Man Maths: Audi R8 V10

But maybe not. Understandably it took a while to be confirmed, but I was told there might just be one more opportunity to make this happen. Tomorrow, Saturday afternoon, an hour before the start of the race itself. When quarter of a million race fans would be lining the eight-mile circuit. If I’d known how this would turn out, I’d have taken a brick to the R8’s screen myself, just to be certain.

So there I am, 24 hours later, in a box fresh, brand new R8 on the kink at pit exit, ready to be waved away. I’ve never been around the circuit before, but I’m part of a convoy so unlikely to get lost. Truth be told, I don’t remember a great deal – swooping under the Dunlop Bridge and down through the Esses, blasting along the Mulsanne as hard as the car would go, flicking into the Ford chicane at the end of the lap. The rest is a blur.

I certainly remember being astonished at how precise the steering was, how planted the car felt in that chicane. I knew at once this was a very different car to the one it replaced. That single lap of Le Mans in front of 250,000 spectators was over in an instant. We peeled off the circuit and within half an hour I was watching the start of the world’s greatest endurance race.

Later that summer, on the car’s international media launch in Portugal, I came to understand exactly how this new R8 was so different from the first. It had traded all the original’s suppleness, fluency and feel for massive grip, resolute stability and shocking straight line speed. It was way faster and more immediate, but significantly less rewarding to drive.

Even now I’d choose a first-generation R8 over its successor, but if you’re looking for a suitable everyday car, the later model might be the better bet. Early cars can feel a touch rickety these days and their interior tech is hopelessly out of date. I suspect a second-generation car, though it may now be more than eight years old itself, would be far better suited to day-to-day use.

If my budget would stretch to it, I’d choose one of the rear-wheel drive models every time. They start at around £75,000, while the cheapest four-wheel drive car I could find was listed at a shade under £60,000. My advice is to save a little longer and get the RWS – you’ll easily have 15 grand’s worth of additional fun.

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