2008 Audi R8 vs. 2008 Ferrari F430 and 2008 Porsche 911

[jetsetter]

Diving into Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch's tight turn 2, the Porsche 911 Carrera S nips under the Ferrari F430. A silver scimitar suddenly splits the red haze. Porsche and Ferrari are natural foes--always have been, always will be. But will the sports car elite drift wide to make room for an Audi R8 that's only recently set its Pirellis on American pavement? We're in Nevada to find out.

Like the meteorite that recently holed a New Jersey home, the R8 is heaven-sent. The four-rings brand has never done a sports car. Never mind the five Le Mans victories by the racing car with the same name; open-cockpit endurance racers are a touch hairy for a romantic driving weekend in wine country.

To identify the true inspiration behind Audi's new $100,000 two-seater, you've got to set the Wayback Machine way back. Dust off your history books to find the 1938 Type 114 F-wagen named after its conspirators, Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche. After sending their Auto Union racers to grand prix victory circles during the Age of Titans (see sidebar), Porsche father and son penned their first sports car. The common thread from the grand prix racers through the Type 114 to today's Audi R8 is an engine situated between the cockpit and the rear axle with a transmission cantilevered out the back. One world war later, the prescient Porsches homed in tighter with their V-8-powered Cisitalia Type 370 sports car proposal of 1947......

Rest of article here: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews...911/index.html

[powah]

The Ferrari is probably the best handling. I'd still have the R8