It might not ooze Italian supercar pedigree from its menacing grilles and slats, but it is staggeringly breathtaking.The V10 version of Audi's R8 supercar is simply unbelievable. Not the headline figures from the Lamborghini Gallardo's .2-litre engine nestling under the glass at the rear, although they're impressive enough: 518bhp at 8,000rpm, 391lb ft of torque at 6,500rpm, 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds, top speed of 196mph… all very hair-raising and all qualities that were readily discernible when we drove the car on its launch in Spain in February.
No, it's the character of this car in Britain that so surprises and delights. Sometimes foreign roads deceive and a car that seemed the epitome of superb ride and handling turns into a deep, bewildering disappointment when you get it on home soil. Take Nissan's GT-R: in the Japanese mountains it seemed superlative, but trundling through Henley's narrow streets it turned into an unmanageable nightmare of hard jolts and wide proportions.
So it was with considerable trepidation that we took delivery of the R8 V10 for a week of normal, commuter-strangled, crowded-Saturday motoring in the South East of England. The last two times I drove a supercar in this country for a few days, I ended up sweating, swearing and making panicked phone calls to try to diagnose problems.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/carreviews/6139704/Audi-R8-V10-review.html
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