Table of contents for December 2019 in Evo

DURING THE 21 YEARS EVO HAS been celebrating the thrill of driving, the opportunities to do just that have produced some of this magazine’s most memorable stories. This month another ‘pinch us’ moment came our way. While standing in a sodden pitlane at Snetterton, Adam Towler was asked if he would like to drive an F1 car. At Spa. Over the Grand Prix weekend. You can read his reaction on page 100. What struck me from Adam’s brilliant story – and the messages we exchanged over that weekend – was that the quality of a driving experience still far outweighs the quantity of time spent in a car. A year in a 500bhp saloon or a dozen laps in an F1 car? I know which opportunity I would take. It’s…

SO HERE IT IS. THIS MONTH’S NEW McLaren. I can feel some people drifting off at the back… Come on, guys! It’s a new McLaren that does 203mph and 0-124mph in nine seconds flat. Plus it’s got a carbonfibre monocoque and a 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with 612bhp at 7500rpm and 465lb ft from 5500 to 6500rpm. If we can set aside the fact that McLaren launches rather a lot of cars, I think we can all agree that the £163,000 GT is worthy of our attention. Yes, it’s called the GT. Which is McLaren’s extremely subtle way of telling you that this new car is a, um, GT. In fact, such is its confidence that this is a new sort of McLaren that the GT falls outside of the usual…

‘I VE GOT THE DOORS, BONNET AND BOOT OF THAT car in my office,’ quips Nicky Grist. ‘I can see them right now.’ I’m on the phone with the famous rally navigator, perhaps best known for his partnership with Colin McRae, and we’re talking about that crash in Wales 18 years ago. On reflection, 2001 was a pivotal year for the World Rally Championship. The transition from the Group A formula to World Rally Car rules, begun in 1997, had successfully retained manufacturers such as Subaru, Mitsubishi and Ford, and had also convinced Peugeot to return full-time, along with Skoda, Hyundai and, for a while at least, SEAT. Sports promoter ISC, led since 2000 by Prodrive’s David Richards, had pursued an ambitious plan to make rallying TV-friendly, which meant shorter…

T HIS MORNING OUR HOUSE FLOODED. A thunderstorm let rip overhead with such ferocity that there was a fast-flowing river running past the front door, and the kitchen floor was soon underwater. Our garage also flooded, so the evo Fast Fleet 205 GTI got its delectable 15-inch Speedlines damp too. Even worse, earlier the same morning, somehow, incomprehensibly, we’d run out of teabags. Horrific. The freakish weather also meant the photoshoot for the newsstand cover of the magazine you’re holding right now ran about six hours late, and while the opportunity to once again get behind the wheel of the Formula 1 car you can read about on page 100 was like a mirage in a desert of soggy calamity, Bedford Autodrome’s noise limitations placing effectively a 40mph top speed…

‛WHY DON’T YOU DRIVE IT AT SPA?’ SKREECH! Needle jars against vinyl; my world lurches to a halt on its axis. ‘We’re supporting Formula One Management,’ adds Tour de Force’s boss Matt Faulks, ‘putting on demo laps on the Saturday after qualifying. How cool would that be – your first drive of an F1 car and it’s at Spa, in front of the F1 paddock!’ I stare at Faulks in silence for an embarrassingly long period, expecting any moment to hear the words, ‘Nah, only joking.’ But they never come. Earlier today I’d felt as green as Henri Pescarolo’s crash helmet as the pitlane exit at Snetterton turned into a boating lake and rain curtailed any running. In fact I’d secretly been thrilled when Faulks finally threw in the towel.…

WHETHER YOU TWEAK AND TUNE EVERY VEHICLE you own or are more inclined to leave things as the factory intended, it’s easy to see the appeal of Richard Tipper’s 2011 Porsche Cayman R. At a glance you’d spot nothing out of the ordinary, but delve beneath the surface and this R is a quintessential example of massaging a car’s characteristics to your own personal taste – an ode to the joy of perfection. That term is appropriate here, as it’s shared with Tipper’s business, Perfection Detailing, now in its 30th year. It’s a business that has allowed him to work with high-profile clients and some of the greatest cars in the world, and led Tipper to purchasing this particular Cayman R. ‘I’d known of the car for maybe two years,’…

