An out-of-this-world car on the supernatural roads of Rajasthan — this was my first impression of my experience of driving Audi’s speed behemoth, the R8. I was on the outskirts of Jodhpur, where there isn’t anything across the desert horizon, except for a few stunted trees. Every few minutes a truck passed by, stopping briefly to gape at our visitor from the Other World. The R8 looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.

As dark clouds approached us from one corner of the sky, accompanied by deep rolling thunder, snapper Ashley wanted to get a few gigabytes of colour into his Nikon D3. The conditions being perfect, we stopped every few kilometres to shoot. But I was itching to get going.

Soon I got my chance. With massive drops falling from the sky, rain thundered on the aluminium roof of the R8 and we dove into the car for cover. All we could now do was drive.

Getting used to a car like the Audi R8 takes some time; after all, Indian highways and supercars are rarely a match made in heaven. You are seated too low, the lack of ground clearance of the car is something you become acutely aware of each time there is a big dip in the road or a crest. And I also took the precaution of selecting ‘sport’ mode, as this hardens the suspension and prevents the car from bottoming over speed-breakers.

The wipers are quick enough for monsoon rain, as they have to be in order to ensure visibility at high speeds. I soon got comfortable behind the wheel despite the raging storm outside and driving became subconscious. With the barrel-chested boom of the V8 at low revs, performance felt effortless.

I’m all for walking before you run so I built speeds progressively. Still, the bar set by the R8 is so high that this car just skimmed across the desert like a hovercraft. Driven in a relaxed manner, you really don’t have to slow this Audi down on corners. All I needed to do was point the R8 in the right direction with a light hand on the wheel, and it carved up the desert roads in a smooth sweep.

This is a proper, proper supercar in every sense of the word. A road-going version of a track car, the R8’s mid-mounted V8 motor, all-round wishbone suspension and massive tyres give it the stance and feel of a thoroughbred. There is almost no roll, the quick steering allows the car to dart into corners and, like all good track cars, the R8 feels like it is being steered from the hip. The short travel suspension with its aluminium arms allow the little tub of the chassis to grip the road, and Audi’s fantastic Quattro four-wheel-drive system just adds to this feeling of limitless traction. And in wet conditions too!

After driving for a bit, I caught a glimpse of the speedo and nearly jumped out of my skin. The needle had just swept past 200kph. And I hadn’t even used 60 per cent of this motor’s potential. Visibility on either side was fantastic, so I knew there were no camels, cows or dogs suddenly crossing the road from anywhere. A quick mental calculation about the braking distance in the wet from these speeds got me to recalibrate my maximum-speed setting.

Just then, we reached a crest in the road and slowed down to take in the view. An hour of intense downpour had turned the desert into a massive sea, stretching on either side as far as the horizon. As we carried on at a reduced pace, shallow dips in the road were beginning to fill up and water poured onto the road from all sides.

I quickly spun the car around and drove back to a slightly elevated section of road, because the car’s low ground clearance was worrying me. The back-up truck following us came to the rescue and we put the R8 on the trailer for the last 80km. Later on, we heard of floods in Pakistan and a deadly cloud burst in Leh.

The next day, despite some light rain, the road out of Jaisalmer was very inviting. Heading out to the Sam sand dunes, the R8 covered ground really quickly, with no apparent effort. But soon I began to drive the R8 like it’s meant to be driven — giving the car 100 per cent of the throttle. Shifts up and down the gated gearbox were fluid, heel and toeing came naturally and the R8 pinned me right to the back of my seat, all the way past 200kph. I used of all 8250rpm and though the R8 was running on a 50:50 mix of 97 and 91-octane fuel, it didn’t miss a beat.

The change in pace was massive, well and truly up to racing speed. The harder I went, the more comfortable and composed the R8 felt. The harder I cornered the car around the long, sweeping curves, the more alive and co-operative it felt. The handling tightened up, the responses were quick and even the gearbox smoothened out when pushed to the maximum.

Full throttle performance was also leagues ahead of a half-hearted prod — zero to 160kph came up in around 10 seconds and then I hit 200 in barely no time at all. On open roads, the R8 shot forward like a rocket, punching a 200kph hole into the desert air. However, most of the time I had to rein in the Audi. The high summer temperatures warp slightly some of these roads and the bumps get amplified at higher speeds, so the car moved around quite a lot on its suspension. Importantly, I used up 45 litres in just 146.3km; you do the math.

The run back to Jodhpur the next day was awesome. In anticipating more rain, we left early and the road was deserted. The 325km journey passed in a blur of exhaust blare and an average speed that made us rub our eyes in disbelief. This motor just loves to rev and the exhaust is almost the perfect combination of a snarl and a scream.

Feedback from the steering wheel was good; there was none of that light Quattro feel to it and the R8 just inspired growing confidence. The mild understeer while pushing hard around longer corners is negligible compared to this Audi’s grip and poise. However, I admit that stronger brakes would have helped immensely at times. Other than that, Audi’s mid-engined R8 scored an almost perfect score, first time out. Super car, super road, super trip!

Spec check

AUDI R8 4.2 V8

Price: Rs 1.2 crore (ex-showroom Delhi)

Top speed: 301kph

0-100kph: 4.4 seconds

Kerb weight: 1560kg

Engine: 8-cyls-in-vee, 4163cc, petrol/ mid-longitudinal

Power: 414bhp at 7800rpm

Torque: 43.8kgm at 4500rpm

Gearbox: 6-speed manual