Audi R8 vs Audi S3: Slow Driver vs Fast Driver Track Battle

We're going to see how a slow driver in a fast car compares to a fast driver in a slow car. Today, I'm the slow driver and I'll be in the very powerful, very tail-happy Audi R8 GT. And I'll be going up against a fast driver, Jan Mardenbrae, in the quattro all-wheel drive hot hatch that is the Audi S3. And we're going to see who can set the fastest lap time in celebration of Autotrader's new podcast, Show on the Road. The year, 2011. The place, Cardiff in Wales. A young PlayStation gamer is about to be given the chance of a lifetime, competing in GT Academy to take him from gamer to professional racing driver. Years later, Jan Mardenbrae is not only a racing driver of the highest calibre, but he's also the subject of a Hollywood movie. Check this out. Who do you think the best driver is? Probably Borey. I would dust him in a lap. Jan, all you do is play video games or some crazy dreams of racing cars. Dad, you're the one that told us to always do something we love. And that got me thinking. We have a Rory, we have a track and we have a Jan Mardenbrae. Hello, Mr. Hollywood. Hello. How are you doing? Very good. Great to be here. Yeah, you might not be saying that in a minute because I've got a challenge for you. Do you reckon you could dust our Rory on a lap? Yeah, easy. Well, that's not fair, is it? He's a professional racing driver. Luckily, Alex had a plan to level the playing field, which happens to be the old Top Gear test track. For this challenge, we'd be putting a slow driver, me apparently, in a fast car. This magnificent Audi R8 GT, 620 horsepower, rear wheel drive and agility in spades. Meanwhile, we'll put our fast driver, Jan, definitely, in something a bit slower. This Audi S3 hot hatch with 333 horsepower and quattro all-wheel drive. There was just one slight problem for Jan. Have you ever driven the Top Gear track before? Never in real life. You've done it on PlayStation? Only a few laps, yeah. Not going to help you. We'll see. I am supremely confident. I've driven here a million times. Even though you're brilliant, I think that if I'm driving this car against you in that, there's no way you're going to win. If I lose this, I'll quit the channel. Wow, ideal. I'll see you at turn one with your rear-wheel drive, Mr. Overskier, and I'll have my four-wheel drive. I'll just smile at you while you're in flames. Wow. Okay. Challenge accepted? Challenge accepted. Challenge accepted? Yes and no. Firstly, I want five laps. It's a new circuit. You've driven around here a million times before. I need five laps to get my bearings ready to go, and then I'll dust you. It's fine. I'll see you in the mirror. I'm going to stop and watch as well. Okay, five sighting laps. All right, that's useful, actually, because, Jan, we do a podcast called Show on the Road, where I interview a celebrity guest in a car about their personal stories, and seeing as you have such a compelling story, I would like to find out how you went from gamer to being the subject of a Hollywood movie. So we can do that on your sighting laps. Let's do it. Plan. Okay, but before you guys do that, let's just get this over and done with. I'm going to set a lap in the R8. Jan, come join me. I'll show you how it's done, yeah? All right. Have you got a helmet, though? Definitely. I'm afraid of you driving. You'll need it. Jan, are you excited? I'm excited. Or are you scared? No, I'm actually genuinely excited, because to see what you can do, but also the car. Oh, man. You're going to see what the car can do in a straight line. Around the corners, you're going to see what I can't do. I just don't want to end up where there's trees and bark and... Oh, no, we'll end up under a 747. Don't worry. I mean, I'll be fine. I'll be better, I guess. I mean, I guess you could take us off to the hospital. Do you know, that was just all chat earlier on. I'm genuinely nervous about this. Good. And the pressure's on with you watching as well. Yeah, fantastic. Oh, my God. All right, let's send it. Let's send it. In three, two, one. Here we go. All right, okay. Solid launch. It's okay. Traction was good. I'm braving to it right now. It's all about bravery now. Let's not go in the woods. A bit squirrely there. Yeah, just a bit. A bit of patience. All right, get the braking point correct. Oh, that's way too wide. That's way too wide and way too side. Come on. Okay, I'll brave you on the brakes. Make up for it here. Now this one, you've just got to be patient. Full gas. Go, go, go, go, go. Fire it. Let's go. I love how you're encouraging me. Now the ballsy corner. I want to go fast. Let's go. 100 mil minimum. 