[rishi_kapoor]

Amazing Saturday! Never imagined that my weekend would start like this!
Got a call early in morning from Audi inviting me to their “Audi Sportscar Driving Academy” at Buddh International Circuit.

I almost missed the initial driving briefing but our German trainer Mark was very helpful and guided me personally while I sat in familiar driving seat of Audi R8 V10 Sportscar. I wore my fire resistant balaclava and helmet, said a little prayer and was ready for circuit in minutes.

Drove my “10″ R-8 to the straight stretch near second loop for Sportscar training and some competition.

My trainer was Aditya Patel who was recently in news for being selected by Audi for their races. Another trainer Mark had flown in from Audi Germany for training & Certification.

First training was handling emergency situations and using ABS effectively. Lot of learning in this session, I never imagined I knew so little ABS, BA and handling. Sharing some learning:

1. Watch for exit gap in case of emergency situation in front.

2. Fully slam brakes.

3. Do not panic and don’t loose grip on your steering ability, remember that ABS ensures you brake effectively without loosing steer control.

Next was obstacle avoidance in succession and cornering exercise. Learnings:

1. Corner gently, avoid stressing your shoulders and arms. They should be slightly bent and tension free.

2. It is very much possible to gently steer your way through obstacles, most of us panic and start steering too tight.

3. Keep your eyes ahead of obstacle onto your course.

4. Gently steer from one corner to other following apex of circuit and using whole width of the circuit.

After an hour long training session we came back to pit for a quick break. A Redbull definitely helps!

Post break, it was time for the real thing. There were 2 session of 4 laps. Each session had 1 warm up lap, 2 racing laps and 1 cool down lap.

Amazing, Amazing experience and of course now I am a Audi Racing Academy certified “Sportscar Driver”

Enjoy a small video I made to capture the experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-brsUJZXXs

Mods: I wanted to embed this video but could not locate instruction to do so, please help. Thanks.

[rishi_kapoor]

Adding some pictures here, hope you guys like them. Thanks.

[blackbeast]

Wow ! Did they give you video footage of driving which has odo and track ? Mind disclosing how much it cost you and if its worth that ?

[junaid12345678]

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[varunsonu]

hey!! it must have been an awesome experience. I have always wanted to participate in such events but i don't know how people are invited/enrolled there. If you don't mind, can you share the details about your participation or if you have some info on how people can get themselves enrolled in such events, it would be highly appreciated.

thanks

[rishi_kapoor]

Originally Posted by blackbeast

Wow ! Did they give you video footage of driving which has odo and track ? Mind disclosing how much it cost you and if its worth that ?

No blackbeast, they do not give footage and lap timing. That is part of an advance program where you have to spend thousands of dollars. The cost for this experience is INR 98k plus taxes. I managed decent price through some higher up friends in Audi but discounts are usually not offered.

Originally Posted by varunsonu

hey!! it must have been an awesome experience. I have always wanted to participate in such events but i don't know how people are invited/enrolled there. If you don't mind, can you share the details about your participation or if you have some info on how people can get themselves enrolled in such events, it would be highly appreciated.

thanks

Thanks varunsonu. You may get more info here:
http://www.audi.in/sea/brand/in/expe...xperience.html
This is a paid event. Even Mercedez has a similar AMG experience. This is basic foundation course and there are various levels of certification. (Disclaimer: this is just info sharing, I have no connect with Audi/BMW/Merc except being BMW customer)

At some point of time I want to do German license certification program which is offered by both Audi and Mercedez (don't know about BMW). But that is bitterly expansive to even dream for a salaried guy and this would take several years I guess

On experience, it was an amazing experience. 5.2 litre FSI engine, 525 ps and 0-100 under 4 seconds! My experience was further enhanced, thanks to rain God, so I was able to experience Buddh International Circuit's wet race track. I briefly drove at 270kmph and it was being in heaven. Double turn which is BIC speciality, I did at 120 KMPH and it was an amazing cornering experience. I will write more on my personal blog when I will get some time from my work:
followmydreamz.wordpress.com

[GTO]

Good show, congrats on the experience! Here is Moderator Anshuman's report on the same event : Thread Link