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M POWER. PERFORMANCE. PASSION.

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LAMBO COUNTACH

TANTI AUGURI!

FIFTY YEARS OF LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH

The Raging Bull’s decade-defining icon celebrates its Golden Jubilee. We try to separate fact from fiction in a bid to understand its true legacy

regulars 8

PACE NOTES

20 THE VENT

Australia’s own GT3, Cupras bound for Oz and under the skin of Audi’s next RS3 Tell us how you really feel. We might even be able to help. No promises...

24 FIRST DRIVES We drive Rimac’s 1408kW/2360Nm Nevera, McLaren’s roofless Elva and more!

110 SWEET DREAM Forget the official seal of approval, here’s the Hyundai Santa Cruz N we all need 114 ICON BUYER

How can you say no to an Audi limo with a Lamborghini-sourced 5.2-litre V10?

118 TECH

One of the world’s greatest engine makers is setting its sights on EV powertrains

124 GARAGE

We visit the drag strip, a race track and do the good kind of shopping

139 OPINIONS

Cam’s here for fun, Newman’s here to educate, while Alex ponders slowing down

146 LOST IN TIME

The Porsche 959 spinoff that never made it to production. Oh, the humanity

features 50 50 YEARS OF COUNTACH

Lamborghini’s iconic flying wedge and the three warring designers who fuelled the legend

58 FORD MUSTANG MACH 1 V TOYOTA SUPRA GTS Blue Oval bruiser is now picking fights with a Japanese idol, but does it have a knockout punch?

70 THE REAL HOLY TRINITY Forget hybrid hypercars. This is the real deal. The McLaren F1, Porsche 911 GT1 and nd Mercedes CLK GTR in one place. Henry Catchpole is your guide to a triple test that may never be topped

84 THE MOTOR PERFORMANCE TYRE TEST ld buy Our man Luffy tortures six performance-based tyres to see which one you should T V8 98 FERRARI ROMA V ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR V BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT Maranello brings the noise to the GT division. Everything else cries into its beer

TYRE TEST

Our rigorous annual Tyre Test returns after a year on hiatus. We get down and nerdy and crown this year’s rubber royalty

WHEN YOU’RE TESTING YOUR METTLE…

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M FRONT END. ED’S NOTE

HERE I WAS WAS GIVING MY VERDICT ON A PROSPECTIVE VEHICLE PURCHASE, WHEN MY OWN TRACK RECORD OF CAR BUYING WAS, TO PUT IT CHARITABLY, CRACKERS

Andy Enright MY FIRST CAR was a red Alfa Romeo Giulietta. You know, the Alfetta-based one with the vestigial boot and a transmission designed by idiots. Tipo 116, if you’re an Alfista, with 80 rippling kilowatts from its 1.6-litre twincam. It was a truly terrible car. Four years old and rusty, with a gearshift that would jump out of first and wiper arms that had a habit of ejecting their blades at speed. I’d like to say I loved it despite all of that, but I was glad to see the back of it after somebody attacked it with a hatchet.

Yes, I lived in a pretty rowdy neighbourhood.

This was but the first in a series of car buying decisions that can only really be classed as demented. Perhaps passion got in the way of pragmatism at times, but there were some cars that I just couldn’t walk away from, despite all the red flags. And it wasn’t because I was seduced by what they were.

Instead I loved the idea of what I’d do, where I’d go and how much fun I’d have driving them. I used to look at the cars that I’d bought and feel like the cheapest imposter as a motoring journalist. Here I was, in a position where I was giving my verdict on a prospective vehicle purchase, when my own track record of car buying was, to put it charitably, crackers.

The auction-bought BMW 528i with the dead dog in the boot, the Audi Avant that blew its heater matrix on the motorway home, turning the interior into an instant

sauna at 130km/h with no visibility out. The MR2 Turbo with the spontaneously deflating tyres, the Corrado G60 that I tuned to annihilation. The common link? I loved driving them. And it’s exactly this joy of driving that I want MOTOR to speak to.

