The R8 was a brave design brief for Audi’s first-ever venture into the world of the supercar.

This is a world dominated by passionate Italian marques and Audi’s German compatriots – like Porsche, and, of course, the stratospherically powerful grunt-monsters from Mercedes.

At a stretch, you might also be able to fit the premium muscle-cars from the US, like the stonkin’ Corvette and Viper, into the same supercar paddock.

From the outset though, Audi’s engineers would seem to have set their sights with the R8 on competing directly with the Porsche 911, in-particular the all-wheel drive 997 Carrera 4S.

The R8 was not born straight from the engineer’s design table. It was based on the Audi Le Mans Quattro concept car that had its debut at the 2003 Geneva Auto Show, showcasing then Audi’s latest technical wizardry – an all-aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF), magnetically adjustable suspension and LED daytime running lights (now a common feature on many Audi models).

The Audi R8 was the result. Unveiled at the 2006 Paris Auto Show, it caused a sensation when the covers came off.

Fast-forward to today and it still appears to have just driven off the set of the film ‘I Robot’ with its modern hunkered-forward lines and aluminium structure.

Audi is keen to retain the exclusivity of the R8, with production (hand-built) limited to just 3000 units per year - a maximum of 15 cars per day from the German Audi Neckarsulm plant.

A simple day’s road test wouldn’t suffice for such an eagerly-anticipated competitor to the 911’s sports car crown; we needed a road trip over varying roads and conditions.

Picking up the car from Melbourne’s CBD we chose a three day belt along Victoria’s favourite tourist drive, the Great Ocean Road.

The route would take us through the towns of Torquay, Lorne, Apollo Bay, the landmark of the 12 Apostles and then to Warrnambool; returning via Timboon and Lavers Hill.

I say we as ‘the other half’ was dragged along for this experience, acting as part-time photographer/navigator, and also to partly prove that after the recent Ford GT experience, supercars can also be comfortable tourers.

The essential R8

This particular R8 was fitted with what is becoming a bit of a novelty in supercars now, a manual box. With all the flappy-paddle supercars out there, some of us may be starting to miss the joys of playing with an engine’s power and torque as only you can with a manual box.

The R8’s optional extras list, like many of the prestige German marques, runs to several pages.

To the base price of $277k (on the road) it is easy to add $30-$40k with a stroke of the dealer’s pen.

Rather sensibly, this car was fitted with auto-dimming and electrically-folding exterior mirrors ($1006), with a Bang & Olufsen 12-speaker 465 Watt surround-sound system ($4025). Australian-spec cars find a lot of the overseas options as standard.

The docklands of Melbourne set the location for a morning photo shoot. While the TMR team practiced their photographic arts, I had time to stand back and take in the muscular style of the car.

In profile, its hunkered-forward lines are sleek and appealing. The contrasting body side-sections, the ‘side blades’, are available finished in the body colour or in a super ‘look-at-me’ unpainted carbon-fibre finish.

The front wheel arches are seriously pumped out, giving the nose a mean wide look (it’s a great angle to take in the R8’s attitude).

At the rear, stand-out features are the stylish lights and large cooling vents – necessary to allow heat to escape from that monster V8 engine contained within.

For some extra ‘bling’, white LEDs light up the engine bay through the glass viewing window.

With the photo shoot complete, a few drops of rain on the windows and with Torquay - the start to the Great Ocean Road locked into the Audi sat-nav – we were off.

In city driving, the open-gate design of the manual shift is great visually but a bit clunky in its feel. Similarly the clutch feels rather ‘bitey’ and the brakes a little over ‘servoed’ at low speeds.

On the road to Geelong, a gentle whine filtering into the cabin was apparent – sounding something like a distant supercharger.

It was drive-shaft noise coming from the central transmission tunnel and the Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Not a major issue of course, just a new sound to get used to.