Yahoo Autos 2018 Audi RS5 at Lightning Lap 2018
Lap Time: 3:03.9
Class: LL3 | Base Price: $87,975 | As-Tested Price: $91,000
Power and Weight: 444 hp • 4010 lb • 9.0 lb/hp
Tires: Hankook Ventus S1 Evo2, 275/30R-20 97Y
The RS5 carries 57.2 percent of its 4010 pounds on its front tires. In an attempt to right this massive imbalance, the Audi has a torque-vectoring rear differential that endeavors to take the pressure off the front end. It only sort of works.
On-track, putting the diff in Dynamic or Auto mode brings the RS5’s tail into the game, but not in a good way. The rear end steps out when trail-braking into a corner, when adding throttle exiting a corner, when the track falls away, or if you start thinking about how bees are dying at an alarming rate. The unwanted rotation only gets worse on hot tires, and the Audi’s weight problem means it takes only one fast lap before the Hankooks begin to surrender their grip.
We resort to the RS5’s Individual drive mode, choosing Dynamic mode for the trans, engine, and suspension but setting the diff in Comfort to rein in the time-robbing slides. This keeps the diff from inciting dramatic yaw. And while it largely results in terminal understeer, that stability ensures we could clip off a quick lap before overheating the tires. While it’s not the most exciting way around a track, the RS5 is easy to drive at its limits and goes into the Climbing Esses without protest at 124.9 mph. Body control is exceptional for a heavy car, and the brakes are superb. A 3:03.9 matches the Civic Type R’s lap and is 0.4 second quicker than the time set by the old V-8–bearing, 4053-pound RS5.
Racetracks exaggerate flaws. On the street, where the tires don’t get as hot and the speeds are lower, the differential gets the rear tires in on the action without causing any drama. Keep it on the street and the RS5 is a spectacular and entertaining car. On-track, we’d like more grip-it pulled just 0.91 g in Horse Shoe. Moving some of the mass off the nose would help, but an easier solution would be to outfit the RS5 with more aggressive rubber. Just using one of the RS5’s other factory-fit tires, the Pirelli P Zero PZ4 or Continental SportContact 6, might have made a difference.
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