There are many memorable firsts in life. Your first kiss, first real job, the first time you drive a $150,000 supercar 100 mph down a very short back stretch and apply full brake 200 feet before a 90-degree right-hander. Wait… what?
Starting Grid
The track is Waterford Hills Raceway: A 1.4 mile road course nestled in the middle of a gun club in Clarkston, Michigan. Waterford is much more about handling than speed. With the back straight barely 0.2 miles long, it’s the only place on the track I’ll flirt with triple digits. Going by the official track map, eight corners await me, though, as it turns out, a few of those corner features have multiple bends.
(Video featuring Jack Baruth. Chris Doane’s article continues below…)
The car is the 2009 Audi R8; Ingolstadt’s 420 horsepower supercar. Motivation begins at the 4.2-liter V8 and flows through Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system. An AWD setup, yes, but, the quattro system in the R8 will never send more than 35 percent of the power to the front wheels. Should I need to change gears, I’ve got Audi’s R-tronic transmission. The R-tronic is not a dual clutch setup, rather, it is a close cousin to the sequential E-gear transmission found in the Lamborghini Gallardo, but with optimized tuning for the R8.
That leaves me, a 30-year-old automotive journalist whose racetrack credentials are a little… sparse, to navigate the bends. Sure, I’ve done plenty of sport driving on racetrack-like roads, but as for setting tire on an actual track, I’ve never done it. In the interest of preserving my life, and the finely sculpted sheet metal of the R8, NASA Performance Touring and Koni Challenge driver Jack Baruth (seen in the above video) is riding shotgun to pass along his cornering Zen.
First stint
For my first lesson, Jack and I regressed to a Kindergarten game of follow the leader — the only difference being that five-year-olds can’t drive $200,000 worth of Audis. Jack is driving a bright red Audi TTS and my job is to follow his line and speed to learn the way around this course. Easy enough, right? If only.
My first problem is vision. Among the other firsts of the day, this is my first time wearing a racing helmet. My peripheral vision has gone from plenty to “where’s the door handle?” It’s so disorienting that I’m going way wide at the corner exit. So wide that I’m getting dangerously close to having two of my four Pirellis in the dirt.
My second problem is, well, everything else. Did I mention I’d never done this before? Strangely enough, the hours of Grand Turismo 4 on the Playstation have not prepared me for the responsibility of piloting a six-figure car around a racetrack and not crashing it. It takes almost no time at all to appreciate how much information you have to process on the fly and how much concentration you need to keep the car pointed in the right direction. On my second lap, I came off the final corner, turn 8, onto the front stretch and noticed some motion in the start/finish tower. It was our video crew moving to a new position, and in the tenth of second I’d taken my eye off the course, my line on the track was blown and a large correction was needed.
While I quickly learn from that mistake, things are still going downhill. I see brake lights ahead of me on parts of the track I shouldn’t see them. My speed is dropping and Jack is slowing down so I can catch up. We rip down the backstretch and go briskly into turn 6, a 90-degree right. I let the car run too wide again and nearly have an off. Through the turn 7 esses, I start flashing my brights to let Jack know I want to pit. He waves out the window during the long, sweeping left-hander of turn 8 and we make for pit lane. Hilariously, when I pull up next to him in the pits, he asks, “do you wanna go faster?”
“Uh, actually do you want hop in here? I feel like I need some instruction…I feel like I’m doing a lot wrong,” I answer.
“Oh, sure!”
Second Stint
As it turns out, I’m even sitting wrong. Jack jumps in, takes one look at me and moves me forward to a less-than-comfortable driving position. With good reason though, as I need to be up on the wheel to have good range of motion in my arms while keeping my hands at the “10″ and “2” positions. Sure, you may have thought your high school driver’s ed instructor was a crusty old-timer for making you drive with a balanced hand position, but at the track, anything less, or any shuffling of the wheel within your hands, and you’ve failed.
