Evoの May 2016 の目次

“A plug-in hybrid petrol V6 is a possible route” BENTLEY WA NTS TO A DD two further new models to its existing line-up. They will join the Continental GT, Mulsanne and Bentayga models. The two options on the table are a coupe-like SUV based on the new Bentayga and a new sports coupe first mooted with the EXP 10 Speed 6 concept (pictured) shown at Geneva in 2015. However, either would require the Bentayga to hit its production targets in order to pay for development and the required expansion at Crewe. Speaking at the Geneva motor show, CEO Dr Wolfgang Dürheimer confirmed that he wants to decide which new model will be built first by the end of the year. The likelihood is that the coupe-SUV will get the nod…

AUTOSOUND RADIO CD WITH BLUETOOTH £99.95 An affordable alternative to the likes of Becker’s Europa and ideally suited to classic vehicles. With CD, Bluetooth and a USB input, you’ve got several options for listening to music, though unlike others here there’s no DAB. Those put off by tiny switches will appreciate the large knobs and substantial preset buttons. classiccarstereo.co.uk KENWOOD DPX - 7000DAB £199.95 If you aren’t convinced by the touchscreens that pervade the double-DIN choices, this unit may be ideal. With DAB, Bluetooth, CD and iPhone and Android compatibility (via either USB or near-field communications) it has all the features you need, plus satisfyingly large, clear buttons. You can change the illumination colour to match your cabin, too. kenwood.eu/car PIONEER SPH-DA120 £329 In Connectivity in evo 216, we looked…

Test location: Balocco Proving Ground, Italy GPS: -45.45383, 8.28166 EVERY NEW EVO CAR THAT MATTERS, REVIEWED AND RATED MASERATI LEVANTE // VOLVO V40 T5 POLESTAR PACKAGE //SEAT LEON CUPRA 290 // FERRARI CALIFORNIA T HS //LEXUS GS F // BBR MAZDA MX-5 SUPER 190 THE LEVANTE HONOURS Maserati’s tradition of naming its cars after exotic winds, but little else about the all-new SUV sits quite so comfortably with the Trident’s rich and noble heritage. Or with our enthusiast sensibilities, truth be told. Yet here it is: Maserati’s first SUV and, in all likelihood, the most important model in its 102-year history. So what do we make of it? Forget 2011’s Kubang concept and its proposed platform-share with Jeep. The Levante is pure Maserati, designed, engineered and built in Italy. Two…

ALLOYS DARKENED BY BRAKE DUST. Front and rear wings greying from a sheen of spent rubber kicked up from the tyres. Mud flicked along sills and doors. Bugs splattered across the whole of the front end of the car. The exhaust ticking and cracking as the metal cools… All proof that you’ve been out for a thrilling day’s driving. And isn’t that the whole reason for choosing your car in the first place? But while a grime-caked car is a sure sign that you’re not treating it like a trailer queen, most of us enjoy keeping our pride and joy gleaming – we just don’t want to invest large chunks of our lives wielding a hose, sponge and cloths to keep it like that, because, well, life’s way too short.…

I LEARNT MY LESSONS EARLY ON . During that rookie year in CART in 1997 there were times when I was having to slow down, exhausted, as a result of my conditioning, or lack of it. Temperature, the lateral loads on my body and the bearish strength needed to manhandle the chassis took their toll. Head lolling to the right through left-hand bends, to the left through right-hand bends, smashing into my chest under braking… I’m not ashamed to admit I was found wanting that season (mainly because I made damn sure it never happened again). Most of you will know that driving a racing car is tough, that guiding an IndyCar around at 230mph feels like 15kg dumbbells have been strapped to your wrists, and that rally drivers in…

From the forums: community.evo.co.uk/forums Way longer ago than this morning! Rich B When I started a business to buy and sell them and ended up with a warehouse full of cars not really for sale. Bryn_P That’s like asking at what point did I realise that I love food! Mito Man Most kids had comics, I had Autocar road tests, when I was five. My first word (sadly) was Sierra. I’d guess it was around that time… And I like really mundane stuff that no one understands. My garage, if I had all the money and space in the world, would be a Daihatsu Cuore Avanzato TRXX [pictured], a Citroën Xantia Activa, my Cooper S and a Sapphire Cosworth. 16vcento One of my earlier memories is getting told off for…