About the best part of this month was seeing the faces of kids at a recent charity drive day at Phillip Island, when they had the chance to jump into Scotty Newman’s Kia Stinger GT as he drifted it round the skid pad. They were exultant and I’ll bet every one of them got out with the feeling that one day, they wanted to be able to do that themselves. Not on Gran Turismo or Forza but for real.

Most of us started out with a childhood love for cars that morphed into a love of driving. For some, that development didn’t ever happen. Obstacles got in the way. Cost, bad experiences, lack of opportunity, you name it. Some of these people become collectors.

But I want to raise a glass to the drivers; the ones who’d perfected heel and toe in a paddock basher while most others were still figuring out tens and units. The ones who fully grasped the empowerment and joy that driving delivers, at an ungodly hour on Australia’s beautiful roads, charged with the thrill of possibility. Forgive us our mistakes. Smile at our nonsensical passions.

For we are your people.

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Pace Notes IF IT HAPPENED THIS MONTH, IT’S IN HERE

BY AN DY EN RIG HT

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AUSTRALIA’S OWN 911 GT3

Porsche celebrates 70 years Down Under with a very special GT3 edition

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RIGHT Porsche’s Exclusive Manufaktur department was employed to take care of the Australian-spec car BELOW RIGHT Those snobby Euros will have to make do with the standard GT3 Touring or bust

MAIN No other market in the world has ever had its own special edition GT 911. Until now

PORSCHE DOESN’T USUALLY do this sort of thing. For most of us, special edition models are often seen as a way for manufacturers to wring the last drops of juice from an aged model line. A special edition of a brand new model is something a little bit different.

When it’s the very first time that there’s been a market-specific special edition model of a 911 GT product, colour us interested.

Timed to coincide with the launch of the Touring Package of the latest 992-generation 911 GT3, the 911 GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Edition, to give the car its full and hugely cumbersome official moniker, commemorates the very first Porsche sales Down Under. Import conditions back then were tough, with a quota of fewer than two cars per year until 1954. That didn’t deter Melbourne entrepreneur Norman Hamilton, who imported a couple of 356s in 1951, making Australia Porsche’s first RHD export territory.

As part of the deal, the two 356s, a Fish Silver Grey split screen Cabriolet and a Maroon Coupe, were both to be produced

in July 1951, with Hamilton arriving back at the factory in August to collect them with a friend, Andrew Kennedy, who, incidentally, was a spy during and after WWII. They then drove the cars across the Swiss and Italian Alps to Genoa, from where they were shipped to Melbourne, arriving in Australia by early October.

Then, on 1 November 1951, Hamilton introduced both cars to celebrities and motorsport identities at a function at the South Melbourne Town Hall, after which selected guests were driven for laps of nearby Albert Park Lake

by Australian Motor Sports Club members, Ken Harper and Ken McConville. Another car arrived in 1952, another in ’53, five in ’54 and 15 in ‘55, but the tally grew to 84 in 1959. Porsche was on its way.

In a fitting tribute to that original Fish Silver Grey 356, Porsche has finished the 911 GT3 70 Years edition in a modern metallic interpretation of the hue.

Aside from the custom paint colour, the special edition also gets dark silver painted wheels, a badge on the B-pillar with the

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Australian flag and ‘70 Years Porsche Australia Edition’ silver lettering and a car cover in Braphite Blue with crayon piping.

Inside the car you’ll spot Graphite Blue leather-trimmed bucket seats with Madraskaro check inserts, dashboard and centre console trim in Fish Silver Grey metallic, and ‘70 years’ legends on the illuminated sill guards and storage compartment lid. In addition to some extra interior colour highlights in crayon, the special edition seems to have had most of the GT3 Touring’s options list emptied into it.

Porsche’s Chrono Package, Light Design pack, tailpipes and side window trims finished in black, a Bose surround sound system, the extended leather package, roof lining and sun visors in Race-Tex and so on. Small wonder that while the GT3 Touring retails at $369,700, the 70 Years Porsche Australia Edition carries a hefty $494,700 asking price.

Given that it’s based on a car that has only just been announced, perhaps we ought to cover off the 911 GT3 with Touring Package in a

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M FRONT END. PACE NOTES NEWS / REVIEWS / LATEST TECH / MOTORSPORT

little more detail, then.

