'RING MASTER

The Audi RS Q8 has already conquered the Nordschleife, but is it ready to take on our roads?

- Aditya Upadhyaula

There was a time when every new sportscar had to prove its sporting potential with a blisteringly fast lap of the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife. Maybe they still do and I’ve just stopped paying attention, but even SUVs have jumped into that particular game now, and the Audi RS Q8 is the latest fastest SUV around the 23km circuit. That’s all well and good, but I’m more interested in how it can handle our roads.

Without even looking at the whole car, I can tell you that the RS Q8 looks the part of a sportscar masquerading as an SUV — the first things you’ll notice are its massive 23-inch wheels shod in rubber-band tyres which nearly jam into the wheel arches. The Q8 is already an imposing SUV, and in its RS guise it dials that up to 11. The all-black honeycomb grille is now flanked by two large air intakes to feed the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 under the hood. Save for a sliver of red on the RS badges, all the exterior logos are blacked out, but that won’t keep anyone from recognising the RS Q8 for what it is.