With my hands and arms in the right place, it’s time to get my foot down. I accelerate down the pit lane and out onto turn 1, a sharp, sweeping right-hander that goes slightly uphill as you transition to the next corner. Turn 2 consists of a gentle “s” pattern. Right, then left, then back right and onto a quick straight — all slightly downhill. So far the R8 is handling all of this with ease. Grip seems endless. But, then again, I’m not exactly keeping an Andretti pace.
Somewhere around this point, my memory gets a little hazy. My eyes are several yards down the track, my ears are on Jack (and the tires) and my memory is out to lunch. I’m concentrating so hard on driving the car at that moment, that once it’s over, it’s all a bit of a blur. Professional athletes always talk about “leaving it all on the field” and apparently I’ve left it all out on the track hanging somewhere over turn 4.
I’m not at a total loss since there are two memorable lessons from the day: singing tires and unwinding the wheel.
The first is not your favorite emo-indie band, but if you don’t listen to it, you may end up cut. The idea is, when you corner, you want to do it at a speed where the noise coming from the tires is a subtle, hum. This tells you you’re right at the limit of the tires ability to grip the road. If the tires are screeching and screaming at you, you’re probably a tread block or two away from losing it. Not surprisingly, my first listen for musical tires resulted in something quite shouty.
The front stretch at Waterford Hills has a very slight rise at the end of it. It’s just enough to block your entry view of turn 1 until you’re almost on top of it. So here I was bombing down the front stretch and I’m a little late on the brake and turn in. The tires are not pleased and make a sound somewhere between Metallica and Pantera. I screech and slide through the corner, though the R8 hangs in there surprisingly well. Jack turns to me very calmly and says, “that’s about as fast as we want to do that one.”
Oops.
At the end of that lap, my ears finally tune in to what Jack is trying to teach me. In the “Swamp turn” (a.k.a. turn eight) the tires go subtlety Soprano as I maintain speed though the long left-hander and aim for the apex that leads to the front stretch. Jack is pleased. “All right, you got it, you got. You know where to go…now floor it!”
Relax and Unwind
The second lesson, unwinding the wheel, doesn’t come as easy. The textbook explanation sounds easy; once you’ve hit the apex of the corner, get the steering wheel back to center ASAP so that you can get back on the gas. The car wants to accelerate when the wheels are straight, not when the wheels are turned.
Fast-forward to real life in the turn 2 esses at Waterford and I must’ve left that textbook in my locker. The problem is that, for a racetrack beginner, unwinding the wheel this quickly feels like certain death, as if you’re going to run right off the track.
I clip the apex for the first right-hander in turn 2 and Jack reaches over to straighten out the steering wheel to setup for the following left. He does this way before I would’ve. I prepare myself to go headlong into the guardrail and for the embarrassing change of pants that will ensue. I’m also accelerating my brain to work out the excuse I’ll give Audi for wrecking their R8. Only, none of that happens. “Oh look! The track is still there,” Jack says with a laugh. Not only is it there, but we are right at the apex for the following left-hander. Without Jack’s correction, I would’ve eased out of the right-hander, and the front wheels would not have been straight in time. I also would not have been using the entire track. It’s a pair of errors that could cost me a few tenths in a game of hundredths.
On the following trip through turn 2, I fight off the urge ease out of the corner. If thrill seekers can stand on bridge with a glorified rubber band around their ankles and get themselves to jump, surely I can move a steering wheel a few degrees in one direction? Nope, too much to ask! On the next pass, however, I pull it off. The “oh now I get it” feeling washed over me right on cue. It doesfeel faster.
“Hey see there…I didn’t even have to steer for ya that time!” Jack bellows.
Cool down lap
The impression the R8 left on me will be floating around in my cortex for years to come. It’s very easy to drive the R8 very fast. With immense grip and such a planted, neutral chassis, it would take an exceptionally idiotic driver to get the R8 bent out of shape. But Lindsay Lohan could probably do it.
All I know is: I’ve never turned in so hard, cornered so flat, or braked so late in my life.
Words and photos by Chris Doane.
