Just got back from a great weekend driving the Isle of Man TT circuit. For those of you that dont know about this crazy island off the coast of the UK. Its famous for having no speed limits and having a 37 mile road circuit used for motorbike racing each year.

Some more photos here: Picasa Web Albums - englishinvasion - Isle of Man 2008

 

Great photos and cool friends you brought along
How did the circuit feel like?

 

Its an interesting experience. Local traffic plus a lot of sports bikes means checking your mirrors a lot. The mountain stage is incredible though. Long sweeping bends means you can see a long way. Crazy speeds as well. We had a nice little talk with the local police after they got calls from some islanders complaining about us overtaking a little aggressively, but he actually apologized for interrupting our fun! If only police everywhere could be like that

 

Wow that's how you'd like the police to be
So you can't really use all of the road as there might be oncoming traffic right?
I've seen footage of the circuit from Top Gear where they test various cars and it looks very beautiful as well.
How did the less powerful R8 hold up against the others?

 

You have to pick your places or times of the day. On the mountain section you can see so far its safe to overtake at will. We hit over 150 on the downhill stage. I still had 4 bikes swarming all over the back of me.

The R8 was very impressive. At no time did it hold anyone up. It is very balanced in the turns, maybe lacks pull at the higher end, but we never saw north of 160 which is where i suspect it would show. I had a short drive in the car and there are a few things i didnt like. The brakes are way too over assisted. You have no feel then bang they kick in hard. The clutch pedal has no feel at all and the gear lever is the same. The car felt wide, and I've previously owned a gallardo and 360, and it felt wider than that. (not an issue in the US i know). It turned a lot of heads though, and given the company we were in that surprised me. Its not a car id personally buy but i can see why people do.

 

Fantastic pictures.

 

Did you find any similar feelings in the G as in the R8 when driving or are they really two different animals? I'm not sure if the RS4 shares the same pedals but I found them to a little hard to interpret, they should be a bit heavier or something. The pedals in my Mini are a lot easier to control imo

 

In driver characteristics the G feels nothing like the R8. Its a much harder ride, and has a lot more feel than the audi. The Audi feels like an Audi, I've only driven the S4 but it was similar but much wider.

 

Sweet car and awesome pictures. You have some cool friends haha.

 

Cool cars, not sure about cool friends.....