‘THE CAYMAN IS LIGHT FOR A MODERN SPORTS CAR BUT IT’S NOT LOTUS-LIGHT’ THIS IS A TOUGH TEST – AND NOT your traditional test. Sure, it’s Britain versus Germany, and both cars have six cylinders, rear-wheel drive, two seats, a manual gearbox and a mid-mounted motor, but it’s how each expresses the thrill of driving in its purest form that we’re studying here. Lotuswadesinwithanacknowledgment that the Exige S – the car the Sport 350 replaces – was not as honed, not as light, and not as focused as it could’ve been. And this a car that was joint-top in eCoty 2012, remember. So has the best Exige, and one of the best Lotus’s of recent times, just got better? To find out, we’re pitting it against the current eCoty champ…

GIVEN THAT THE CAYMANG T4 has an engine where in the M4 Competition Package you’ll find a useful pair of rear seats, it’d be somewhat unreasonable of me to argue that the Porsche is as practical as the BMW. Its aggressive Cup 2 tyres do require caution in the wet, too, and you can’t specify the Porsche with an automatic gearbox, but those are the only areas in which the GT4 loses out to the M4 as an everyday car. The days of Porsche Motorsport machines being uncompromisingly raw are more or less behind us. The current range of GT models can all be specced with climate control and satellite navigation, after all, and, with the loose-limbed ride quality that’s common throughout the stable, they aren’t terribly uncomfortable in day-to-day…

FOR REASONS TOO MUNDANE to waste paper on, I wandered around the halls of the Detroit motor show while photographer Aston Parrott flew to Los Angeles and picked up the Shelby Mustang GT350. Once I’d finished looking at the Buick Avista and numerous F-150s, I flew to San Francisco, hired a Kia Rio and met Aston in Morgan Hill, just south of San Jose. He had clearly been having a fine old time these past few days. ‘Here’s the Mustang and me on the Pacific Coast Highway,’ he says as we sit in the slightly fusty-smelling reception of a rashly prebooked motel, ‘and here we are with a gorgeous sunset at Pebble Beach. We found this great little wine saloon in Monterey. Oh, and there’s the Golden Gate Bridge –…

The evolution of data logging Data log ging ha s been around for some time, but only recently ha s the technolog y become both unfailingly accurate and af fordable. In early racing , the acquisition of data wa s no more advanced than a stopwatch and a pencil. In the realms of ma ga zine road testing , a ‘ fif th wheel’ to record accurate speeds and acceleration times wa s the norm, followed by la ser tracking systems. Access to better GPS data, thanks to the US militar y turning of f selective availabilit y of its more accurate signals, ha s since made GPS the best way to mea sure speeds and lap times. Accelerometers mea sure acceleration, cornering and braking forces, while the multitude of…

HAVING GOT THE ‘Redneck Enzo’ shod in its snow boots and then driven a good few miles to scuff them in, I had to park it. Why? Because I had to go to California for a couple of weeks of meetings, and suffer the 80-degree blue-sky days… Luckily I got back to Switzerland just in time for halfterm and skiing in Chamonix. The Z/28’s boot is pretty big. Bigger, in fact, than a regular Camaro’s, because GM took out all the soundproofing to save weight – very handy for gear. I hadn’t fitted a proper ski rack, though, so I affixed some magnetic ones I’d bought for my Clio Trophy and, voila, I was ready to take my son to race training! The Michelin Alpin winter tyres have been great…

IF THERE’S A CAR TO GET engineers riled, it’s the gt-r. the famous Porsche/Nissan spat from a couple of years ago neatly summarises the general narrative: a senior Porsche figure stated that the gt-r they’d bought wasn’t capable of the Nürburgring lap times supposedly achieved. Nissan, rather cheekily, then publicly offered to put the Porsche testers through its drivertraining scheme. the result? a lot of noise but not much corroborative evidence from either party. I’ve heard the accusations a million times myself off the record from all sorts of engineers, test drivers and Pr people. Do I care if our 45th anniversary car can do a 7min 19sec lap around the ring? Not really. Does this press car have – as many engineers and internet sages would lead you to…