‘I always enjoy driving a French car in France. The locals seemed to approve, too’ I SPENT MUCH OF LAST MONTH’S introductory report talking about the Trophy’s aggressive character and hardcore ride and handling. So when presented with a trip to Switzerland for a short break you might have expected me to make my excuses and borrow one of the more milder-mannered evo Fast Fleeters. That’s cheating in my book, as long-term test cars are for living with. Having taken the Mégane to Le Mans for the 24 Hours race soon after it came into my possession, I already knew it could cover the miles. Nevertheless, I’m amazed at how well it tackled the round trip from Meaden Towers to Château d’Oex. Stopping only for fuel – something you have…

THE MUSTANG HAS BEEN OFF WITH Antony Ingram for much of this month, and from what I can gather, he seems to be very much enjoying life with the big V8. I have to say, I am very much missing its inimitable rumble and larger-than-life presence, and that’s surely a sign of a car that gets under your skin. And of all the things we could say about the Mustang, that’s something that’s always near the top of the list. It’s going back to Ford soon; not for good, thank heavens, but for its next round of performance parts, which include Ford Performance coilover suspension and, amusingly, a sports exhaust. I always thought the facelift Mustang GT with its switchable exhaust was plenty loud enough in Race mode, but it…

I SPEND SO MUCH TIME PHOTOGRAPHING the cars in evo, but I rarely get to drive them. That changed recently when I had the key to evo’s 2015 Car of the Year, the Porsche Cayman GT4. Better late than never. There was so much about it that I loved, including the ultra-short throw and precise feel of its gearshift. Inevitably, this got me thinking about the 993’s and how I might make it feel more like the GT4’s. An online search returned the name FD Motorsports, a US company that makes an RS-style short-shift kit for the 993 that does exactly what its name suggests – shortens the throw to each gear – and the online reviews seemed very positive. After a few messages with FD, they suggested fitting the…

AS A READER OF EVO, DOUBTLESS YOU’LL be only too familiar with the irrational feelings of desire aroused by fast estates. Traditionally the preserve of Germany’s ‘Big Three’ there’s nothing quite like Audi’s succession of RS Avants, BMW’s sporadic output of M5 Tourings or Mercedes-Benz’s thumping AMG C and E-class wagons to have people like us in a frothing mess and plotting ways of sliding one by our better halves under the cloak of practicality. Well I hate to break it to you, but they are all mere gateway drugs compared to this, the Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake – a car which takes the notion of a humble load-lugger blessed with unholy speed and turns it on its head. It’s not quite Aston’s equivalent of Heston Blumenthal’s snail…

INSTANT MESSAGING SHORTHAND WILL forever render BMW’s latest performance flagship the BMW ‘Mate’, but its abilities on the road decide whether it will endure as a car that will live on in evo’s pages in years to come. On recent form, that’s in no way guaranteed. The M division has made some very capable cars over the last few years, but less frequently have they been the dominant class leaders of yore. It took some massaging for the M3/M4 to become the car it should have been from the start, as revealed in Competition Package form, and the M2 only showed its best side as the M2 Competition. Tellingly, the £123,435 Mate drops to market badged M8 Competition right from the off (in the UK, at least), which makes you…

AUTOMOBILI TURISMO E SPORT BUILT ITS short, tumultuous history in the ’60s on a reputation for rebellion, when three Italian engineers defected from Ferrari to form their own idea of the perfect sports car. Despite never quite making the impression they desired (there was a torturous couple of years of disagreement and the short-lived 2500 GT), the ATS name lives on today in the low-production supercar world with the Turismo Sport, and now this, the Corsa RR Turbo. Unlike the road-going Turismo Sport, the RR Turbo is track-only, and eligible for multiple FIA racing series across Europe, including Challenge and GT Cup classes, endurance races and hill climbs. Rather than use the carbonfibre tub chassis found in the road car, the RR Turbo is built on a chromium-molybdenum tubular space-frame…

FAST CAR PURISTS SHOULDN’T LIKE HOT hatchbacks. From the original Golf GTI to the current Honda Civic Type R, ever steeper performance trajectories have been launched from a platform of relatively mundane, family-shaped functionality. Even for the eye-wateringly expensive, stripped down, tricked out, Ring record-conquering Renault Mégane RS Trophy-R, that only takes you so far. But, arguably, even with front-wheel drive, it’s far enough. The 14 hot hatches we’ve assembled here make a powerful case for relevance in a world working through its 2000-horsepower ‘end of days’ hypercar fantasies. At the same time, they bring the grand old tradition of the souped-up shopper sharply into the 21st century. The basic formula may have remained essentially the same – more power, tweaked suspension, bigger brakes, wider tyres – but the quality…

