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After years of casting around for a third model, Lamborghini has settled on what Manfred Fitzgerald, head of brand and design, rather presumptively calls "the world's first supersedan." The dramatic Estoque, revealed in concept form at the Paris auto show, isn't called a four-door coupe by its makers, but it certainly would travel in the extrawide tire tracks of cars like the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide, both of which it would follow to market, in 2012.

This Audi probably would have never happened had Porsche gained control of the Volkswagen Group five years earlier. But now the Audi R8 5.2 is out, larger than life and even better than expected. True, the Gallardo is sharper. The SL63 AMG is wilder. And the 911 Turbo is all that in a more compact package. But in terms of total dynamic balance; anyone-can-do-it, A-to-B ground-covering ability; and that all-important blend of confidence, compliance, and comfort, the 5.2-liter V-10-powered R8 is the new leader of the pack.

That's the inescapable conclusion after a memorable day in which even losing my driver's license ten times over would not have dimmed the sparkle in my eyes. In the morning, I left Marbella, Spain, for the remote, privately owned Ascari racetrack in a Suzuka gray R8 with a three-pedal transmission and magnetic dampers (standard in the U.S.). After lunch, I chased the warm winter sun through the rolling hills of the Costa del Sol in a brilliant red coupe that featured the R tronic automated-manual transmission and the conventional chassis setup. My pick? The manual version, even though it is a little less aggressive on the track and a little thirstier overall.