Audi R8 V10 plus

Audi India officials often go gaga about how some of the buyers of the R8 drive the super sports car around the most crowded, narrow streets of many Indian cities. That’s not too surprising given how easy to drive and comfortable this car can be even on bad roads.

But, put it on the track and it behaves like a completely different cat, one with remarkable agility and great grip. Though, even as it looks perfectly at home on the race track, the R8 doesn’t seem to be intimidating to drive. Instead, place the Lamborghini Gallardo 560-4 – other super sports car that shares the same engine, the same underpinnings and many of the cabin parts – and the intimidation level goes up considerably.

Essentially a boosted, face lifted version of the R8 V10, the new version has some key modifications to mark its higher performance capabilities. On the outside, what strikes you is the increased use of CFRP – an abbreviation that is all over the diagram of the new R8 V10 plus that Audi officials put up as part of the presentation.

Essentially, carbon-fibre reinforced plastic has now been used for more parts. So you get exterior mirror housings, the famous and R8 trademark side blades, the engine cover, the rear diffuser and the front spoiler all made out of this material. There is more in the cabin too. Another R8 trademark – the Audi Singleframe side air intakes at the front and rear bumpers – get a new configuration and are coloured in matt Titanium Gray.

The new Audi R8 V10 plus Coupé is powered by the same 5.2-litre, V10 engine that the current R8 model sports. The difference is in the boost to its state of tune, essentially matching that of the Gallardo 550-2’s performance. The V10 FSI engine with its – up to 8,700 rpm – high-revving concept now manages 404 kW or 550 bhp of peak power at 8,000 rpm. Peak torque is delivered lower down the rpm range at 6,500 and that is also about 10 Nm more at 540 Nm (compared the current V10 variant). The engine is paired with the 7-speed S tronic transmission that is also now offered with larger manual shift paddles behind the steering wheel.

 On the race track, the new R8 V10 plus Coupé comes across as being more comfortable to drive thanks to Audi’s Quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. The positive impact of the Quattro system and the difference it makes to on-track confidence was felt even more because it was just a few weeks earlier that I had driven the Lamborghini Gallardo 550-2 on the same loop.

As part of the inauguration of the second edition of its Audi sportscar experience, the company had organised the test runs of the new R8 V10 plus and the course included high speeds laps, slalom sections and a brake test section. With its light and extremely stiff aluminium space frame body and the new sportier suspension the coupe feels more agile on the track. As you throw the car into the corners, the sporty new bucket seats hold nicely allowing the driver to point the steering better at the apex of every turn on the track.

The suspension has seen adjustments to the springs and damper tuning and there have been modifications to the camber values at the front axle for improved dynamics. The wave design brake discs with standard ceramic brakes make sure that all that additional power and agility is not at the cost of safety.

 With an impish smile, his face betraying his knowledge about the Mahindra E2O, the driver of the other car was still expecting a sincere answer. And his face was still writ with genuine curiosity about the latest all-electric car from the makers of the Reva.

The E2O is a big leap from the Reva. Not so much in terms of its earth-saving concept, but in terms of it finally being a desirable electric car. It is a transformation which announces that electrics have moved into the realm of the possible, even in India, and that you can look cool while saving the planet.

Except for its final model name, the E2O (E for electric, O for Oxygen….it is not E Twenty) has been in the news for a while now. The concept NXR on which it is based, has been spotted in Motor Shows and been seen testing on the roads. So, the model’s design and most of its specifications had long been frozen. The battery-powered car was originally due to be launched in 2011. What caused much of the delay in rolling out the car was apparently caused by the Government’s dithering in deciding whether to extend a subsidy or not.

 But, despite all that familiarity, the E2O still surprises me with its packaging when I first step into it. At the parking lot set next to a yellow Tata Nano and a beige Hyundai i10 Automatic, the E2O seems to blend right in like it is a new, regular compact hatch in the market. There is none of its predecessor’s ungainly, bug-eyed, and strangely arcane looks. Instead, the E2O sports a conventional tall-boy design, clean modern design lines, tight shut lines between its ABS body panels and just a touch of quirkiness.

The unique headlamps, the cab-forward design, the bonnet grille and the muscular wheel arches add to the overall feel of the E2O being a regular car. But, each one of these features hides parts of the electric reality behind them. The stubby, clamshell bonnet from the cab-forward design for example doesn’t lid an engine, instead all that is underneath is the spare wheel and the air-conditioner compressor. Behind the grille is a radiator, but one which runs cooling lines to the heat exchanger and the battery pack instead of an engine.

The wheel arches look over-sized and the puny 13-inch rims don’t provide that much of visual strength, but the tyres shod on the alloys are low-resistance tyres that have been specially developed with a compound that has higher silica content.

The E2O’s chassis is a tubular space frame and the car is built by bolting on the motor, controller, battery pack and the other suspension and seating parts. All the body panels are colour impregnated and dent resistant plastic. These panels made from specially developed base polymer are then simply bonded onto the frame using special adhesives.

Mahindra Reva officials say that the India-spec E2O has no airbags or other electronic braking or stability aids, but it still meets collision safety norms thanks to the space frame’s rigidity and the three crumple zones at the front that disperse the impact of a collision. The European-spec E2O which is currently under development will have the entire complement of safety features including stability management and am guessing that it will have to pass the Euro NCAP tests.