The Hindu Business Line : In the fast lane

With a range of Audi cars – such as the R8, the A6, the A8, the A3 Cabriolet, the S6 or the Q7 – in front of them, the journalists are in for an experience.

The journalists are in three groups, each under the charge of experienced instructors, who brief them about the test that will undergo on the track.

Christoph Klapper, 43, puts us through the paces at the braking session. He tells us the ideal sitting posture and how to hold the steering wheel.

“We always recommend the 3 ‘o clock and 9 ‘o clock position,” he says, “as that avoids complications while driving.”

The test appears simple. It is a 50-metre stretch and you have to accelerate immediately after you leave the start line. As you approach blue plastic markers, warning lights flash on the dashboard and you have to brake hard, and manoeuvre the car without hitting the markers.

This is to get a feel of the anti-lock braking system (or more commonly referred to in auto industry lingo as ABS) in Audi vehicles.

A meter inside the car tells you your speed, the braking distance and the stopping time.

“That is okay. But you should try to drive the car faster. Wait for the red lights to flash before you apply the brakes,” Klapper tells a journalist.

Just a short distance on the same stretch of the testing ground, Alexandra Hase, 32, another instructor, is overseeing a group of journalists doing the slalom.

Even while you are doing these tests, you can hear the roar of other cars and see them whiz past on the oval test track.

That is where Altfrid Heger, 50, a former DTM (German Touring Car Masters) racer, is guiding yet another group of journalists to drive the cars on the track at different speeds.

The over four-km track has three lanes — one for speeds up to 80 km an hour, another for up to 140 km per hour and the third, 200 km an hour and more. An A8, an S6 and a Q7 SUV are some of the machines available for the journalists.

Heger takes you on an instruction round, even crossing the 200-km an hour mark, where the lane is at a 45 degree incline. “At this speed, the car will move smoothly on its own,” he says and to prove his point, takes his hands of the wheel, even as you gulp nervously at the back.

Then when it is your turn to drive, Heger expertly leads from the front and through a wireless handset placed in each car, he tells you to switch lanes and increase the speed.

“The S6, increase the speed and move to the 200-km lane. We have built a very good car. It is safe,” he says, when a journalist prefers to stick to the 140-km lane.

The journalists — on a visit to Audi facilities sponsored by the company — switch cars at the end of each lap, happy to test out their newly found speed driving skills.

At the end of it all, it was a real driving experience as Audi had promised.