It was always a little odd that the Touring version of the old 991 GT3 could only be purchased with the full-involvement manual gearshift, and demand for a dualclutch PDK version was such that Porsche is now offering the Touring with a choice of either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch transmission at no extra cost.

Or, if you prefer to look at it another way, the GT3 Touring is now PDK, but you get charged heavily for a manual version.

This is becoming the vogue with some manufacturers, with BMW M adopting a similar philosophy.

The engine is the same 375kW

flat-six as seen in the standard GT3 and the car weighs an identical 1418kg with manual ’box and 1435kg with the PDK transmission.

As expected, the exterior aesthetic is a good deal more subtle than the GT3, doing away with the swanneck rear wing and replacing it with a more low-key automatically extending rear spoiler.

One of the more controversial aspects of the new GT3 Touring is that the front end is painted completely in the exterior colour, rather than featuring the contrast black plastic of the standard GT3.

An advantage of the contrast colouration was to break up the visual bulk of the frontal styling into

ABOVE If you think the near-enough $500K sticker price is expensive now, wait until you see what it commands on the used market RIGHT Don’t let the lack of rear wing fool you into thinking the GT3 Touring has been softened at all

discrete elements, and the Touring may take a little getting used to for some as a result.

The suspension setup is also identical to the standard GT3, reviewers commenting on this model’s notably firm ride quality, with spring rates up by around 25 per cent on its predecessor.

Could these have been eased off a little for the Touring, with its more mature buyer profile?

Porsche seems intent on delivering the GT3 Touring with anything but a watered-down dynamic treatment, instead concentrating on altering the aesthetic without compromising ultimate capability.

That’s evidenced by the fact that despite the special edition model for Australia featuring an extended leather treatment for the interior, it still retains the GT3’s carbonfibre reinforced plastic bonnet, lightweight glass windows, forged alloy wheels and lightweight sports exhaust system.

All Touring models get a lifter kit for the front axle, a rearview camera, Porsche Dynamic Lighting System, metallic paint, rear ParkAssist, a digital radio and automatically dimming mirrors.

Inspired by the Touring Package offered on the 1973 911 Carrera RS, the classic interior finish and de-winged look was a huge hit with customers on the 991.2 version of the 911 for its ‘if you know, you know’ cool factor. Porsche’s GT boss Andreas Preuninger describing it as being “for the driver who isn’t hunting trackdays every weekend and who wants to more clandestinely drive a GT car”.

Should you want to do so, you’ll need to be pretty well connected in the Porsche firmament. Word is that securing a build slot for a GT3 Touring is hard enough, but landing a GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Edition? If you’ve managed that, do tell us how.

MEANWHILE, AT THE NURBURGRING...

A NEW, and currently unnamed, addition to the Porsche Cayenne family heaved the Nurburgring SUV lap record from the clutches of the Audi RS Q8 last month.

Thought to be an update for the flagship Cayenne Turbo Coupe, a lightly camouflaged, but seriesproduction-status example was able

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to lap the full 20.83km Nordschleife layout in 7:38.925.

For reference, that puts the German SUV on par with the current BMW M5 and Porsche Panamera Turbo in terms of pace at the ‘Ring.

Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres were used for the record run, and Porsche says the new Cayenne variant will come

with the high-performance rubber fitted as standard.

Final details surrounding the powertrain of the hi-po SUV remain a secret as of the time of writing, though it’s likely to utilise a hotted-up version of the 404kW/770Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 currently fitted to the Cayenne Turbo.

PORSCHE SEEMS INTENT ON DELIVERING THE GT3 TOURING WITH ANYTHING BUT A WATERED-DOWN DYNAMIC TREATMENT

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M FRONT END. PACE NOTES NEWS / REVIEWS / LATEST TECH / MOTORSPORT

02 HOLA CUPRA Iberian hot tamales to arrive in Australia in 2022

AFTER A LONG absence from the Australian market, Spanish cars are set to make a new landfall next year with the launch of the Cupra brand. SEAT pulled out of this market in 1999, after a fiveyear stint, and now Cupra (a spinoff from SEAT which has been a stand-alone brand since 2018) re-enters the market on the back of strong global sales results.