(Editor’s note: We’ll cover day-to-day life with the R8 next in a standard, non-racetrack review.)
08/27, 12:09 PM
posted by:
DenverGuy217
Gimme Gimme Gimme!! Damn fine
08/27, 12:14 PM
posted by:
arena
Who is this tool? When he talks about the handling of the car he sounds like he’s trying to put on a (bad) driving seminar rather than relating what he’s talking about to the car.
Is this car really this boring to drive on a race-track? This review makes it sound like he was about to fall asleep at the wheel…
08/27, 12:22 PM
posted by:
vv1010
arena: i don’t think anyone said the car was boring. no need for screaming and shouting and getting too worked up over such things. i prefer level headed commentary to complete hyperbole.
08/27, 12:33 PM
posted by:
Audi RS5
Sounds like you enjoyed your first track experience Chris, glad to hear it.
08/27, 12:34 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
You guys really need to get me out there to shoot and edit one of these things. Sorry to whoever put this together, but it was very slow flowing.
08/27, 12:41 PM
posted by:
Bosley
At least he didn’t crash the Audi the way Eddie Griffin wrote off that Ferrari Enzo a while back….
08/27, 1:41 PM
posted by:
05Z88Path
I thought the video was pretty decent (although I enjoyed article more). However, It would have been nice to get some in-car video on the track. Either mounting a camera inside the vehicle, or suction cupped to the outside of the car. I always enjoy watching sports cars do a fast lap around a racetrack….really puts you in the driver seat better then words ever can.
08/27, 1:55 PM
posted by:
Chris_Doane
05Z88Path,
We were actually going to do that, but we only had the track rented for 4 hours and kinda ran out of time with everything else we were trying to get done.
Next time!
08/27, 2:02 PM
posted by:
A4
Audi RS5 this still isnt a PR and consumer satisfaction site for Audi. Sigh.
08/27, 2:19 PM
posted by:
Audi RS5
A4, Chris mentioned it was his first time on a track and from his article it sounds like he enjoyed it. That’s all I commented on. That he was in an Audi was irrelevant in my comment.
08/27, 2:28 PM
posted by:
Chris_Doane
“POSTED BY:
A4
Audi RS5 this still isnt a PR and consumer satisfaction site for Audi. Sigh.”
Eh?
08/27, 2:33 PM
posted by:
xcatchmyshadowx
nice review. i think any trackie has gone down that path of frustration in the beginning, but if learn and follow the basics there is barely sth. that generates more fun. by the way, the R8 is a great track car, very well balanced, very forgiving. u can really atttack without sweating to death. R8 FTW !
08/27, 2:33 PM
posted by:
Audi RS5
A4 seems to believe I’m an Audi salesman trying to push the brand. I do work for them and am biased towards my employeer but aside from presenting facts about us and a few ill-placed jests I don’t see where I’ve been one trying to “sell my brand”.
08/27, 2:52 PM
posted by:
Bosley
I love the editorial note at the end: “We’ll cover the day-to-day life with the R8 next,….” Man, if only my day-to-day life including driving around one of these babies….
08/27, 3:32 PM
posted by:
Sabon
I really enjoyed the article. I am SOOOOOO tired of screaming monkeys writing articles and being in videos or on TV. It’s a super nice change not to have an idiot writing this article instead of, “wow, totally rad dude” and so much other BS.
08/27, 4:05 PM
posted by:
SomeGreek
Reading European articles (much different than the american reviews) i must say i was really disapointed of the journalist’s skills. Not being able to handle the whole situation, resulted to a story around the driver rather than the car.
Still the most important thing when you read a review is feeling that you are in the driver’s position and so that in some way you experience what the reviewer did. Chris did well on this and that is number one skill for a successfull car jurnalist. Driving qualities come next, with the experience.
Good work, then, Chris!
08/27, 5:51 PM
posted by:
TL
Hey, maybe the millions left from the CARS rebate program can net us some R8’s!!