93. Yeah, boy. What a laugh. You meant to do that. Yeah. Perfect 360. Egged on by Jan. Clearly, I was a bit too ambitious through the follow-through. The R8's playful back end refusing to stick for me. So I had another go and reined things in a bit. All right, here we go. A little bit of wheel spin off the line, but we're moving. It's quick, isn't it? It's rapid, man. Hang on to it, boy. Hang on to it. Brave on the brakes. Oh, no. Sideways. This is the quickest line where we'll take it. In front, like. Oh, it's got to be so patient on this. Oh, no. Not bad. I am going way too sideways. Come on. All right, get this braking right. Are you brave? Oh, you can be braver than that. Okay. I played it a bit safe there, I think, but I'm all right. Okay, so you see in your four-wheel drive, you would have been much quicker through that. Again. I mean, 95. Fully sideways. A little bit of a lift there. Be decent on the brakes there. But we're sideways again. Oh, no. Definitely lost time there. You're not going sideways, man. Not you, are you? Okay. There we go. I mean, this car's rear-wheel drive. But you seem to be sideways all the time. I think pretty much everywhere was sideways. Every corner, I was wasting time. But do you know what? I had fun. All right, me too. My time was a one minute 24.75, a solid marker. But now it was Jan's turn to get to know the circuit while having a chat with Alex, show on the road style. Which, by the way, is our new podcast, now in series two. You can listen to it by checking the link below. We have had some very cool people on the podcast. We've had Olly Murs, Zara McDermott, Big Manny. None of them were quite as fast behind the wheel as you, thankfully. Good. But it's great to have you on. Thanks for joining us. Glad to be here. So your big break came via the GT Academy, right? Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Yeah, so in 2011, I was just a normal guy. Loved cars, loved motorsports. And I was in university in 2010 for three weeks. I dropped out. I'm a dropout. And I went home, tried to sell things on eBay as a job. Didn't work out. I'm living at home. My status within the family is at zero. And one morning, I was on my PlayStation. And there was a new venue called GT Academy. And I've heard of it in the past, where the winner has a chance to become a professional race driver. So I entered it just to see how far I could go. I didn't enter it to win. Because I didn't, you know, it was kind of like a pipe dream. I just entered to see how far I could go and ended up winning. And then my life just changed massively. My dream as a kid was always to be a racing driver. But I had no way of getting for me to be. I've had a lot of success. I've had a lot of failures. And some cool stuff has happened off the back of it. How hard was the transition from gamer to then racing with professional racing drivers? I didn't really put so much thought into it. It was like, OK, this is what I've got to do. I wanted to be judged on my merit as a driver for my fellow drivers. So when I got the respect, where I was earning respect for my peers, that's when I knew I was on the right track. So I never really, yeah, it was difficult, of course. I drove behind the wheel of a car. It wasn't so difficult in terms of it wasn't alien to me. I knew what I was doing with the pitch and the yaw of the car. I knew how to control the car. Like there's more to race than just doing one lap. You have to race. You have to be, it's like that thing where you kind of tap your head and rub your stomach. Like you're doing that while you're defending from the car behind or you're attacking another car while your car's damaged. Like there's so much going on. And race craft. Exactly. It's, unless you've been in that environment where you're in the kitchen and it's hot, like the pressure is on. I love that. I love it. Like when there's stuff going on, there's so much to go on. Because I'm, that saying of, you know, somebody keeping their head when everybody else around is losing theirs. In racing, you need that. You have to. There's so many variables, which is why I love, there's no one lap is the same. No one race is the same. I love that part. So from gamer to professional racing driver to being the subject of a Hollywood movie. I mean, that is epic. How did that come about? In 2017, I was racing in Japan doing Super Formula at GT500. And I had a, I can't remember if it was a call or email, but it was presented to me. Maybe there's a chance a movie's going to be made about your life. But the keyword was maybe. Like I don't, I knew what I was doing that year. I knew what I was doing that week. I'm driving this track of this day. I'm preparing for this. Now some guy from Hollywood's come up to me and said, maybe there's a chance a movie's going to be made about your life. I was kind of like, conclude it. I'm like, yeah, whatever. And then fast forward a year and a half. I started meeting producers and script writers. They came over from Hollywood to London to meet me and discuss in every area about my life. And that's when it became a bit more serious. Where I feel like I actually need to dedicate some time and energy into making sure what they're receiving from me is representative of my family name. Initially, it was kind of, I didn't believe it. I bet. But as we've seen from the movie, it wasn't all plain sailing, was it? Your dad wasn't that behind the idea, right? Initially, no, he wasn't, wasn't quite 100% behind that. He didn't think it was possible. So the movie, of course, exaggerates that aspect a bit more in the movie. But the first time I ever talked to my father about this, all three