It brings three models Down Under, the Cupra Formentor crossover SUV, the Ateca compact SUV and the Leon hatchback. As a base point of reference and to give you some sense of dimensions, the Formentor and Leon sit on a Golf 8-style MQB Evo chassis while the Ateca runs on the same MQB A1 underpinnings as the Skoda Karoq.

Although final pricing has yet to be signed off, Cupra has suggested that RRPs will open just north of $40,000 and top out at

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just over the $60,000 mark.

The front-wheel drive Leon will be made available with a choice of three petrol power outputs – 140kW, 180kW and 221kW with a 180kW plug-in hybrid also making the team sheet. The 221kW model is broadly equivalent to the Golf GTI Clubsport, offering a stack of power going through the front hoops, and good for a 5.8-second 0-100km/h time.

The Cupra Ateca is sold exclusively with a 4DRIVE AWD system and there’s also no choice when it comes to engines. That’s no raw deal when you consider that the engine fitted is the EA888 from the Golf R, in this instance packing 221kW. This will be mated to a sevenspeed DSG that delivers 400Nm across those four contact patches. The 1615kg crossover SUV has been independently

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ABOVE Cupra Leon will be a welcome addition to the local hot hatch market, elavating the power benchmark for front-drive models

tested overseas at 5.0 seconds to 100km/h which will keep a $74K BMW X2 M35i honest at a fraction of the price.

The Formentor is a true Cupraonly model, not having sprung from the marque’s historical association with SEAT. This compact coupe-SUV is powered by 140kW, 180kW and 228kW petrol engines in all-wheel drive guise as well as a front-drive 180kW plug-in hybrid.

The 228kW version has received glowing reviews overseas and will be priced at less than rivals like the BMW X2 M35i and the Mercedes-AMG GLA 35.

Trim levels have yet to be decided, but UK-market cars get

FAR LEFT Cupra interiors all have a distinct Volkswagen Group flavour, but that’s no bad thing LEFT The list of affordable performance SUVs in Australia was surprisingly small ... until now

LEFT Cupra’s Ateca could give the upcoming Hyundai Kona N some serious competition

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features such as heated leather seats, a decent infotainment and hi-fi system, 19-inch alloy wheels and all-round parking cameras.

The top trim also features a Brembo brake package.

Cupra’s local director, Ben Wilks, is optimistic about the brand’s chances here. “Australians love performance vehicles. Two out of three new private sales are SUVs. Cupra’s debut Australian range nails the brief, enabling VGA (Volkswagen Group Australia) to offer more of what the discerning private customer wants.”

Sales are predicted to commence in the second quarter of next year primarily through selected VGA outlets, and backed by a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty. The retail model will represent a slight diversion from the group’s usual order of business, with Tesla-style online and pop-up sales points in highprofile retail environments mixing with the more conventional dealer sales and servicing structure.

The electric Cupra Tavascan crossover is the next model on the brand’s radar, expecting to debut globally in 2024. - AE

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AUDI’S LINE IN THE OIL SANDS NOT CONTENT WITH ceasing the development of internal combustion engines, Audi has set itself a hard deadline of 2026 to launch its final car powered by anything other than pure electrons – including hybrids. The edict has been passed onto high-ranking executives and labour reps from Audi CEO Markus Duesmann according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Diesel, petrol, and hybrid models will all be affected, with Audi to develop, build and launch electric vehicles exclusively in just five years’ time. This news isn’t entirely surprising, with the Volkswagen Group going all-in on electrification in an attempt to become the market leader globally. Audi finds itself at the vanguard of that transition.

This line in the sand means every single model line in Audi’s portfolio will go fully electric without exception. That’s not to say they will disappear completely, with familiar replacements to launch sans combustion, akin to the Audi A6 e-tron concept revealed at the

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Shanghai Auto Show earlier this year (pictured).