I LIKE THE FACT THAT THE British airways flights I usually seem to catch to and from Stuttgart have the Porsche-appropriate numbers Ba918 and Ba919. What I like less is 918’s early departure time of 7.30am from heathrow terminal 5. I’ve never been one of those people capable of leaping fresh-faced from under a warm duvet. Several unsnoozable alarms need to be set, particularly in the depths of winter. The most recent time this happened, the knowledge that I was going to see the new 911 R certainly made getting up easier, but so did the Jaguar. the heated seats are spectacularly toasty, the heated windscreen wonderfully convenient and the heated steering wheel… unexpectedly nice actually. the only hot wheels I’ve ever seen the point of before have been die-cast,…

THE VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R is no longer evo’s fourwheel-drive super-hatch of choice. as you’ll know if you read henry Catchpole’s group test last month, the golf R was dethroned by the new ford focus Rs (although the Vw did save face by taking care of its more expensive in-house rival, the audi Rs3). As a golf R driver (and apologist) I was, of course, furious. how could Catchpole have got it so wrong? I can only assume the thin Montserrat mountain air starved his brain of oxygen and affected his judgement. a ford? Please… In all seriousness, I have driven the focus Rs and I reckon it’s probably the right decision. I wasn’t on the group test myself, so I’ll wait until I’ve driven both cars backto-back on the same…

I’VE MADE SO MANY TRIPS to studios to present ‘evo Unwrapped’ videos this month that I’ve needed a bigger car to transport camera kit, hence why I’m writing this Octavia vRS report. If you’ve not seen these videos yet, head to our youTube channel. The BMW M4 GTS film is a highlight, not least for the trousers I’m wearing. Putting my sartorial issues aside, the Skoda has been fantastic. I have to echo regular keeper Stuart Gallagher’s observation that it has cavernous interior space. We’ve transported a huge steady-cam rig, bags of lenses and a rucksack full of cameras, with room to spare. What I’ve loved the most, though, are the seats. My MX-5 has gradually been damaging my back, its pedal offset just starting to grind a little on…

BG RACING BILLET CAMBER/CASTOR BUBBLE GAUGE £155.99 b-gdirect.com This BG Racing gauge uses spirit-leveltype gauges to measure your camber and castor. It’s made from billet aluminium and looks and feels like a top-quality item. The bubble gauge doesn’t provide the most accurate reading, but it’s enough to be able to match the angles on each side. However, the gauge can only really be used in conjunction with a lot of other bits of equipment that BG Racing also sells. As the gauge mounts to the wheel with magnets, it doesn’t attach itself onto most alloy wheels. Ideally, you’d use a hub mount to support the car rather than the wheels, so you could attach the gauge to the steel hub. To measure castor, you need to turn the wheel exactly…

Ford Focus ST (Mk3) SO, THAT FOCUS RS IS QUITE SOME CAR, isn’t it? Gee whizz, those Focus ST owners must be feeling glum right now. For a few quid more a month they’d have got an extra pair of driven wheels, a bigger engine, more power… Luckily, Essex-based Ford specialist Mountune has a solution: £1195 (plus fitting) gets you the MP275 package. A high-flow intercooler, induction kit and ECU remap increase power from 247bhp to 271bhp, and torque rises by 30lb ft to 295lb ft. We drove the much-improved results in issue 215. Mountune also sells a billet short-shift kit for the ST, which shortens the slightly baggy standard shift by 25 per cent. It’s £159 from mountunestore.com. A Quaife ATB helical limitedslip diff (£726 from Mountune, excluding fitting)…

MINI HAS CONFIRMED it will build a trackfocused version of its John Cooper Works hot hatch later this year – and evo will be involved in its development. The UK-only model, which will be built in very low numbers, will be badged Mini John Cooper Works Challenge and is set to hit showrooms in June. The model will benefit from adjustable suspension, uprated brakes and tyres, and styling tweaks. ‘This project was formed by a small group of enthusiasts at Mini Plant Oxford and Mini UK wanting to bring some of the experience from the Mini Challenge to our production John Cooper Works model,’ said Nicolas Griebner, head of Product for Mini UK. ‘This new car will cater to the growing number of customers looking for an even more focused…