of my family members were in the house at the time. And I told them, I spoke to my brother and my dad at the same time. They were watching the Football News Channel. And I said, look, I've entered this competition and the winner has a chance to become a racing driver. And they kind of looked at me and were like, yeah, right. And then kind of, that was that. Said the same thing to my mother. And she was completely on board. She was like, fantastic, let me know how you get on. Really enthusiastic. And it was a very different comparison to my dad and my brother. Whereas in the movie, they kind of exaggerate that for longer in time. There's got to be some drama. There is. But really, the movie, it's like 80%, 85% that stuff happened. Maybe not necessarily in the right order. And there's a lot of things that could have been done. Your crash, when I saw that, I had my heart in my mouth, as I'm sure you did. Can you talk us through what went through your head? Well, that was lap seven, I believe, of a seven-lap stint. So it was the in-lap. And all weekend, that car, in practice, in qualifying, at that particular place called flood flats, only the front wheels would lift off the ground. And you kind of get used to it. It's kind of annoying when you can't see where you're going momentarily, because the front wheels are in the air. But on that particular lap, the front went up, and I was expecting it to come down. And it didn't come down. It just stayed up. And there was a headwind, more of a headwind than normal than the previous laps. Up until that point, the car was low fuel. It's just the circumstances were against me at that point. So the car turned into a sail. There's the flat bottom, and you just take off. And I remember taking my hands off the wheel at that point for about half a second, because I'm like, OK, it's not coming down now. I don't know. I can't see where I'm going. And just preparing yourself for impact. So you take a big, deep breath in. You don't tense up, but you take oxygen in to hold your body up and try not to move your legs and arms so much. And you just prepare for a crash. Yeah, it's a horrible feeling, especially when you can't see what's going to happen. In other crashes, you see the wall come in. There's a moment of silence until you hit something. Whereas when you see sky, I don't know what's going to come. I don't know what the impact's going to be like. So it's not. It's horrible, horrible crash. And what happened after the circumstances of it is, yeah, it's the lowest point of my career and of my life. Because they were expecting that I was tragically in the wrong area, in an illegal area that it shouldn't be. And the car was, well, I landed on top of them, which is a nightmare situation. How is it retelling? Now, because I've spoke about it so many times over the last two years with the movie and talking to the scriptwriters and the producers about the nuanced details about it during and also afterwards, and also in press interviews. I wouldn't say I've gotten used to it, but it's easier to speak about the details. I've never watched that crash. I've never watched it on TV. I've never watched it on YouTube. So I can relive it in my head. I'm 33 years old. I still have things to prove. I still have a point to prove. And I have a weight which is forever going to be there. And not many drivers or sports people or people in general can have that. They don't, nobody understands. But it's a fuel for me to continue to be the best I can possibly be. And that happened on a track that you knew very well. Here we are learning a track that you don't know so well. But do you feel like you're getting to know it now? I am. I'm trying not to destroy the tyres because I've got a lap to set and I don't want to destroy the front. But I feel like I know this track quite well now. Good. Rory will be quaking in his boot. I think he will. I'm going to keep him honest for sure. All right. I'm feeling quite sick now. So are you ready to set your lap? Yeah, let's do it. How are you feeling? I feel good. Do you? I feel hot, but I'm ready to go. Do you feel hotter than 1.24.75, Rory's time? I believe so. Jan, you ready? I'm ready. Okay, let's go in three, two, one, go. Good start, let's go. Oh, it's a quick launch. That felt good. You can tell from a distance when a racing driver knows what they're doing. Come on. Come on, Audi. Come on. S3. The car thinks it's having a crash. Come on. 111 that was, that was good. Some tyres left. Oh, it's going to be close. 98. 101. 