Audi R8 Experience

On 04th June I had a supercar (their description) driving experience at DriftLimits, based on part of the old airfield at Bovingdon. My shooting/sometimes fishing buddy Neil bought me this as a birthday present. There are three tracks there, one for single-seater F1000, a drifting track for those that prefer not to see where they are going and the aforementioned supercar track. DriftLimits have a whole range of cars to choose from Evos, Imprezas, M5s, Mach II Mustang, various Porsches, Audi R8, Ferrari F40, Bentley Continental, Dodge Viper and an Aerial Atom (0-60 in 2.5 seconds, more on that later).

After a video describing the track layouts, on track etiquette, what to do/not do, we were given an in car demonstration in a Subaru driven by one of the DL "lads". For 3 laps he showed us the track, the braking points, turning in points, apexes to aim for and passing lanes. On the 4th lap he gave it some welly just to show what he was talking about.

Back at base I was called by a driver called Chris to join him at the R8. He confirmed what we had been told in the demo runs, get the car into 3rd then it's just throttle and brake, at the right points and to the right degree. I started the car, Chris was using the mirrors and he had a brake pedal, most comforting to know. Down the access road we went, waited for the M5 to pass then accelerated onto the track. 10 laps to go. It isn't a long track and it's not very wide, hence it had two "get out of the way" lanes. So it was blip the accelerator and feather the brakes, trying to get the turn in right, hitting the apexes, letting the car use the width of the track in order to carry the speed into the next corner. Then it happened! I came up behind the blisteringly fast Aerial Atom that was doing 20mph if it was lucky. By the time we got to the passing lane, the Ferrari was coming up fast, so I had to follow the Atom into the passing lane, Oh the shame! And so it continued until the next passing lane, where I could stay on the track and press the loud pedal again. By my 10th lap I was almost catching the Atom again, which was now doing maybe 30mph. A great experience, but afterwards I realised, in thinking about the driving around the circuit, I forgot all about the car.