It even stumped the dealer, Gene

Audi R8 stationary—rotated

The day I photographed this pre-production Audi R8 in 2007 was also the day Audi dealer staff were pushing a car they could not start to the workshop.
   I didn’t post those photos as I didn’t want to embarrass Audi, and the fact is that this was a pre-production car, not the final thing. Who cares if it didn’t start? Its purpose was to look good in showrooms to entice people to put down a deposit.
   In the Murdoch Press today, I notice that our old mate Philip Glenister—DCI Gene Hunt—has been test-driving one of these babies. He writes:

You need to put your foot down on the clutch before you can start it, so I spent a good 15 minutes trying to get her going, thinking that I had a flat battery. Not a good look. Once you do get going the thing you notice instantly is the sound of the engine. It’s in the back of the car, very close to you, and that’s all you can hear: this massive V8 revving behind you. You think: “S***! This is rather powerful.”

   I have to say that the above is what had happened. And I didn’t think of suggesting that the dealer try this, or read through the manual to figure it out. I was, after all, a bystander who had just returned a lovely S3, on his way home.
   Nor would it have occurred to me at the time. I always, habitually, start a car with my foot on the clutch, and wrongly assume that everyone else in the world does the same (providing their car has a clutch).
   I think of the poor chaps tearing the Audi apart, as it was assumed that prior to the push, there was something wrong with the computer inside it. All the diagnostic information probably showed nothing wrong, and to think I could have hopped in and pretended I had the magic touch and saved the day.