WE’RE SENDING YOU back to the nürburgring. i know you’ve just been there for a historic rally festival (last month’s issue), but there’s another event that is well worth a visit. it’s the oldtimer grand Prix, held this year over the weekend of August 12-14. I’ve been many times to the oldtimer, going back to the early 1990s. Actually, the first time i ever drove around the old circuit was at this event, in the days when you started in the old pits and it was a lot simpler and cheaper. An old boy with a bus conductor’s satchel would sell you laps and off you went. in my case in a Fiat Punto. Back then there were fewer historic racing events. The UK’s premier meeting was the Coys Festival,…

UNLESS YOU’RE A HARDCORE racing gamer, the first few laps on any new racing sim are likely to feature a twisting, dashed line, snaking its way around the circuit in front of you. Once you’re up to pace, you’ll probably turn it off – but, while you’re learning, its braking points and acceleration zones help you master even the toughest of circuits. Could similar technology be used in cars to improve our driving skills both on the road and on track? The concept of augmented reality windscreens has been explored since 2011 by automotive glass repair and replacement firm Autoglass. ‘2020 Vision’ proposed a windscreen that displayed both essential vehicle data and augmented navigation features such as directions and information on nearby shops and restaurants. The company’s work is more…

Test location: Balls Cross, West Sussex GPS: 51.027459, -0.592510 Photography: aston Parrott WE’VE ALREADY TRIED the lexus GS F briefly, on sun-baked roads near Madrid, but it’s well worth revisiting here in the UK and for an extended period. Mostly because it swims against the tide of vast power and forced induction to create a unique take on the modern supersaloon. and although it’s easy to get blinded by the sheer performance of a new M5 or e63 aMG, the GS F’s 5-litre v8 isn’t exactly weedy. it produces 471bhp at 7100rpm and 391lb ft from 4800 to 5600rpm and this 1790kg saloon car gets from 0 to 62mph in 4.6sec and is limited to 168mph. Anyway, never mind the numbers, just feel the quality… that v8 is actually central…

IF 2015 WAS THE YEAR OF THE hypercar, then 2016 is shaping up to be the year of the luxury SUV. In the space of just a few days, evo received launch invites for the new Jaguar F-pace and Maserati Levante. And these came hot on the heels of the newly introduced Bentley Bentayga and Range Rover Sport SVR – cars that along with the raft of other premium luxury SUVs populate an ever-growing sector of the market perhaps most accurately described as ‘most-hated best-sellers’. It’s traditional at the launch of such cars for the more easily agitated members of the motoring press to work themselves into a bile-flecked lather, hammering away at their MacBook keyboards with indignant rage. Perhaps I’m out of step with my learned colleagues (and maybe…

Letter of the Month Your move, Renault As a life-long Renault fan I wanted the new Focus RS to be less than perfect. All power, no finesse – that kind of thing. However, your recent group test (evo 220) demonstrated that it clearly is not. In fact it appears to be an excellent example of what you are calling a ‘super-hatch’. But what will Renault deliver that will be competitive in the super-hatch era, and therefore what will I replace my current Mégane 265 Cup with? The Alpine Vision [pictured above] initially perked me up, but then my enthusiasm was dashed by a ridiculous £50k price tag. The Focus RS base price is a fiver less than £30k: perfect value and mega speed. Can someone in France please give me…

LOOKING BACK, THE 911 R HAS BEEN a long time coming, its specification and philosophy crystalising over time in the sharp minds of the Porsche Motorsport GT cars team. As long ago as 2013 there were hints of what was to come. The man in charge, Andreas Preuninger, was with us back then to run through the technology behind the thennew 991 GT3 and he was pretty excited about it. But off the record he spoke about how in the future the hardcore model lines might split: ‘We still need to be competitive with the fastest cars, to look at lap times with the GT3 and RS models, but maybe we need another sort of car, too. One that is purely about the driving.’ Perhaps this was just a seed…

LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP550-2 Engine V10, 5204cc Power 542bhp @ 8000rpm Torque 398lb ft @ 6500rpm Weight 1380kg (dry) Power-to-weight 399bhp/ton (dry) 0-62mph 3.9sec (claimed) Top speed 199mph (claimed) Value today £104,990 UNLESS YOU WERE ONE OF THE LUCKY few, the Cayman GT4’s £64,451 list price means precisely nothing. In the current market, it’s a sixfigure purchase, which breaches a very definite psychological threshold. If you were going to drop more than £100,000 on a performance car, you’d want a true slice of exotica, wouldn’t you? With London’s financial district twinkling in the background, the Porsche really doesn’t give too much away to the Gallardo LP550-2, which is just about as much modern-era exotica as six figures will afford. The GT4’s towering rear wing, bulging air intakes and road-scraping front splitter…

ARGUABLY THE REAL LITMUS TEST OF the GT4 is not comparing it with obvious or perceived challengers from rival brands, but going head-to-head with another Porsche. And a modern classic one at that, for there’s no more reliable means of putting the present into context than by looking to the recent past. If the recent past is represented by a Gen 2 996 GT3 then that context is a very fine fast Porsche and one of the last genuinely pure and simple Motorsport 911s. With clear ancestral rivalry, spookily similar on-paper performance and both holding eCoty titles, the comparison is as compelling as it is hard to call. The first challenge is finding a GT3 fresh enough to make the comparison representative. Step forward evo reader Jack Wood, whose immaculate…

In schoolyard terms it would be like getting beaten up by a kid in the year below. The family equivalent would be an unexpectedly robust whack from a younger brother. Whichever way you look at it, the VW Golf R’s victory over the Audi RS3 in last month’s super-hatch group test was an ignominious one for the Audi, as bruising to pride as flesh. The RS3 is more powerful, more expensive and more prestigious than the Golf, but more of a disappointment, too. The VW didn’t even win the test (it was narrowly taken care of by the Ford Focus RS), which highlights just how far off the pace the RS3 really is in this new class of white-hot four-wheel-drive hatchbacks. In terms of price and performance, the RS3 actually…

MY FAVOURITE long-termer to date has sadly gone back to SEAT. Truly, I enjoyed every minute with this car. OK, maybe not the time I had to change a flat tyre in the rain on a busy motorway, but generally speaking the Leon ST Cupra was a great car to live with. It took me all over the UK in comfort, carrying all my photography gear with ease and transforming itself into a sports car seemingly on command. Everybody who drove the Leon was surprised at just how good it felt. The front end, for example, turned in with heaps of feedback, while the rear remained flat and balanced, staying on line. The car’s overall composure had a lot to do with the electronically controlled diff lock, which can deliver…

IT’S BEEN A FASCINATING first month with the BMW 730Ld. as alluded to in last month’s report, it’s the quality of the driving experience that makes the strongest impression, rather than the extensive technology features. So what impresses? firstly, the steering. fluid, linear, evenly weighted and precise, it allows you to place the car with an accuracy that belies its colossal size. how big? at 5.25 metres long it’s longer than a long-wheelbase range rover, and it’s about the same width as an f12tdf. the rear-steer intervenes subtly, improving turn-in and creating quite fantastic high-speed stability, while the air-suspension matches the very, very best for ride and handling. that includes Bentley and rolls-royce. Most importantly, the 7-series is proving capable of dishing up pretty solid driving thrills. of course, it’s…

A WET-TO-DRY trackday really is a marvellous thing. Just when you think you’ve worked out how much grip there is, or more realistically how little, and you’ve improvised your own unorthodox line to avoid the really treacherous bits, the conditions start to change. you spot lighter patches in the tarmac that weren’t there a couple of laps ago, then a dry line emerges. That’s when you enter this particularly interesting phase; you can drive just as hard as you would on a fully dry day, but get your line fractionally wrong, or miss your braking point by a couple of metres, and you’ll drop a wheel onto the wet stuff and have a problem on your hands. tremendous stuff. I only worked this out recently. Mission Motorsport invited us to…

THE ST HAS PUT IN A LOT of miles recently. so many, in fact, that it was due a service. ford’s press office offered to take care of the work, and thinking I could kill two birds with one stone, I also asked if they had a winter tyre that I could try out. I’ve been running Michelin Pilot sport 3 summer tyres, which, for the most part, are fantastic. They hold the focus well in the corners, grip strongly under braking, and are much quieter on the road than Pilot sport 2s. It’s just that, in this cold, damp, British winter weather, the lack of traction in first and second gears is starting to grate on me. The diesel sT’s 2-litre TDCi engine isn’t as frantic as the 2-litre…