Audi’s commitment to a full EV model pipeline by 2026 isn’t without challenges, namely the difficulties in securing a steady supply of lithium-ion batteries, which while getting cheaper, can be hard to source. Battery shortages have already forced Audi to scale back production for the e-tron SUV last year.

Enter Porsche, which announced late last-month that it is setting up a joint venture with German company Customcells to produce new highperformance batteries that utilise cells with silicon anodes for reduced charging times. The partnership will result in a new factory that will be able to produce batteries for 1000 cars a year. With the Taycan and RS e-tron GT sharing the same platform and battery it’s likely any new technology developed in the joint venture would flow thereafter into Ingolstadt’s products.

Production of 1000 batteries a year won’t completely solve the

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The final petrol-powered Audi is just five years from launch ABOVE If you thought ditching combustion engines altogether would prompt Audi to stop designing massive grilles, think again

potential for shortages – Audi built nearly 1.7 million vehicles in a heavily disrupted 2020 – it speaks to the Volkswagen Group’s investment in building their own infrastructure instead of relying on suppliers.

For Audi at least, these are the final days of petrol-powered performance.- CK

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M FRONT END. PACE NOTES NEWS / REVIEWS / LATEST TECH / MOTORSPORT

Updated Audi RS3 gains active rearaxle torque vectoring and drift mode

A FULL REVEAL of Audi’s hotly anticipated RS3 minus camo is due imminently; however, Audi has released a trove of technical details for the next-iteration of RennSport’s compact street fighter.

Drastic exterior and interior facelifts are expected, but while much of the RS3’s mechanical ingredients remain the same – a host of new tech promises the most capable and dynamic package in the nameplate’s 10-year history.

Still based on Volkswagen Group’s MQB-architecture and retaining the familiar 2.5-litre fivecylinder turbocharged engine, peak power remains capped at 294kW while torque increases by 20Nm to 500Nm, arriving earlier and sticking around longer, between 2250rpm and 5600rpm.

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Alone, those mechanical developments may seem a little underwhelming, but the RS3 also debuts a number of significant technological advances for the brand; primarily the new ‘RS Torque Splitter’ rear axle.

A very similar unit has already been seen underneath the new Mk8 Golf R’s rear end, and sees a mechanical differential mounted as part of the rear axle, with an independent electronically controlled multi-plate clutch connecting to each rear driveshaft.

While the outgoing Haldex rear end allowed up to 50 per cent of engine torque to be sent rearward, the new fully variable system is able to cater for 100 per cent of drive to either rear corner.

Depending on the drive mode,

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LATERAL THINKING

ABOVE The bones of the RS3 remain the same but there’s some clever tech beneath the skin

the rear differential will aim to minimise both under and oversteer, while aiding corner entry and early power application at exit.

Two new drive modes also make their debut, comprising of RS Performance and RS Torque Rear modes, beyond the familiar Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, Efficiency and Individual modes.

RS Performance is an even sharper step up from Dynamic mode, specifically optimised for the race track and tuned to the new factory-option Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R semi-slick tyres.

Meanwhile RS Torque Rear mode leverages the rear differential’s ability to deploy up to 100 per cent of drive to a single rear-wheel, becoming a basic drift mode.

Now with seven drive modes to choose from, the new Audi RS3 offers even more personalisation between dynamic situations with distinct configurable tuning curves for the powertrain, steering assistance, adaptive dampers and fully variable exhaust flaps.

Combined, these elements

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offer distinct personas between the available drive modes, with Comfort and Efficiency distributing drive between all four wheels with priority given to the front axle; while Auto mode balances torque between all four wheels and sharply quells yaw.

Dynamic mode, previously the most focused setting, sends as much torque as possible to the rear, whereas RS Torque Rear mode is an extension of this, and RS Performance, best reserved for seeking fast lap times.

The modular Vehicle Dynamics Controller (mVDC) is lifted from the A3 and S3, and handles rapid communication between the new rear axle’s two control modules, adaptive dampers (if optioned) and wheel-selective torque control, to maximise the desired feedback, speed and handling depending on the drive mode application.

