The Nürburgring, known as simply "The Ring" by car enthusiasts, is the famous motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany. All German car makers and international car makers who are continuously attempting to match and outdo the Germans in driving dynamics come to the Ring to prove their prototypes. The Ring has unprecedented level of technicality and challenges that are respected and feared by race car drivers, car designers and engineers. Not only it features hairpins, zigzags, switchbacks, straights, and elevation changes, but also a carousel turn.

Now, imagine the following. Iroha highway is like The Ring slapped on the steep brow of Mt. Natai. Additionally it has a lot more hairpins and several carousel turns! This public highway connects the town Nikko and lake Chuzenji, the highest elevated lake in Japan at 1269 meters above sea level. The highway is two lane one way up, ascending about 400 meter, and two-lane one way down on the another side of the mountain. Slow drivers and riders stay on the left lane and this makes the climb up and down extremely invigorating, especially during the off-peak hours.

On the way down of this pure driving ecstasy, I noticed the long sinuous rubber marks on many hairpins. Some marks went on a distance of three consecutive hairpins. Looking at this, images of Subaru WRX STI and Mitsubishi EVO drifting down the hill came to mind. I could only wish to have the skills and the defiance of the downhill racers who probably came here every weekend at midnight.

Fortunately, this A5 is equipped with the Audi Drive Select feature. This feature adjusts the variable-ratio steering, suspension, throttle, and gear shift programs based on three driving modes; Comfort, Auto, and Dynamic. The new damper regulation system has sensors at twelve points measuring road holding, steering motions, and the loading of the car. The data is used to calculate the millisecond adjustment on the dampers. Of course, I had selected the Dynamic mode for this rollercoaster-track-like road. I didn’t have the experience of the downhill racers nor their dare-devil spirit. But, thanks to the Drive Select and the Quattro, I surely devoured the hairpins and the switchbacks at a tingling pace.

We were very grateful that we had the A5 for this drive. Otherwise, we would not be able to delightfully and fully appreciate what the Japanese road engineers had done here. The immediate 243 lb-ft torque available to me at any given time, the precise steering, the firm dynamic sport suspension setting, the Audi Space Frame, the oversized disc brakes, and the rear biased Quattro system created an engineering harmony designed for just for this kind of roads.

The Nürburgring, known as simply "The Ring" by car enthusiasts, is the famous motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany. All German car makers and international car makers who are continuously attempting to match and outdo the Germans in driving dynamics come to the Ring to prove their prototypes. The Ring has unprecedented level of technicality and challenges that are respected and feared by race car drivers, car designers and engineers. Not only it features hairpins, zigzags, switchbacks, straights, and elevation changes, but also a carousel turn.

Now, imagine the following. Iroha highway is like The Ring slapped on the steep brow of Mt. Natai. Additionally it has a lot more hairpins and several carousel turns! This public highway connects the town Nikko and lake Chuzenji, the highest elevated lake in Japan at 1269 meters above sea level. The highway is two lane one way up, ascending about 400 meter, and two-lane one way down on the another side of the mountain. Slow drivers and riders stay on the left lane and this makes the climb up and down extremely invigorating, especially during the off-peak hours.

On the way down of this pure driving ecstasy, I noticed the long sinuous rubber marks on many hairpins. Some marks went on a distance of three consecutive hairpins. Looking at this, images of Subaru WRX STI and Mitsubishi EVO drifting down the hill came to mind. I could only wish to have the skills and the defiance of the downhill racers who probably came here every weekend at midnight.

Fortunately, this A5 is equipped with the Audi Drive Select feature. This feature adjusts the variable-ratio steering, suspension, throttle, and gear shift programs based on three driving modes; Comfort, Auto, and Dynamic. The new damper regulation system has sensors at twelve points measuring road holding, steering motions, and the loading of the car. The data is used to calculate the millisecond adjustment on the dampers. Of course, I had selected the Dynamic mode for this rollercoaster-track-like road. I didn’t have the experience of the downhill racers nor their dare-devil spirit. But, thanks to the Drive Select and the Quattro, I surely devoured the hairpins and the switchbacks at a tingling pace.

We were very grateful that we had the A5 for this drive. Otherwise, we would not be able to delightfully and fully appreciate what the Japanese road engineers had done here. The immediate 243 lb-ft torque available to me at any given time, the precise steering, the firm dynamic sport suspension setting, the Audi Space Frame, the oversized disc brakes, and the rear biased Quattro system created an engineering harmony designed for just for this kind of roads.