08/27, 7:37 PM
posted by:
leftwingagenda
nice vid, although to be picky the engine noise of the R8 is so good that i really wanted to hear a lot more of that in 6 minutes…a graphic showing the layout of the track would’ve helped to orient viewers with respect to the dialog, too…but don’t get me wrong, it gets two thumbs up, nice work, guys…
08/27, 9:32 PM
posted by:
reedfast
I want the s5 in that lime green! Where can i get one?
Actually make that an rs5, i can wait.
08/27, 10:23 PM
posted by:
Bosley
“Strangely enough, the hours of Grand Turismo 4 on the Playstation have not prepared me for the responsibility of piloting a six-figure car around a racetrack and not crashing it”
Best line in the article for all us ‘armchair critics’….. 
08/28, 12:31 AM
posted by:
brocky
Don’t worry Audi RS5. A4 is always making some comment outside of the lines.
Back to the topic, the R8 is truly a beauty both on and off the track. Not that I’ve ever driven one before.
08/28, 1:03 AM
posted by:
Audi RS5
Actually I could care less anymore brocky, A4 can blow it out of his exhaust for all I care. I only went in depth with the third comment for Chris’ benefit.
08/28, 12:10 PM
posted by:
Soravia
Haha, that’s why I just can’t play car video games anymore. They just feel like driving a turd compared to the actual cars. LOL
08/31, 7:36 AM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
So, I got a call today, without my dad even knowing, because he had planned all this to be somewhat of a surprise…but, it was Sebring International Raceway!!! I had to reserve a car for a time slot. There were so many cars to choose from! I thought you could just go from one car to the next, that way you could try as many as you could on one day, but it turns out that they actually make you take 1 driving course for each car you drive to teach you you to “man handle” it, that’s what this guy said on the phone…lol…
this is what’s under my name right now:-)
day one- Audi rs4/R8/S8, mercedes sl65 AMG Black S, lexus isf,
sleep
day two- cadillac cts-v, corvette zr1:-))))))))), ford mustang gt500 KR, shelby gt500 supersnake, mustang GT(saleen s7 if the gt isn’t available(aka not working);-)
I couldn’t reserve for the 3rd day until the day I get there. They also had a Mcclaren
I’M SO FRIKIN EXCITED…I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas.
only a little over a week till we go
08/31, 11:36 AM
posted by:
ahnuconun
Doin’ it fer real gives you an adrenaline rush you no can haz wit video games. It’s automotive crack!
08/31, 1:01 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Congratulations Idrinor Barsaku, you lucky bastard. No Viper ACR though? That sounds like a total blast. Let us know how it goes, and you should shoot some video while you’re there.
08/31, 2:15 PM
posted by:
N8shon
I enjoyed hearing the thoughts from a first-timer at the track. Well done, an enjoyable read.
08/31, 3:20 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
I actually never thought about that because the acr never interested me…I would rather drive a regular viper to be honest…because I guarantee you I am not good enough with my left foot to handle the acr.
I think they make you wait till the day you get there to reserve for the 3rd day so that you actually know what is available. All the cars I have listed up there ^ were the ones that I thought of, so I can’t imagine what else they have. Truthfully though, I plan on driving some normal cars on the 3rd day, if I can that is. The next car I will be buying will either be a BMW 335xi, Infiniti G37xs sedan, or the lexus IS350. I plan on driving the crap out of these(I already know they have them because I asked for them). The thing that has me questioning which one to buy or not has EVERYTHING to do with reliability! And since I would be financing about 43k, I don’t want something that will give me problems…agh agh aghmmm…BMW…cough cough cough…
Hint, hint…I have been driving a newer 2008 infiniti g35x for about a week now…if it weren’t missing the sport package, I would buy this off the dealer right now! But, the IS350 also has a nice interior, although it is way more cramped than both the bmw and infiniti…especially in the back seat area, and is harder when entering the drivers seat.