While power output remains unchanged for the new RS3, like peak torque, the five-pot’s peak power is delivered sooner (by some 250rpm), helping improve the

BELOW Active rear axle torque vectoring making singlepeggers cool?

0-100km/h sprint by three tenths to a claimed 3.8 sec.

In base trim, V-Max is limited to 250km/h, although 280km/h is available as an option; so too is an optional RS Dynamic package which, combined with carbon ceramic brakes, allows for a top speed of 290km/h.

The seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox gains snappier gear ratios, and a reinforced right-angle drive to cope with the increased torque.

An optional RS Sport Suspension Plus package includes adaptive

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damper control boasting three further tuning curves for Comfort, Balanced and Sport situations.

Audi Sport’s quest for maximum traction continues in fine detail, with almost one degree of additional negative camber dialled in to the front axle, while negative camber at the rear increases by half a degree in order to maximise the tyre’s contact patch when placed under hard lateral loads.

For what is likely to be the final combustion-only RS3, the changes Audi has made under the skin keep the key ingredients which made the model so popular in the first place, while adding key upgrades to improve its dynamic abilities.

Sadly, the future shelf life of the beloved five-cylinder now has a clear end date (see p14), meaning this is likely going to be as good as it gets in terms of punch from the charasmatic unit Though as a small silver lining, what may possibly be the final fivepot RS3 we ever see is also shaping up to be the most capable and dynamic one yet. – AA

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NEWMAN’S CONDITION DIAGNOSED I HAVE AN answer to Scott Newman’s comments/questions about the apparent increase in Kia Stingers on the road since he took charge of the review vehicle. He questions whether there is a name for that apparent increase. There is.

It’s called the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon; a cognitive bias where a person tends to notice a higher frequency of things (Kia Stingers) after they have become more mindful of the thing in the first place (perhaps that the Kia Stinger is actually noteworthy).

Given that you have probably received thousands of emails

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pointing out the answer, I feel that Scott may also be experiencing the printed version of the Internet’s Cunningham Law, which states that the easiest way to get the correct answer is not to ask a question, but to post an incorrect answer.

Rob Wills, via Email I’d always known it as the frequency illusion, but it seems that the original name was indeed the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. So there we have it. How to go from an orange oversteering Korean sedan to a militant West German terrorist group from the 1970s without missing a beat. – Ed

JOB WELL DONE When I was younger, I used to think that I was pretty handy at driving.

Then I went to a karting event and was lapped by Allan Jones and came to the conclusion that there was more to it than meets the eye.

So I became a copywriter. I used to think I was pretty sharp at crafting copy and turning a phrase. Then I read Andy Enright’s work, firstly for Wheels and latterly for MOTOR and all of a sudden, I’m transported back to that kart track, sitting in the car park wondering what happened.

The ‘Show and Prove’ comparison test in the May edition of MOTOR was just genius. The flow of the narrative, the effortless changing of gears between levity and depth, and the slow build to an unexpected and cogently argued conclusion is about as good as I’ve seen from an Aussie motoring writer. We can claim him as our own now, can’t we?

The pictures from Alastair Brook aren’t bad, either.

Gerry Patrick, via Email Cheers, Gerry. I’ve been here eight years and am only beginning to get to the bottom of yeah, nah. It’ll be a while yet before I can wear an Akubra without feeling as if it’s some sort of parody. – Ed

YOUR MONTH IN SOCIAL MEDIA

On The Wires

Use #motormag so we can find your dodgy pics

1. Strawbs_609 on ig – An E30 BMW M3 with an E60 M5 V10!

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2. Oh_lookacar on ig – Still looks like some futuristic vehicle even after 26 years!

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3. Jamessand964 on ig – Driving this to work sure helps as an escape in our latest Covid lockdown 4. Detailedmodelcars on ig – Looking clean XR8 @motorofficial

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5. Rs4_07 on ig – What a day to be out to explore this city #audigang #sydney

05 GET INVOLVED Pick your channel, enjoy daily content

ON FACEBOOK @motorofficial The tribe: 59,057

ON TWITTER @motor_mag The mob: 3318

ON INSTAGRAM @motorofficial The voyeurs: 10.5k

HAPPY CUSTOMER In March I came into possession of a stunning new Lexus IS350 in F Sport guise replete with Cobalt Mica paint and flare red interior. MOTOR’s May issue therefore caught my interest for two reasons.

