I HAVE A DEEP ADMIRATION FOR AUDI'S PRODUCTS, IT'S JUST I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD WANT THE FOUR RINGS OF INGOLSTADT ON THE NOSE OF MY SUPERCAR...

The Audi R8 is a car that for some reason never quite grabbed my attention. Despite the acres of rave reviews it received from practically every motoring publication, including here at evo where it finished third in last year's ecoty voting, a hair behind the iconic Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Ferrari's incredible Scuderia. It was also in these hallowed pages that the R8 was deemed to be the sports car that had finally knocked the Porsche 911 off its throne. Despite this I always viewed it as a bit of a branding exercise by Audi (their halo car for those of you with a grasp for marketing) and never seriously considered it in my ongoing hunt for an exotic car to fill the remaining place in my garage. Don't get me wrong, I have a deep admiration for Audi's products, it's just that I never thought I would want the four rings of Ingolstadt on the nose of my supercar. So you can imagine that even I was surprised when I ended up writing a cheque for $ 146,000 to secure the gorgeous black R8.  Part of the problem was that last July, when Audi launched the R8 to the Middle East's motoring press, I was on holiday in Canada and did not get a chance to drive the car.  When our esteemed editor Lord Saxon raved about what a great car the new Audi was, I shrugged it off as being one of his many quirky opinions. I mean the man drives a Caterham to work every day. You can't blame me for not taking him seriously. Next up was our trusty publisher Mohamed who also couldn't find enough superlatives for the R8 and proclaimed it the best car he had ever driven. I once again shrugged it off due to his generally tame and clinical taste in cars. I mean the man drives a Porsche Boxster to work every day and hankers after the BMW 3 series. No surprise then that I didn't listen. Fast forward to March of this year and Jon casually comments from behind his desk across the room, that Audi Middle East has an R8 on their press fleet and were wondering if we would be interested in borrowing it for the day. I reply equally casually that I would be in the neighbourhood of their headquarters in the Dubai airport free zone the following day and, as I haven't had a go yet that I would swing by and pick the R8 up.

After picking up the keys I search the parking lot for the car. As the car sits so low it was a bit difficult to find amidst all the sedans and SUV's, but when I finally stumbled across it, it was worth the wait.  Having previously only seen the R8 at motor shows I was shocked at how good the phantom black example sat in front of me looked in natural surroundings.  The dark hue of its paintwork gave it a menacing presence that you don't get in a silver car, which until then was the only colour I had seen the R8 in. Combine this with the carbon sideblade and I was immediately consumed by the powerfully modern silhouette.  Once inside it was more of the same, typically high quality materials combined with modern ergonomics and sprinkled with carbon fibre, the result of which is arguably the best interior of any car produced today.  It's not all about aesthetics with the R8 though, as the driving dynamics are more than a match for its looks. Turn the key and the engine bursts into life behind your head with a deep V8 rumble. Out on the road and the first thing I encounter is traffic. Not a problem, as the R-tronic flappy paddle transmission copes effortlessly with the stop/start nature of our progress. Escaping in- town congestion I head towards emirates highway and the R8 is immediately rock solid at high speed, as the muscular engine uses all of its 415bhp to propel us to highly illegal speeds. I head out of town towards Hatta and its mountainous back roads. I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say the handling is almost perfect. The nose goes exactly where you point it, and the rear steps out whenever you want it to but is deliciously steerable on the throttle. I spend the rest of the day pushing the R8 to its limits and beyond. When it is time to return the car that evening I am struggling to do so, and feel that I have formed an emotional bonded with it. Right there and then I knew I had to have one.

The next day I contacted Karin Haferkorn, Audi's affable PR lady and insisted that I want to buy their press car. After lots of back and forth discussions I am told this would not be possible as the car in question was a pre-production model and did not meet Audi's high standards of quality control. I would have to contact the dealership and buy a car from them. This proves to be a problem though as Al Nabooda Automobiles in Dubai currently has an 8-month waiting list for the R8, as do all the other dealerships in the Middle East.  To make matters worse cars being sold on the secondary market were commanding a $ 30,000 premium, which I was not prepared to pay. After getting back in touch with Karin again to plead my case I am told that they will try to pull a few strings for me to get a car earlier, but that is the best that they can do.  For this I have to thank her as exactly six weeks later I receive a call from Al Nabooda telling me that my very own brand new Phantom Black Audi R8 had arrived at their showroom. I rushed over, cheque book in hand, as anxious as a child on the first day of school.  Due to the demand for the R8 I did not really have much of a say in the specification of the car I was receiving. All I knew was that it was black. I need not have worried though as the car was exactly as I hoped it would be. Most importantly my fetish for carbon fibre is satisfied, as the sideblade, engine bay and interior panels are all finished in gorgeous carbon. Inside the seats are finished in contrasting mustang brown and pretty much every option on the list has been ticked including Sat Nav, Bang & Olufsen sound system and reversing camera.  Before taking delivery of my new baby I send it off to Pro Tech next door to apply a protective coat of polish to the paintwork to prevent swirl marks and stone chips which dark colour cars are very susceptible to. Before I drive out of the showroom for the first time I take my time walking around the R8 admiring it from every angle.

Without a doubt this is the best looking car I have ever owned. I am looking forward to getting to know it over the next few months and will keep you posted on how we get along.