My Wakefield experience

[mitch_gti]

Hi everyone,

So i was at work and my boss told me that i was being sent to Canberra for new product training.

The training was completed over two days.

The best part of the whole experience was being sent to Wakefield Park in order to put Audi's best cars through their paces.
It was all very controlled, we had a lead car (Either S8 or S6) and we followed them around the track.
Down the straight they kept the speed pretty limited but absolutely cranked it up through the bends.
They had cones marking where you should start braking, where the Apex is etc.

The highlight of my day was driving this beast (manual too) flat out around the track

[Blitzen]

You have no idea how much I hate you at this moment!!! Sound like you had a great time. Whats the R8 like to drive?

[GTI_jim]

Thats awesome, bet it sounded amazing!

[brumue]

I think we all need to hear some more about the R8

[leasaunce]

check out those clouds! LOL oh yeah nice cars too

[insanekiwi]

Noice!! Drool...

[DaveMack]

Nice one, Mitch ... insanely jealous ... but nice one all the same.

Dave

[Jarred]

I'm pretty sure we all hate you a little bit now....

sounds like a ripper day. still hate you for it thou

[Timbo]

And so, Mitch, what was the good reason you have -- any reason actually, for not inviting us good Canberra folk? We're all aspiring Audi owners!

[VW GTI]

check out those clouds!

All the more reason to have those sexy daytime running lights on.

[mitch_gti]

It was quite an interesting experience actually !

I think the experience was heightened by the sky getting dark and the clouds approaching. It was entirely incredible.

The first car i drove around wakefield was the S3, what a fun little car.
Handling was fantastic and it had a nice amount of power for the track.
Definately a good car for a track first timer.

Next car was a blue manual Roadster TTS (Quattro, 200kw)
The TTS has magnetic ride control and WOW this car was about twice as good as the S3 on the track.
It had alot more torque and a noticeable increase in the amount of power available.
With magnetic ride control it sat incredibly flat through corners and had INSANE amounts of traction.

Then the R8's came rumbling into pit lane, the doors opened and out came a couple faces with massive smiles.
I hopped into the Silver one because i knew it was manual and in my eyes, if your going to drive a 'Supercar' you may aswell drive the manual !

So i found myself driving down pit lane and to be honest i had to shake my head because i couldnt believe Audi were letting us drive R8's around a race course.
As i was cruising down pit lane at about 30kmph in first gear the car infront started to slow down, as i backed off the throttle the exhaust started popping and crackling

Seriously, cannot describe the feeling exiting the pits onto the track and feeling how solid this car felt, it sort of wraps around you.
After a lap of getting to feel the car we started cranking it up a few hundred notches. The amount of speed we were carrying through corners was mind bending and the way this car would grip (with massive 295's on the back and 235's on the front) was staggering.
The gated gearbox was a bit of a struggle a couple of times when changing from 3rd to 2nd, but it was a very sweet smooth and easy to use gearbox.
Brakes Noone could keep up. The S6 (which i had to stay behind, driven by a race driver) was all over the shop trying to keep ahead of me.
I'm not saying that this is a great achievement or anything, the S6 is a massive car.
I got to drive one for a weekend a couple months back. You wouldnt think that it would handle well but it was an incredible handler and what a gorgeous motor !

Anyway, this S6 was oversteering and getting twitchy under brakes whilst i was right up behind it. They kept telling us to get as close as we comfortably could behind the lead car.

What a day !!!!!!!!