# EVO Magazine Drives "Red Sonja", Le Mans-Winning Audi R18 TDI



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

When it comes to driving cool Audis, I can't complain. As editor of Fourtitude I've had the chance to sample cars like the * R8 GT *, the * R8 V12 TDI Le Mans Concept *, the * Audi quattro Concept * and even * an early A5 drivetrain mule of the latter dubbed "The Beast" *. It's rare that I'm green with envy, but that's exactly the case with pre-eminent driving connoisseur buff book EVO Magazine out of the UK... for the *THIRD* time.

It wasn't enough that * EVO writer James Mills got a run in the 2008 Le Mans Winning R10 TDI back in 2009 * or that last year * they had a spin in the United Autosport R8 LMS *. No, now they're really rubbing our noses in it with a feature (and video found below) by driving the 2011 Le Mans winning R18 TDI dubbed "Red Sonja". Jerks.

In all seriousness, EVO is one of our favorite magazines and it is features such as these three and so much more that draws us to the magazine on a very regular basis. When we want to know handling nuance and driving experience, we go no further than EVO and likely it's why Audi goes little further than EVO when tossing over the figurative keys to an irreplaceable specimen like the "Red Sonja" R18.










First and foremost, you need to read the written feature by * @DickieMeaden * on pp. 100-107 of the latest Issue 164 of EVO's print version. This in-depth piece is well written and well worth the price of entry on picking up a copy (or downloading it via Zinio as we did on our iPad). Here's a sample...



> Allan McNish, who was driving the no. 3 R18 at the time of its accident, is also here to try the winning car, and to give me a few tips, so we jump in an A3 TDI for a few sighting laps. Thanks to the reverse direction, all the track's corners are deceptive, tightening up the further you drive into them. It doesn't feel at all natural and is tricky to learn, but there's a good mix of turns and a decent straight, which leads into a very fast kink that feeds into another pair of curves and a compressed braking area into a 180-degree hairpin. McNish is his usual impish self, declaring with a grin 'the first kink's easy flat, the second too, and probably the third as well if I was really on it. Probably best you build up to it though, mate...' I think he's lying about the third curve. If he's not, I ought to hang up my crash helmet now.


Want to read more? Check out the * latest issue of EVO in newsstands * or download it on * Zinio. * Also, watch below for a video short EVO has also released.


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