IT’S A BLOODY STUPID, irrational type of love, this love for cars. I’ve owned my Subaru Impreza Turbo for just over 14 months, and for 11 of those the car didn’t move. Parked outside our office, I looked at it with scorn because it broke down before I even drove it. ‘How dare you?’ I would say, forgetting that cars are not in fact human but the most extraordinary mix of metals, fluids, electronics and gears, and the fact that this all coalesces into motion at all is some kind of miracle (especially when the car has done 107,000 miles and has clearly been ‘enjoyed’ in the past). Then, behold, last November I poured some Steel Seal into the engine and the Impreza fired up, and stayed fired up –…

EVEN FORD ADMITTED IT. THE FIESTA ST – as launched at the back end of 2004 – wasn’t the car that people like us had been hoping for. In ST150 form, with its 2-litre engine pegged at 148bhp (150PS) to make it insurable for young drivers, and a chassis short on real flair, it was a decent hot(ish) hatch but no match for a contemporary Cooper S or Clio Cup. As John Barker wrote in evo 075, the standard ST was a ‘missed opportunity’. This was a shame, because we’d waited a long time for a new go-faster Fiesta. It looked great, too, with its 17in multi-spoke alloys and subtle bodykit, and for £13,595 you got plenty of kit, including half-leather, a six-CD hi-fi, switchable ESP and air con. Full…

THE DB11, SAYS ASTON Martin, is the most significant new car since the introduction of the DB9 in 2003. With the current model-line creaking at the edges, Aston’s range, from Vantage to Rapide and everything in between, has been living on borrowed time for too long, surviving on unwavering support from the Aston faithful and the marketing power of the Civil Service’s most famous employee. The cars are charming and the company’s naturally aspirated V12 powertrain is dangerously addictive. However, they are beginning to feel behind the curve in terms of performance, dynamics and technology. The current Vanquish is a lovely thing, and just over 12 months ago was an eCoty contender, but even in the short time since then it has been usurped by sports cars such as the…

TRACKDAY WARRIORS WHO drive their cars to venues will have noticed their choice of tyres has shrunk over the past few months. Where once there was a ready supply of track-biased rubber, now many options, particularly in the smaller sizes, are no longer available or are designated for track use only. The reason is European tyre labelling. Introduced in November 2012, the system ranks tyres for fuel economy, wet grip and pass-by noise. Primarily driven by environmental concerns – wet grip was only added when tyre makers pointed out you could have a very fuel efficient design that was hopeless in the rain – it was always planned that standards would be raised over time. The first improvement came in November 2014, when the lowest band for fuel economy, G,…

Test location: sant Pere de ribes, spain GPS: 41.26609, 1.77441 THIS IS THE VERY MILDEST of facelifts. There are no styling revisions, no meaningful chassis tweaks and there’s no new dashboard layout. To understand why seAT has gone to the effort of launching an updated leon Cupra, it’s worth knowing that the Cupra name was first used in 1996. so with a standard-fit sports exhaust and an extra 10bhp, the Cupra 280 becomes Cupra 290. The power increase is certainly a marginal one (in fact one wonders if 10bhp would have been within tolerance anyway), but the Cupra 290 does officially become the quickest and most powerful seAT road car ever. That seems like a pretty good way to mark a 20th anniversary. The model is still available in a…

Test location: a3400, Banbury, UK GPS: 51.98445, -1.32316 Photography: aston Parrott IT’S FAIR TO SAY THE Mk4 MX-5 was one of our disappointments of 2015. that’s not because it was a bad car, far from it, but simply because compared with what the fanatical weight-loss regime and back-tobasics mindset promised, the final execution didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Enter familiar MX-5 exponents BBR, who have made the little roadster – in all its generations – their speciality over recent years. BBR are quick to market with this ‘super 190’ conversion, which isn’t surprising as the firm started development work on the new skyactiv engine in advance by acquiring a 2-litre Mazda 3. At present there are two levels of modification. the first consists of a remap under the…

