I have an unusual habit of picking up test cars using public transport. I once took a Golden Arrow bus to Century City Mercedes Benz to pick up R2.2m worth of S65 AMG Limo Spec, which is almost exactly the opposite of public transport. It has a two TVs and a fridge for goodness’ sake.
The morning I was due to collect the TT RS I surprisingly had few lift options and so made use of the highly efficient and well-mannered minibus taxi service offered in Cape Town central. Sitting in the taxi waiting for it to fill up, so we could leave, I suddenly remembered all the advice about getting into an empty taxi. You literally wait. Until. It fills up. And then you leave. When the taxi driver has finished his lunch.
This gave my current vehicle a 0 – 100km/h sprint time of 24 minutes. Which is exactly 23 minutes and 55.4 seconds slower than the Audi TTRS I was about to be driving for a week.
It’s lighter, faster, more powerful due to blah blah blah technical stuff blah blah stiffer springs blah blah polycarbonate rear window etc. It also costs 193 000 Great British Pounds. Which is quite a bit for an Audi, if we’re honest.
These days, the people’s car company makes a car for every person on earth. Volkswagen is now a very big family, having gobbled up Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Seat, Skoda and even Bugatti.
And if soap operas have taught us anything it’s that families suffer sibling rivalries. Which is exactly what prevented the Audi R8 from getting the engine it always deserved: The 5.2 litre V10 from it’s flashier older brother, the Lamborghini Gallardo.
"Rohrling" an Audi in a parking lot nowhere near Bedfordview.
Where I’m from “Röhrl” means fight. One might “rawl” in a parking lot or near a lake for instance, occasionally risking one’s life in the process. Luckily Walter Rohrl wasn’t born in Benoni where he would have been expected to fight inside a cage at Carnival City to live up to his name. He did, however, risk his life in various other ways inside a roll cage for many years.
Robert Downey Jr reprises his role as Tony Stark, an eccentric billionaire with an incredible blah blah blah. Explosions, Scarlett Johanson, the jaw-dropping Audi R8 Spyder and a race car being cut in half by a bearded guy with lightning for fingers. We can’t wait.
Alrighty, so Audi were super cool and handed us the keys to a very badly abused Audi R8 V10 last week. Sodding journalists. Anyway, the car was simply magnificent and we’ll tell you all about it…tomorrow. But just to refresh your memory, here is my take on the first R8, followed by Gavin’s inevitably hilarious view on it as well.
The R8. To get it sideways, you have to park it like this.
It’s very easy to be cynical about the Audi R8. It has the very same engine as the RS4. It has the same sun-visors as the TT, as well as the same air-con switch gear. And when you’re handed the key there is nothing, not even a little R8 moniker, to distinguish it from, you guessed it, the TT’s keys.
This is all forgotten however when you simply stop for a moment and look at the car. It is quite extraordinary. Modern in every way yet with just the right amount of curves to make sure it retains that absolutely necessary supercar trait: sex appeal. And the R8 has that by the bucketload.
Script: So are the days of our Uneventfulness
Season: 43
Cast: Mike Horn, Tina Hope, Cassidy Parker
CUE INTRO MUSIC and TITLE SEQUENCE
Like leaves blowing by on a gentle wind with absolutely nothing happening to them, so are The Days Of Our Uneventfulness.
EXTERIOR: NIGHT
Open on a well appointed study. A man, CALLAGHAN PIFARETTI enters. He is STILL MARRIED and has never HAD AN AFFAIR with anyone. Ever. In fact, he doesn’t know what AFFAIR MEANS. HE isn’t particularly DASHING or SMART. He fixes himself a scotch (which is actually apple juice in a decanter) and stares out of the bay window. In the courtyard below he sees absolutely NOTHING out of the ordinary.
His wife enters and tells him that the company is running smoothly, and there are NO HOSTILE TAKEOVERS from men with poorly executed pseudo-European accents and moustaches.
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Hey, nice blog with good info. I really like coming back here often. There?s only one thing that annoys me and that is the misfunctioning of comment posting. I usually...
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