Can the least powerful but most playful McLaren to date outgun the fastest production Audi ever?
The sternocleidomastoid, or SCM, is the large muscle on either side of your neck. It’s mainly responsible for allowing you to turn your head from side to side, as well as both flex and lateral movements in your neck. Attached at the base of your skull and the top of your sternum, it is also the muscle most commonly associated with whiplash injuries caused by the sudden jolting of your head backwards. The trapezius, by contrast, is the large muscle located between your shoulder blades and helps keep your head upright. It can be strained by violent deceleration where your head is forced forwards.
Now, imagine the neck strain associated with two days of performance testing vehicles that recorded both CAR‘s fastest and second-fastest 0-100 km/h acceleration times, and that are two of the most proficient braking masters in our history… Yet, rarely has a “wounded” test crew returned to base with grins as broad after visiting the test strip.
Background
Introduced in 2007, the original R8 remains one of Audi’s greatest party tricks. Prior to that, the Ingolstadt-based firm applied its legendary quattro all-wheel-drive technology to the creation of über sedans and wagons, while only the TT teased its sportscar potential. With the arrival of the low-slung, high-powered R8, however, suddenly Audi was being mentioned in the same lofty circles as the Porsche 911 and entry-level Lamborghini of the time.
Based on the same family-tree platform as its glamorous Gallardo cousin and initially launched with a 4,2-litre V8 and later with a detuned, Lamborghini-sourced V10 option, the polished R8 was never allowed to tread too closely to the toes of its Sant’Agata Bolognese cousin. That unwritten rule book seems to have been cast aside for the second-generation R8, though. It’s hard to believe that McLaren Automotive, the road-car-producing arm of the McLaren Technology Group, is only six years old, and the 570S is the latest in what appears to be a continuous ribbon of party tricks it has up its sleeve. The 570S is part of a third model series that complements its existing Super (650S, 675LT) and Ultimate (dormant since P1 production ended) offerings.
Tasked with doubling the production output of the Woking-based manufacturing facility, the new Sports Series consists of three model lines, each carefully created with sought-after, everyday usability in mind. Using the same M838T engine as all current road-going McLaren offerings, this Sports Series is arguably its most important range in terms of gaining traction in the broader sportscar fraternity.
Packaging
Where Audi’s evolutionary approach to design can, at times, divide opinion, there’s little doubt that the fettling and honing of the original R8’s already sleek lines successfully bring the car’s otherwise distinct silhouette neatly up to date. The Plus model is further distinguished via carbon-fibre door mirrors, side blades, a diffuser and fixed rear wing. While forged rather than cast 19-inch alloy wheels are standard issue, our test unit boasted (among other options) gloss-black 20-inch examples.
Slightly wider than the previous model, the new R8 is nevertheless both shorter and lower. Offered exclusively with a hefty V10 engine mounted amidships, much of the focus on the new car has been around weight management. That said, the liberal use (around 13%) of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics within the car’s aluminium spaceframe has achieved both 40% greater rigidity and also weight loss of up to 50 kg compared with the 10-cylinder model it replaces. Hard-shell-backed sports seats provide further weight saving on the Plus model.
The inclusion of Audi’s impressive Virtual Cockpit, together with an adornment of driver-orientated functions (including starter- and Drive Select button) neatly housed on the steering wheel, adds to the sophistication of the most driver-focused Audi to date. If there is one complaint, however, it’s that the tactile quality of the standard-issue plastic gearshift paddles don’t quite mimic the look and feel of the rest of the high-class cabin. By contrast, the feel of the optional, extended carbon-fibre paddle shifters and the beautifully crafted switchgear in the 570S accentuates both the sense of purpose and finesse with which McLaren builds cars. While the perceived quality of the rest of the cabin isn’t up to the Audi’s lofty standards, there’s a welcome minimalism to the updated cabin layout created for the Sports Series. For the first time, there’s even a welcome inclusion of a glove box in a McLaren interior.
While the 570S’ revised touchscreen infotainment system still doesn’t quite offer the same levels of intuitionism as some of the best systems found in more mainstream offerings, Woking’s now familiar panel of drive mode switches, here incorporating the button for the McLaren-first start/stop functionality, works seamlessly. An 80 mm lowering of the sills on this second-generation carbon tub that is used throughout the greater McLaren range has also made it easier (although still somewhat ungainly to the untrained) to enter and exit a Sports Series cabin.
Drivetrains
As mentioned, the new R8 is now offered exclusively with a naturally aspirated V10 engine, in two states of tune. While the standard car delivers a significant 397 kW, the Plus model is granted the same 449 kW available in the R8’s Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 cousin. With that, there’s also 560 N.m of torque on offer at 6 500 r/min, all governed by the slick workings of a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission. Via Audi’s revised quattro technology, which now makes use of a multiplate clutch, all available torque can be sent to either the front or rear axles as required; or, indeed, variably apportioned as conditions dictate.