THE INVENTION OF THE CAR DIDN’T kill off the horse. In fact, the advent of four wheels, a seat and some kind of motor released the horse from day-to-day transport duties and allowed it to become part of an opt-in leisure activity, mostly for well-spoken girls with very glossy hair. In a similar vein, central heating turned the log fire from a necessity to an optional accessory that allows middle-class men to talk endlessly about logs as if they live in a cabin on top of the Rockies, while advances in proper ovens switched the AGA from a requirement to something you could choose to have if you wanted a much hotter kitchen and a much lighter bank account. This is called progress. And it’s also why I don’t entirely…

It just looks like they’ve tried to make a Huayra look more like a Zonda, with big wings and a deep front splitter. The cool thing about the Huayra to me was the active aero, which meant it didn’t need big wings or a deep front splitter. Rich B I don’t see it as the purist’s answer. It’s simply just an alternative. A more flashy, stylised one. I love it. I’d have one over a P1, if not the other two. tazsura It’s completely failed as a purist’s choice. The great thing about the original was the clever active aero. Fixed wings and additional kit just make it another hypercar with no individual selling point. GraniteV8 If I was that purist I think I’d be going in a different direction…

THE CAYMAN GT4 FINDS ITSELF ON familiar territory as it faces the challenge of a Ferrari 458. Here at Blyton Park in our recent Track Car of the Year contest, it came within a whisker of winning the big prize and being crowned eCoty and TCoty simultaneously. Today is a subtly different proposition, though. The GT4 is without doubt a fantastic machine, but can it replicate the sharp-edged thrills and sheer sense of unbridled madness that a 458 Italia delivers as it shrieks up to 9000rpm? To find out we’ve been kindly let loose in the 6th Gear Experience’s warhorse… an Italia with 78,000 miles on the clock, one that lives on track and is fitted with nonstandard steel brakes (cheaper to replace). To be completely clear, it’s also wearing…

JUST HOW GOOD IS PORSCHE’S Cayman GT4? That’s the question we set out to answer. As it methodically picked off some tremendously stiff opposition on our 2015 evo Car of the Year test – McLaren 675LT, Ferrari 488 GTB and Porsche 911 GT3 RS included – it dawned on us that the GT4 might just be the most talented performance car of the last few years. That’s why we wanted to know just how close it could get to matching a number of benchmark cars in a series of varied twin tests; a number of duels that would tell us exactly how fast, fun, desirable and useable it really is. We didn’t expect it to beat each and every one of the rivals we lined up for it, but nor…

IT COULDN’T BE A MORE IMPRESSIVE introduction. We’re approaching the small Maggiora rallycross circuit near Milan and the access road is providing us with a view directly down the barrel of the short start/finish straight. A pale, golden winter sunlight is cutting through the trees. In my mind’s eye I have captured the scene in Ultra Panavision, the camera slowly zooming in as a small ball of vehicular fury slides into the widescreen shot ridiculously quickly from stage right, trailing dust in its wake. It’s an angry, four-wheel drift, only a hint of oversteer, mainly just sideways movement, every wheel spinning as the compact riot of arches and wings struggles to contain the energy beneath. It’s like an adrenalin-filled cartoon mouse running for its life on a polished parquet floor.…

THERE ARE THRILLS THAT CAN’T, OR SHOULDN’T, BE EXPERIENCED on the road. Braking later and later into a corner, or pushing your car to its maximum speed – try these on the road and, well, you know the rest… Track driving is an immensely satisfying and thrilling experience. After a day on track you will have developed a stronger bond with your car, improved your driving skills and discovered nuances in vehicle dynamics that you hadn’t noticed before. If you love the science of driving, and the thrill that comes from teasing speed from a machine, there are few better ways to experience those than at a trackday. But there’s another side to it – making friends, having a laugh, enjoying the company of petrolheads and creating memories. From a…

HELMETS, RACE SUITS, STICKY tyres, driver training , uprated coilovers? That’s the glamorous stuff. But trackdays are not without their chores and menial tasks. Depending on your choice of car, you may have to trailer it to the circuit. And if that circuit happens to be more than a couple of hours from home, you’ll want a hotel with secure parking. That’s after you’ve arranged trackday insurance and prepared your body and mind for a day of high concentration at the wheel, of course. Driving your car to the circuit might well be less of a hassle than hitching up a trailer, but if your car isn’t roadlegal or if it’s downright unbearable on a long motor way run, towing could be the only option. Brian James and Ifor Williams…

