When Audi launched the original R8 back in the mid-2000s, it was met with a largely positive reaction. Gorgeous inside and out, unique looking, fast, great handling — what’s not to like? But in some people’s minds, there was one wee catch — what was a slightly upper-range company, which is what was Audi at the time, doing building a super-sports car that cost almost twice as much as the company’s next-priciest model? These guys make mainly family cars — can they compete with Ferrari? The proof was in the pudding, and the R8 immediately rose to the top ranks of super-sports cars. The fact that it shared a lot of componentry, notably its all-aluminum body structure and powertrains, with its corporate cousin the Lamborghini Gallardo didn’t hurt. It is important to note however that much of that componentry was in fact developed by Audi for its own and Lamborghini’s use. Pricing for the 2020 R8 has not yet been announced, but it should start roughly around where it starts now, which is $185,000. Available only with the 5.2-litre V10 engine (the 4.2-litre V8 was dropped a while back) and with a seven-speed dual-clutch “manumatic” transmission and full-time four-wheel drive (albeit, rear-axle-biased for sportier handling), the 2020 R8 has gone through what will surely be its last refresh in its current form. As before, the car is offered in coupé or roadster body styles. It has received a minor facelift, including a more imposing grille, bigger air intakes for both engine and brakes, and an aggressive rear end with massive twin tailpipes whose growl tells you this car is not to be trifled with. The “blades” — the at-the-time contrasting-coloured vertical side panels behind the doors — were tamed a bit in the last refresh; they’re not quite as imposing as they were originally. From any angle, this car looks terrific. And serious. Not much has changed inside; not much needed changing. Audi still builds the best interiors in the game. Tweaks to the engine raise power from 540 to 570 pferdestarke (German horsepower; German horses are slightly smaller than ours, so there’s slightly more of them on a spec sheet) in the base version, and from 610 to 620 in the “Performance” (formerly “Plus”) edition. The engine sits very low behind the passengers, and is dry-sumped, meaning no crankcase in the conventional sense. Oil is stored in a separate reservoir and pumped to the engine as needed. It can provide lubrication at up to 1.5 g lateral acceleration, of which this car is capable. That, by the way, is exceptionally high for any car, let alone a road-going car. Revised suspension and recalibrated steering provide even sportier handling. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, developed specifically for this car, provide CrazyGlue-like grip. A race track is really the only safe place to evaluate a car like this. Now, the Circuito Ascari just east of this southern Spanish city is not officially a race track. It is after all located in a national park. But the owner, who among other things invented a device which apparently is indispensable for deep-sea oil well drilling, wanted a place to enjoy his collection of very fast cars. Let’s just say he has what must be one of the world’s longest and twistiest driveways. This means no crash barriers, no gravel traps, no corner count-down markers, no run-off areas. Added motivation not to screw up too badly. Audi did provide pylon cones to mark braking, turn-in and apex points, some of which actually survived our testing. We went out in groups of two to four drivers each, headed by a pace car driver, each of whom was one of Audi’s driver trainers and/or race drivers. As these pros usually do, they kept tabs on what their little ducklings were doing behind them, and adjusted the pace accordingly. We journalists know each other fairly well, and always try to self-select the groups so we could run with others with more or less similar driving skill. In a nutshell, the car looks, sounds and goes the business. Even standing in the pits — er, the parking spaces — watching the other groups head out, you’d get a chill down your spine hearing a handful of these engines approach the red line as they screamed out onto the, um, driveway. Rest to 100 km/h takes a tick or two over three seconds, and at that point the car is just catching its breath.

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