Loud of the Rings
Whatever replaces the R as Audi Sport’s speed merchant flagship will like the car opposite wear an etron badge with a heap of battery cells and electricity beneath A mere years after the original V R became Audi’s first midengined road car you’re now looking at the last one No you can’t buy it Each of the examples has been sold
The limited edition R GT isn’t really an ‘aero’ car Audi says that the sticky up bits together with the extended splitter and taller diffuser generate kg of downforce Sounds like loads until you delve into the small print and discover that impressive aero load is only achieved at the mph vmax
As standard there’s a carbonfibre front antiroll bar This together with forged wheels saves kg You get standard carbonceramic brakes plus plenty of R GT badges on the back the side sills the floor mats the seats
In fact let’s latch onto the seats The regular R GT’s chairs are not very special You can have more purposeful bucket seats but they are an optional extra So is the way adjustable coilover suspension with a mm ride height drop As is a fixed ratio steering rack instead of Audi’s ‘dynamic’ speedsensitive setup
So the R GT is a confusing car It’s a runout hardcore YOLO Edition But Audi has rowed back from making it as focused as it could have Apparently the priority wasn’t to send the R off to retirement by making it fast but turning up the fun Which is why we have a new knob to play with Steady on
Nestled in the nether regions of the steering wheel is a chequered flag switch This engages the R GT’s Torque Rear mode a sevenstage traction control system allowing you to choose how sideways the car gets before the computers attempt a rescue mission
Now Audi’s decision to make this GT rearwheel drive makes sense It’s a hooligan bhp to the back tyres and seven levels of assistance to butt up against while you find out if you’re as handy as you think you are
It’s ultimately not as clever a gadget as Ferrari’s freakish Side Slip Angle Control In a Ferrari the interventions are invisible so it feels like the crowd pleasing powerslide you’ve just executed was all ‘you’ You never sense the guardian angel of electronics cupping your ego
In the R GT you feel your binary fairy godmother trimming the rough edges off your lack of talent through the seat of your pants and smell the overworked rear brakes when you stagger out after a few laps Yes laps Of course this is for track use only You wouldn’t dream of using it on the road would you?