MUCH AS I DREAM OF owning an rsr with a full roll-cage, 12-inch-wide rear wheels and an exhaust note measured on the richter scale, the truth is that my 996 is a road car first and foremost and I want it to perform best on bumpy, crazily cambered B-roads. even so, the lure of anodised suspension arms, stiffer bushes and a GT3-style ride height is strong. To recap, my car already has Bilstein Pss10 adjustable suspension – an upgrade by the previous owner – and I’ve fitted stiffer, lighter semi-solid rss Tarmac series engine mounts. so it already drives with more edge than a standard carrera but a lovely fluency, too. That fluidity is something I’m keen to keep, and so I’d ruled out doing anything more to the suspension.…

DRIVING AROUND IN A bright yellow hatchback from South Korea might once have been considered some sort of embarrassing punishment at evo. How times have changed. The Kia Proceed gT you see here is a thoroughly impressive device, and its exterior hue a welcome dose of brilliance on otherwise gloomy winter mornings. We’ve been here before, of course, albeit in a more subdued hue and a slightly different form. around six months ago we said goodbye to our previous long-term Proceed gT (evo 214). That car soaked up over 26,000 miles at the hands of editor nick Trott and later snapper aston Parrott. it also saw off the Focus ST in our hot hatch test in issue 207 and generally pleased us with its neat styling, easy-driving demeanour and comfortable,…

NO DOUBT MANY OF you reading this have applied an evo sticker to the rear window of a car. I’ve stuck numerous ones to bits of glass on long-termers over the years and it is always a nervous process. Will it be straight? Will I manage to keep the air bubbles out of it? Is it the right way up? on one occasion as I stood back after 15 minutes to admire my laborious handiwork, the answer to all three questions was no. In short, I would not be a suitable candidate for employment at Creative fX. based in bromley, they are experts in vehicle graphics and wraps. Seen a mini with a fun-looking roof? that was probably Creative fX, as they are the official supplier. the Citroën World Rally…

I WAS ORIGINALLY QUITE hesitant to trade in the Mclaren 12C Spider for the 650S Spider. I really wasn’t sure the upgrade would be worth the cost, as the 12C was already very, very good. Eight months in, however, I am delighted I took the plunge. While none of the changes are dramatic, together they add up to a car that is simply that bit better at everything it does. The other bonus has been complete reliability and a noticeable lack of any unexpected mystery warning lights (which are a staple of the Ferrari experience). even the notorious IRIS infotainment system has yet to throw a tantrum. In its role as a daily driver, the 650S continues to perform with distinction. The short stretch of highway on my commute is…

VOLKSWAGEN’S SCIROCCO OF 2008 revived a much-loved nameplate. Like those earlier Sciroccos of the 1970s and 1980s and the Corrado in between, it used the Golf hatchback as a basis, sacrificing some practicality for coupe style. Built on the PQ35 platform used for the Mk5 Golf, the Scirocco was launched with the familiar 2-litre TSI turbo petrol engine and 197bhp. Diesels soon arrived, in 138bhp and 168bhp forms, and in due course so did an entry-level 1.4-litre petrol engine. The 1.4 could be had as a straightforward turbo engine with 121bhp, or with 158bhp courtesy of a turbo and a supercharger. The 2-litre TSI GT was soon upgraded to 207bhp, and more recently, in 2014, to 217bhp, with considerably more torque. At the same time a 2-litre, 178bhp car replaced…

LAMBORGHINI’S MURCIÉLAGO MIGHT BE NAMED after a Spanish bull, but get it hot enough and it takes the likeness of an Australian lizard. The reptile in question is a species that frills out its neck when antagonised and spits viciously. And given that a Murciélago can react similarly when goaded, the smaller creature seems a more suitable metaphor than a bull that didn’t die on a particular day. The Murciélago’s frill comes in the form of its Variable Airflow Cooling System (VACS). These active intakes expand to feed and cool the 6.2-litre V12 at higher speeds but retain the car’s elegantly robust lines by receding back into the bodywork when their work is done. The carbonfibre flaps, which rise up out of the Murciélago’s hulking form like something from a…