T HE LAST TIME I SAW A DALLARA STRADALE was at the Nardò test track in southern Italy (evo 250). A battle-worn prototype, not even the trippy black and white shapes and spirals of its vinyl ‘disguise’ could hide the scuffs, scrapes and bruises that told of countless laps of the brilliant handling track and the blood, sweat and tears of those developing the very first road car to bear the legendary Dallara name. It looked tough and drove tougher still, a clenched fist of aerodynamic grip, rippling torque, turbo fizz and shriek and an endurance racer’s unbending consistency. I left it with a sense of awe but also detachment. Somehow this highly specialised product of the engineering brains of Dallara, under the guidance of founder Giampaolo Dallara himself and…

‘I WAS ON HOLIDAY OVER THE WEEKEND when I got a WhatsApp message saying, “Gordon is coming in on Monday,”’ recounts Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Seviour. Even now, the surprise, delight and, perhaps, maybe, just a tiny bit of apprehension, is writ large across his face. It wasn’t immediately obvious who this ‘Gordon’ was, but when the details started to emerge, amid talk of his workshop manager calling to make the aforementioned appointment, it was soon clear this was ‘F1 Gordon’. The Gordon. It doesn’t look much from the outside, Retropower, just part of another farm that’s been converted for industrial use, with an eclectic band of small businesses making a living – or otherwise – within its assorted weather-weary buildings. But you’d never believe what is going on inside a large…

MONDAY MORNING, AND APPROACHING the TCR all was not good. The driver’s side skirt was half hanging off. My brain was thrown into overdrive as it tried to figure out what had happened. A hit and run? Vandalism? Attempted theft? A quick check of the other side of the car confirmed it was the last of those three: the nearside skirt was completely missing. A neighbour, whose house the car was parked outside, directly beneath a street light, emerged to report how he’d heard loud noises at 11.30pm and, upon switching some house lights on, disturbed four men who made a rapid getaway in a sadly unidentifiable car. Closer inspection of the damage explained the noises. The skirts hadn’t been skilfully removed, rather a screwdriver had been rammed behind them…

HAND WASHING THE FASTBACK N BEFORE it left us revealed that our 8000-plus miles and five months with it had left barely a mark. Its paintwork was totally free of chips and nicks, its alloys were still bright and glossy, and inside the trim buffed up nicely. The only evidence of the use it had seen were slightly creased leather bolsters on the driver’s seat, a boot carpet bearing a few marks that wouldn’t vacuum out and front Pirelli P Zeros down to about 3.5mm of tread. In terms of integrity it was like new, with no rattles or squeaks. All of this comes as no surprise because from day one the Fastback felt as well made as you’d expect for a car that comes with a transferable five-year, unlimited-mileage…

IT’S THE NOISE THAT GRABS YOUR attention first. Perhaps because any noise is so unexpected, your subconscious having told you that any journey in a Porsche Taycan will be one of cocooned silence. But an electric car produces a wall of white noise, a low-frequency soundtrack that, while never distracting and certainly never spine-tingling nor hair-raising, is always there to remind you that cylinders have been replaced with cells, 98 RON with kilowatts. From the moment you push the Taycan’s starter button to when you walk away and listen to every one of its many systems power down, the Porsche’s soundtrack is never out of earshot. The Taycan is the result of a €6billion investment the company is putting into electrified vehicles by 2022. This has not only paid for…

FERRARI SAYS IT’S BEEN FIFTY YEARS since its last front-engined V12 spider. It then goes on to point out that since that car – the 365 GTS4, aka Daytona Spider – it has made four others that fit the description: 2000’s 550 Barchetta Pininfarina, 2005’s Superamerica, 2010’s SA Aperta, and 2014’s F60 America. Confused? Don’t be, because while each of those four more recent cars was a special, limited-run model, the new Ferrari 812 GTS is the first volume production spider with a front-mounted V12 since the aforementioned Daytona. None, special model or otherwise, has been quite as extreme as the 812 GTS, however. Sharing its powertrain and architecture with the 812 Superfast, it uses the same 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 to produce an identical 789bhp, and 529lb ft of…