Ohh crap…I completely forgot about the audi a4/a5. They are both in the same price range with some great options! But, the same problem arises…RELIABILITY!!! My dad says to go for the new mercedes E350 4-matic(great lease rates), and to lease what ever car I get. Mercedes runs deep in my family’s veins(they don’t say I drive a mercedes, they say, “I drive a benz”) so I feel like I have to get something from them, even though having a mb is nothing to complain about, I don’t think MB fit’s my character. But I am running into problems with my 08 passat due to me running up more miles than I am allowed. I’m going to have to pay off the lease, even though I still have 2 years on it. Luckily, my passat has been 100% trouble free. At the end of he lease, I will owe about $12k. Which I think will be a good idea to sell privately, or keep, and lease that a4/a5/bmw/MB.
If I finance something, chances are, it will either be a lexus or infiniti, and I will return the passat.
If I lease something, I will keep the passat(pay off the remaining balance at end of lease), and lease either the audi/bmw/mercedes. I don’t want to pay more than $900 for finance and $600 for lease.
I am open to any thoughts and/or personal opinions if you have either one of those cars.
Please, don’t waste your time with biased views…like…”a chevy cobalt ss will destroy all of those”… god knows I have enough of my own biased vies…lol
08/31, 3:29 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
beatusmongous,
you can count on it:-) I just got back from best buy after spending $2200 on a nikon D5000 and a Sony 120gb 1080p video camera! I’f gonna have some fun teaching my dad how to use them…that is…if I can learn them first!
08/31, 5:46 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
You won’t have too much trouble with the Sony camera. They are pretty straightforward and are almost just point and shoot. Sony all but erased their white-balance hunting problem, but just to be on the safe side, make sure you set your white balance or light filter to sunny or cloudy, depending on the weather conditions, before you start shooting. I have a Sony HDR-FX1, and I’ve put that thing through hell (118° desert run for 6 hours followed by an all-day walk down the Las Vegas Strip, among other projects). The trick is to use two hands instead of one – you just can’t keep one hand steady enough. I also have grips, batteries, lights and other add-ons that add weight to my camera, which gives me a more steady shot, but as long as you keep it out in front of you and use both hands, you should be fine. Also, when turning or panning, pivot your whole body, not just your hands, arms or upper body. If you’re shooting from inside the car, put your feet against the front and push your body hard into the seat. That will prevent your body from moving sideways too much during cornering, and you will be able to keep the camera steady.
My wife shoots with Canon D series, which are similar to the Nikon D series. We got robbed a couple of years ago, and the insurance allowed her to replace the camera. She was torn between the Canon and the Nikon, but she stuck with Canon simply because she still had a lens or two and didn’t want to spend the money to replace them. However, many of her 2nd shooters use the Nikon, and the image quality is pretty much identical, which is really good. Congratulations on two other nice purchases, too. Enjoy them.
08/31, 11:25 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
Thanks! Both of those purchases came as a bundle set with bags, tripods, and such. The only problem is that, because they came as packaged set, I have to wait for both of them to get delivered. I did save more than 400 dollars through my friend who works their though! I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to spend some more money:-) I just bought a uni macbook pro 15″ a month ago…can’t wait to finally use it to it’s fullest potential! This is my first time with nikon, but definitely not with sony. I have a kodak slr, but it doesn’t have rechargeable batteries(I know, WTF?!) I still have a 14-15 year old sony mini vhs cam-corder! It works like new! But, that’s because I keep all my electronics and cars in tip-top shape:-)
09/01, 12:24 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Now I’m jealous of the MacBook Pro. My laptop is only a PowerBook G4 that is at least 5 years old and has dents in it.
09/01, 12:57 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
are you on “mac-forums”?
09/01, 3:25 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
The discussions at Apple.com ones? I’m on those. I haven’t participated in months, though.