Via the aforementioned Drive Select button, one of four drive modes (comfort, auto, dynamic or individual) can be selected. A separate button operates a performance mode that can then be further configured to factor in either a dry, wet or snow-laden surface. Either way, this setting essentially moves all systems (as well as the rearward torque bias) into race mode. Suffice to say, it was in this mode that the R8 V10 Plus became the quickest-accelerating car we’ve ever tested, launching from a standstill to 100 km/h in just 3,03 seconds.
It’s a credit to the McLaren’s launch-control system (and, to an extent, sticky rubber, but we’ll cover that later) that it was able to manage the 570S’ substantial 600 N.m worth of twin-turbocharged, rear-wheel-directed torque before firing the British car to 100 km/h in exactly 3,10 seconds. Detuned from the unit used in the Super Series, McLaren claims up to 30% of the 3 799 cm3 V8’s internals have been changed for the cause. While there remains some lag below 3 500 r/min, the subsequent rush of momentum unearthed above this mark, as verified by our tested overtaking-acceleration figures, blurs not only the horizon, but also the lines between super-and hypercars.
To drive
Some will criticise the Audi for not feeling special enough and others will welcome the sense of familiarity, but this most powerful R8 ever feels intuitively functional and comfortable, and as easy to pilot in traffic as a TT. Visibility out of the cabin is excellent and, although it is wide (1 940 mm), the R8 remains the easiest supercar to drive round town. While our test unit was fitted with both optional Magnetic Ride adaptable dampers and Dynamic Variable Steering, based on both these system’s default settings, you get the feeling that even when pushing on, neither would be missed should you wish to spend the total of R50 900 elsewhere.
With even small throttle inputs producing a surge of unbridled torque and one of the most evocative, non-enhanced (and surely endangered) soundtracks available in the modern supercar era, the V10 Plus’ crisp digital rev-counter signals for the next gear only once it passes the 8 500 r/min mark. Boasting a 39 mm extension in the front track width compared with the rear, the flat-cornering R8’s ability to resist understeer and hold its course is admirable. Still, the greatest reward for managing the front-end of a quattro-equipped supercar past the apex of your favourite corner is the sense of surefooted thrill as you mash the throttle while releasing steering lock. Making the most of its 42:58 front-to-rear weight distribution, as well as that new central clutch and a mechanical limited-slip differential, there’s a welcome playfulness to the R8’s dynamics that allow the rear to get controllably light some way before panic sets in.
While initially feeling a touch too high until familiarity sets in, most drivers would surely agree the seating position in a modern McLaren is as close to perfection as you can get in a road car. There’s a sense of tautness gleaned from sitting within the McLaren’s monocell tub as the car’s outer extremities shrink-wrap around you. However, while designed with both aerodynamics and function in mind, the cabin does fill with unwanted background noise, be it road-surface or wind-related, or from the somewhat monotone drone produced by the exhaust pipes at cruising speeds. Combine this with an electro-hydraulic steering system that tends to communicate every road imperfection, as well as adaptive dampers that err on the side of firm, and it’s no surprise our crew returned from our test strip notably wearier than when they finished testing the R8.
But, and it’s a big but, parked at the bottom of our favourite mountain pass with a dry road surface ahead, and with the 570S’ standard Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres (regular P Zeros are a no-cost option) up to optimal temperature, one of McLaren’s slowest cars is about to come into its own. If we thought the R8’s levels of turn-in grip were admirable, the 570S’, by comparison, are game changing. That same arm-muscle-straining communicative steering we found wearying on pock-marked open roads telegraphs every nuance experienced by the front tyres, plus a 200 kg weight saving over the R8, and allows the 570S to feel more lively and nimble than the Audi. McLaren may have sacrificed its impressive – and complex – linked hydraulic suspension for regular anti-roll bars in Super Series models, but the effect in terms of seamless cornering ability is negligible.
Keeping the turbochargers spooled and the engine operating within its broad, optimal rev range, it’s possible to make even the smallest adjustments to progress and the car’s mid-corner line via throttle inputs. While it takes a tad more courage to floor the 570S out of a corner than it does the R8, the reward in the turbocharged McLaren is an addictive slingshot towards the next braking point. On that note, both Audi and McLaren specify extremely efficient carbon-ceramic brake discs as standard fitment to the R8 V10 Plus and 570S. While both are beautifully progressive, in the R8 the brakes bite immediately; typical of McLaren’s racecar bias, you have to apply considerably more pressure in the 570S.
