager would look at himself mirror before setting out for a prom night.
The Audi R8’s engine has to be one of the world’s best naturally aspirated engines and LMX gets 20 hp more than the standard R8. The engine singing the magical symphony to my ears is a 5.2 litre naturally aspirated V10 producing 570 bhp and 530 Nm of Torque. Coupled with a seven speed S- tronic gearbox, the car can reach 100 kmph in 3.4 secs and a top speed of 320 kmph.
I loved the round machined metal gear knob. While it’s not a manual box, the shift lever does remind you of classic gated gear shifters in supercars of the past. The seats were very comfortable for a supercar and held me in place through the laps with great amounts of bolstering. Interiors are well laid out, and the car combines the best things automotive. Small things like having a handbrake instead of e-brake, a round metal gear knob, a naturally aspirated engine (instead of bi-turbo and superchargers) and Instead of a complicated system to select drive modes, you simply press the sport button behind the lever when you go on track or want spirited driving dynamics.
What I loved the most were the Analog Dials for Speedometer and Tachometer. Though they have given the LMX laser lights, and there was an option to give it a virtual cockpit, Audi stuck to the old school charm of analog dials. Interior does get a very upmarket modern look of a supercar with ample amounts of carbon fibre all across. It’s like wearing a tweed coat and smoking a Pipe to the press conference when you were the first man to travel to Mars.
However, they use technology where it matters – tuning of the engine and coupling with the gear box. Revs build up fast, the shifts are super smooth with no delay and there is never a dull moment waiting for the power to kick in. Shift down a couple of cogs on the hairpin, point the car in the right direction and just floor the ride-by-wire accelerator, the beast wakes up sending oodles of torque across four wheels, leaving you holding on to dear life. I did slam it around more aggressively than I thought I could. The amount of grip the car provides is phenomenal.
You can really push this car around with gay abandon, and it’ll egg you on to go faster. It does growl and snarl, but the seat of the pants experience is very, very reassuring. You drive it on the edge, using all the grip in the tyres, the rear slides but the quick steering gets the car in control. Kudos to the S-tronic gearbox, which performs the shifting duties beautifully, and keeps the car in power-band at all times. It is not surprising that Audi R8 is considered the most practical supercar.
Some hangovers last a morning, others, a lifetime – and the hangover of driving the R8 LMX on the track would last me a lifetime.
Can the RS7 Drift Controllably?
Raise your hand if you like the Audi RS7 Performance. Those who don’t, read here, and we’re quite sure you will. This car was envisaged for the guy who loves his shot of dopamine as much as his family. It’s meant for someone who loves spending his Sundays shredding the tires on a race track but drops off the kids in the same car on a Monday morning before he goes to work to ink a multi-million dollar deal.
However, someone at Audi thought it would be nice to add a bit more spice to the RS7 experience. Audi made the track wet and asked if we could drift the RS7 Performance on it. No holds barred. So we tried. A few times. All we had to do was, go straight, turn the wheel and mash the throttle. With traction control turned off and Quattro in action, the car would understeer rather than oversteer into a drift. But even while understeering, and us approaching the boundary cones, we could control the behemoth easily.
For the first two-three runs we had to unlearn the muscle memory to keep the throttled mashed and not getting off it even if the car was screeching like an angry pterodactyl. We did get a bit of drift twice. But the purpose of the exercise was to show that the car stays very much in control even with driving aids turned off and driver trying to get the car unsettled. It does understeer due to Quattro AWD system but gets back in control with a little bit of skill and practice.
Cars like the Audi RS7 are considered dangerous and too powerful. But this exercise would make anyone more comfortable with the car exhibiting that despite the immense power, they can stay in control. Not saying that the car will never crash. It definitely will if its power is not respected. RS7 is pretty well sorted as a powerful fastback
Driving fast, fashionably
When I got a chance to choose between the TT and the S5 for two laps around the BIC, I chose the former – for I wanted to know what it felt like to go all guns blazing with the top down on a racetrack. Once you get into the car, you notice how compact it is and how minimalistic the styling is. With AC controls integrated into the AC vents and central screen placed as a virtual cockpit, there aren’t too many things to see on the central console. Start the car and it’s quiet and the information delivered through the virtual cockpit is simply amazing.
Anyways, before I could play with the settings, we had to drive off. All I could do was switch to Dynamic Mode under drive select and we exited the pits. The 2.0 TFSI engine was delighting me with its muffled burble and 224 hp of power. With 370 Nm of torque coming in early at just 1600 RPM, the TT sped quickly to 100 kmph, its official timing being 6.1 secs. I have driven more powerful cars around the circuit, but the feeling of cocooned inside a small sports car with its compact dimensions amplifies the thrill somewhat. The chassis is excellent with a well tuned suspension making cornering smooth and effortless. The S Tronic gear box did a terrific job, though I wish I had set the Virtual Cockpit to show a large tachometer for some redline fun.
It was not easy to keep pace with the much more powerful pace car – the Audi RS7 but the little TT did its best. It does tend to understeer if a little extra speed is carried into the corners but the quattro system keeps the car firmly in control. Brakes were excellent and car showed excellent manners under heavy braking. However, I did end up smoking the brakes a little bit in the second lap.
Overall, driving the Audi TT was a lot of fun. It looks great, has a pretty effervescent engine and doesn’t feel out of place on the track. It’s loaded with technology and character, yet has minimalistic, functional interior.
Audi S5 on a Mini Track
We also got to drive the Audi S5 on a specially made, small but tight track. Audi S5 is the latest offering from Audi and we loved it when we drove it. So, for this time, I will just jump onto how it was to drive it around a course. We were given four runs, first was following a lead car (driven by renowned Indian racer Aditya Patel), who showed us the course. Needless to say, the course was tight with a narrow path, tight turns, some fast corners and a slalom course.
I was taken aback by how easy handling this sportback sedan was. Though a sedan with four doors, it has more power than the Audi TT. It does translate into quicker acceleration. Despite its size, it felt nimble and steering was extremely precise. Power delivery is smooth and at every corner you know the amount of power every throttle input was dialling in, the brakes were really good too. The slalom was a breeze with the S5’s nimble handling and no body roll.
I was really impressed by the car and realized that it’s a great car for some trips to the hills with family and friends. The ride quality is not as aggressive as the RS range but the handling is very precise for spirited driving around corners and offers enough luxury to make you feel good.
Check out an image gallery of the Audi Sportscar Experience 2017 at BIC below
