There are many ways to experience a sports car, but ask any hardcore enthusiast or even the carmaker's own engineers and you'll quickly learn that hot laps on a race track is the one of the best ways to really find out what a car is made of. It's a great way to evaluate--and build--driving skills, too. This video of an Audi R8 hitting Infineon Raceway as part of the Audi Sportscar Experience program illustrates both points beautifully.

The video follows two laps of an enthusiast's stint around the track also known as Sears Point, with an eight-cylinder sound track that beats the overdubbed Goo Goo Dolls' "Long Way Down" with ease.

If the video stirs your inner racer, there's a way to scratch that itch: the Audi Sportscar Experience is open to the public, in the R8, S-Models and for private and corporate groups. The price of entry ranges from $695 for a half-day with the S-Models, to $1,895 for a one-day stint with the R8, to $4,295 for an advanced two-day R8 program.

For the price of entry, students in the R8 programs get top-rate instruction and a chance to drive the V-10-powered Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro, the entry-level one-day program starting with a brief set of exercises in the Audi TTS to practice car control before hitting the track at Infineon Raceway. The second day of the two-day program adds more competition exercises including autocross techniques, while the advanced class builds on top of that with even more car control exercises and one-on-one coaching from experts.

To find out what our Executive Editor Marty Padgett learned about the R8 V-10 on track at Laguna Seca, check out his first drive review.

Check out the official site for the Audi Sportscar Experience here.

[Audi via Facebook]