THE SPORTS CAR IS DEAD, apparently. That’s what we’re told by the manufacturers slowly transforming their outlying model lines from coupes and roadsters into yet more SUV derivatives. Unfortunately for people like us, the numbers may well support this, the European sales figures for the first half of 2019 featuring more ‘-’ than ‘+’ symbols. COMPACT SPORTS COUPE COMPACT CABRIO SUPERCAR In the sports coupe segment, for example, the top seller was the Porsche 911, at 4533 units, some 48 per cent down on 2018, although the switch from 991 to 992 will account for some of this drop. The BMW 8-series was second, with 2034 units, which sounds like good going until you see that Porsche sold 14,809 Macans in the same period. Lower down the food chain, the…

‘IN PERFORMANCE EDITION SPEC THE FIESTA GETS SOME TANTALISING IMPROVEMENTS’ I T’S 7AM AND WE’RE IN ANGLESEY. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch specifically, and the only thing harder than pronouncing the UK’s longest place name was whittling our 14 talented hot hatchbacks down to just four last night. The ones we left behind are a mark of the genre’s class. We’ve got no Golf R, nor Mercedes A35, both talented but slightly aloof next to the best here. The Up GTI, Swift Sport and Cooper S don’t make it either, each dynamically outclassed by the faster, more expensive cars, while the Leon Cupra, Golf TCR and even Kia Ceed GT all impressed without leaving a lasting impression. But trickiest of all was choosing between our two Méganes, and the similarly matched Focus ST and…

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TO HAVE BEEN A FLY ON THE WALL IN a stuffy boardroom in Aichi, Japan, sometime in the early 1960s. To have overheard as board members discussed a proposal from inspired minds at Yamaha for a sleek and exotic new sports car, dramatically different from the meek saloons Toyota was beginning to export across the globe. Decisions made that day have resulted in one of the rarest, most exquisite and most valuable cars ever to have come out of Japan. It’s a car that, today, photographer Aston Parrott is giggling about as he balances precariously on the rear parcel shelf in the one spot deemed by Toyota’s nervous minder as appropriate for a human adult to perch in order to take a photograph of me driving. This is probably not…

WHEN IT COMES TO THE EVO FAST FLEET there are some cars we really don’t want to hand back (good luck prising the Mustang’s key from Adam Towler’s grip, Ford), whilst others some can’t wait to see the back of (Will Beaumont’s death stares at the recent Swift Sport for instance). Occupying that Rhodium Grey area in-between is the Cupra Ateca 300. If it had been a lesser, SEAT-badged Ateca it wouldn’t have held as much appeal, but fitted as it was with the 296bhp 2-litre turbo engine from the VW Golf R, plus that car’s multi-link rear suspension, it piqued my curiosity. Could it really offer hot hatch performance in a bigger, heavier suit? It certainly had the traffic-light Grand Prix nailed, with a proper surge that made me…

FOLLOWING THE TRACK TEST OF THE 458 and GT3 RS at Paul Ricard (evo 265), it was time to compare these two fabulous cars on a road trip to Italy’s picturesque Portofino. Two pals from the UK, both used to driving quick sports cars, would be offering their views during our very own mini road test. The road to Portofino is terrific, filled with tunnels and viaducts and long sweeping bends that encourage spirited progress. Driving through Italy in an Italian supercar also seems to allow for higher speeds than those allowed in France, with the polizia rarely seen and, when they do appear, more likely to smile than brandish a ticket. As we approached our destination and the roads became tighter, the GT3 RS took no time to reveal…

OF THE R8’S FOUR ‘DRIVE SELECT’ modes, from Comfort through to Individual, all result in the same physical throttle pedal travel, which perhaps shouldn’t come as a great surprise. What might, perhaps, is that no matter which mode you select, the floor-hinged pedal feels as if it is being prevented from reaching its full extension, jamming halfway to opening the V10’s lungs to full capacity. But while your ankle may stop rotating sooner than you expect, the acceleration certainly doesn’t let up. And this is an issue because the restricted pedal travel feels at odds with the reach of the engine: it’s still pulling hard while you long ago stopped having any direct input. This all changes when you select the Performance mode via the chequered-flag button on steering wheel.…

MORE THAN 18 HOURS OF TRACK TIME across six events held at three circuits around the UK, and evo’s Fast Fleet was represented at each and every one of our track events during 2019. From Bedford Autodrome’s South West Circuit, to Brands Hatch’s Indy Circuit and glorious Goodwood, the fleet consumed as much V Power as the team did questionable sandwiches from service stations. You can always tell how strong the bond is between a Fast Fleeter and its custodian by their generosity at an evo track event. If they park their car at the far end of the pitlane, keep their key and hands firmly in their pockets and avoid eye contact with other members of staff, you know it’s a good’un. If they insist all and sundry have…