103. That was fast. No, oh no. Come on. Okay. Oh no. What's he saying? I think that was good. I think I've made up for that around the corners. That felt quick. He's looking at the phone in disbelief. He looks forlorn, doesn't he? Oh my God. All right, fair enough. That was good, wasn't it? Rubbish. Nah, fam. Rubbish. Nah, there's no way. Did that feel good? There's no way. You were really good. What was it? It was a 125.1. Nah, you pressed it so much late. No, honest to God. 125.1, it was so close. Okay. And that's your first attempt. Yeah. Okay. Can you go faster? Yeah, I can turn one, I can brake later. Oh my God. I can see. I was 118 at one point. I think the follow through. You were doing 118 through there? Yeah. Oh my God. Do you want to have another go? Yeah. Okay, so just for the record, right? I've already beaten Jan. He did not beat me. I'm going to allow him to have one more go. And see if he can do a bit better for himself. All right, good luck. That was Q1. This is Q2. Three, two, one, go. Come on, Jan. That was good off the line. That was better. I don't know how. Launch was clean. Turn one, don't know where I'm braking. I'm going to send it. Okay. In. That's fine. Middle S3 gold down here. Come on. What he's doing right now is he's pushing a little bit more, taking a few more risks. And that is the last thing you want to do as a racing driver, right? Trying to find those extra little tenths. It can end up costing you seconds. Holy crap. Oh, it's going to be tight. Oh, my word. My prediction was spot on. I knew he'd be pushing a little bit more to find those last few tenths. Well, he's not doing anything. I felt quicker. Uh, what took you so long? We're waiting ages. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me the numbers. Okay, so your first lap was a 125.18. Your second lap was a 125.38. What? So, unfortunately, you're a couple of tenths down. Is there anything you can do to make this car go a bit faster? Yes, there is, but it's an awkward thing to ask for. Would you mind if you step aside? Oh, my God. I am. It's out of the rain now as well. Power to weight ratio. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Drop a dead weight, right? I'm sure you don't weigh much, but it's motorsports, right? For those small tenths. Every little helps, Alex. Yeah, yeah, all right. 62 kilos? I mean... Will that help? Yeah, I hope so. I hope so too. Surprisingly, it would. The S3's power to weight ratio with Alex on board was 199 horsepower per tonne. Without Alex, that would increase to 207 horsepower per tonne. With the 1.6 tonne S3 running lighter, Alex's exit effectively gave Jan an extra 13 horsepower. But could he put it to good use? In three, two, one, go. Come on, Audi. Give me some fronts. Give me some good bite on the brakes here. The launch was solid and Jan was determined. And at the first corner, he was clearly carrying a lot more speed than he had previously, using the full width of the track. Chicago was nice and neat, although Jan wasn't fully convinced by his execution. I don't know if that was better or not, because that was quite deep. Genuinely, I had no idea it would be this close. I thought I would spank him by a couple of seconds, I'm not lying to you. But the fact that he is on the pace immediately is saying a lot. That guy is fast. At Hammerhead, he was maybe too fast, going slightly deep. But with the S3's quattro all-wheel drive system, he was able to stand on the accelerator and use all the car's power. Then came the trickiest part of the track, carrying immense speed through the follow-through. Oh, it's going to be really close. Then the trickiest braking zone of all into second to last, where it's so easy for it all to go wrong. And it nearly did, with Jan hitting the grass with two wheels. But he survived and crossed the line. I think I got it. I think that was it. That must have been it. I'm out of excuses now. I'm not going to mention the fact that he had about four million goals. Jan, you done it. Yes! Thank you. So that was a one-minute 24.69. Yes! Yup, Jan's time was a mere 60 milliseconds faster than mine in the R8. 0.06 seconds. About half the time it takes for the human eye to blink. Or, in Jan's PlayStation vocabulary, a pretty decent ping rate on the PlayStation. It was closer than I thought. Yeah. It's been a great day. It's closer than I thought. For me, it's like a childhood thing to come here. I used to watch that show a lot. So to come here and be invited to come here to do some things that I'm good at, I really appreciate it. And you are very good, mate. Congratulations. Thank you. Well done. Big thanks to Jan. What a driver and what a cool story. Yeah, fantastic. It pretty much went down exactly how we thought it would. Great driver. We'll have to have him back on the channel. Yeah, definitely. Also, don't forget to watch the Autotrader Show on the Road podcast. You can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts, starring Alex de Gui and many, many celebrity guests. And also, don't forget to subscribe to the Autotrader Show on the Road YouTube channel. Link is down below. Thanks for watching, guys. Ah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Aren't you forgetting something, Rory? I thought you'd forget that. I did say I'd quit the channel, didn't I? It's been fun. Yeah. Man of my word. See you later. Stiggy, it's Rory. Reid, listen. I've got a question for you about racing lines. Can you cut the corner going into Chicago? No. All four wheels to the left of the line. Aha. Obviously. All right. Talk to me about follow through. Can you put your car on the curb? No, entire car. All four wheels. Yeah. No, that's what I thought. Yeah. Worth seven milliseconds. No, that's great news. Someone still has a job. No offense. Okay, all right. Bye-bye.