09/01, 4:15 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
http://www.mac-forums.com
the best one on the web:-D
09/01, 4:23 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
since your a mac owner, could you suggest any help with the car question I had? Maybe we have similar tastes…lol
My problem is stated on “8/31 at 3:20 PM”s post
09/01, 4:56 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
I’ve never had the pleasure of owning any of those cars, but I would personally be more inclined to go with the Infiniti or the Audi. I have a Quest, and it has a 3.5L VQ like the Infiniti. I’ve had it since late 2003 (it’s a 2004 model year, first year of the current style), and that engine is really solid. My only issues have been belts and batteries, but that’s because the extreme heat in Las Vegas kills those parts. I know nothing of the Lexus, but if it feels cramped, you may wish you had something bigger later. I like the Audi, though, because it is sophisticated, luxurious, yet subtle. I also love Audi’s front ends, and my wife really digs Audis. Plus, Audi seems to be well balanced.
The test drive that you are going to do is really where your decision will be made. You need to pay attention to everything you can. Drive them plenty, and try loading items that you would normally carry with you, like your laptop, your ipod, lunch, a Big Gulp, golf clubs, whatever. Get a feel for daily use, and then do stuff like put seats down and things like that. Tune in your favorite station and crank it, and see how the radio sounds, too (I’m sure they’ll all be loud, but you really want clean instead of loud). Check all controls and see if they are confusing or easy to use. But pick whatever fits you best.
If you’re leasing, chances are, you won’t be leasing past your warranty period unless you absolutely love the car. According to your payment details, I’d say leasing may make the most financial sense unless you tend to take long road trips (I do). I’m going to try to lease my next car. But because of this, any of those cars really should take you past your warranty period with little or no problems. Unless you are hard on the car while you have it, I don’t think reliability will be an issue.
Oh, and the Chevy Cobalt SS will destroy all of those cars! Just kidding.
09/01, 7:28 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
There is now way I am taking my callaway set with me…if it were to get stolen, I would crash all of their cars!! lol…
I won’t let you down, I will drive the living daylights out of them! It will be fun…I just found out that that track is about 3.5 miles long with some nice straights and some awesome turns!
What do you mean by, “According to your payment details, I’d say leasing may make the most financial sense” I think I might be misunderstanding you…or something… but I already have financing through Huntington Bank for $43,000 at 0% for 60 months. I also am approved at Infiniti for the laon at 0%, but I would rather keep through my own bank. That should put at about 720 without tax. I went to the bank with this financing based on a completely fully loaded Infiniti G37XS at $44,265. Since I am approved at 0% for that loan, I am not worried about putting much down. I had originally wanted to put 5k down, but putting that down while I will be paying no interest for that loan doesn’t really make sense…might as well keep it…or use it as difference in case I pick another car…which they all fall in my price range. The infiniti is my number 1 choice as of right now. I have driven all the cars on my preferred list, but the hardest driving I have ever done with them is when I test drove a 335i convertible and did massive donuts at the rear of bmw’s own parking lot! The look on the salesman’s face as he sniffed the air to smell the burning rubber was PRICELESS!!!
09/01, 7:49 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Nice.
In your previous post, you said, “f I finance something, chances are, it will either be a lexus or infiniti, and I will return the passat. If I lease something, I will keep the passat(pay off the remaining balance at end of lease), and lease either the audi/bmw/mercedes. I don’t want to pay more than $900 for finance and $600 for lease.”
I guess I was assuming that you still had both options open, and were considering leasing. Either way, though, it seems you’re very prepared.
I love my job, but it would still be nice to be able to afford a $43,000 loan on a car. My Quest is already paid off, but I’m not yet prepared for even another $16,000 for a small econobox.
09/02, 1:14 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
lease is definitely not out of the question. But if I do lease, it would probably be an E350, 335i. I’m not sure about leasing or buying an audi because test/reviews show that they are proving to be the most reliable german builder. I believe, though, that I favor the E350, not just because it drives AMAZINGLY well, but because every other moron now-a-days drive a bmw!
09/10, 1:19 PM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
Leaving to go to Sebring International Raceway:-) So frikin excited…you have no idea. I’m gonna keep in touch with my iphone over there.
THIS IS GONNA BE FUN!