Firstly, Andy Enright’s article about left field car choices grabbed me.

When I was picking up the kids on the school run with my new wheels, another parent fell into the same trap that Enright was alluding to – basically panning my choice of car with nary a question as to why I chose it or why it was right for me.

For this parent, I had committed a God awful motoring sin by not buying European and that was that.

Had he bothered to enquire he would have been met with a pleasant exchange of ideas, not least of which was that I just prefer my car to have a right-hand indicator stalk, a V6 donk and be supplied with at least a space-saver spare wheel (looking at you, BMW)!

Secondly, I note the IS350 has entered MOTOR’s long term garage (about the same time as it entered mine). So I am keen to follow MOTOR’s ownership journey.

I AM KEEN TO FOLLOW MOTOR’S OWNERSHIP JOURNEY Interestingly, the reviewer mentions the (not unimportant) point about the front end of the car scratching on the driveway. I had a rather more pleasant experience – my previous daily driver was a ‘16 Subaru WRX in stock form which always scraped every driveway. However, I now find myself much more carefree in the IS350.

Out of my last four cars, this is the third V6 I have owned (having previously enjoyed a 3.5-litre V6 Magna and 3.0-litre H6 Gen 4 Liberty). Being bathed in the warm, sonorific tones of a silky smooth large-capacity bent six is just plain sublime in comparison to a wheezy turbo four-cylinder – a daily reminder of just why I love my new wheels!

Happy motoring!

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Ashwin Garg, via email I’m missing the IS350 already.

You’ve chosen well, Ash. – Ed

WEIGHTY ISSUE Can I get a pet hate of mine off my chest? It’s when motoring journalists test an electric car and say “at xxxx kg it’s heavy” when what they mean is “at xxxx kg it’s heavy when compared to a car with an internal combustion engine.” We know electric cars are heavier. That’s part of the contract you enter into when buying an EV. Just quoting a weight and saying that it’s heavier than an ICE vehicle isn’t useful when dealing with transformative tech. These things are not the same and we need to readjust our parameters to take that into account. A 2200kg battery electric car is the new normal, an 1800kg one is light.

The longer we cling to old measures, the harder it’ll be and longer it will take to transition to the inevitable new normal.

Bev Sallis, via Facebook Ditto, Bev. You tell ‘em. - Ed

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M FRONT END. LETTERS NEW vs OLD Just a shout out to Scott for nailing the fact that the latest is not necessarily progress. I have a fiveyear-old BMW 3 Series. It wasn’t my intention to keep it as long, expecting to upgrade to the latest G20 3 Series.

There is so much to like about it, but I can’t buy one because it would tick me off every time I put my bum in it! What were they thinking?

After decades of the most admired dash layouts, that was the best they could do digitally? Why on earth not at least include an option to switch to a facsimile of a proper BMW dash? BMW… Tachos are round and they go clockwise!

Brian Wood, via email There’s a lot about modern BMW that’s very smart. Diminishing instrument legibility isn’t part of that. - Ed

RARE LIONS With Peter Brock’s pre-owned VK Blue Meanie (#005

A 2200KG BATTERY ELECTRIC CAR IS THE NEW NORMAL of 500) reaching more than $1 million at auction, I was wondering which other limited edition SS Commodores could have collector potential. Standard (non Brock owned) VK Blue Meanies have gone for $200,000 recently. I also saw a 2017 Motorsport edition fetch upwards of $100,000, which is significant given Holden produced 1200 of these. The 2009/10 produced VE SS-V G8 Special Edition was released as a 500-vehicle limited run during the global financial crisis when Holden’s export program to America came to a shuddering halt.

Holden isn’t too forthcoming with final production numbers, but it’s rumoured less than

Stunning PHOTO OF THE MONTH

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500 were eventually produced and sold, which should make it one of the more limited, limited editions ever sold locally by Holden. Low kilometre manual versions can be found for around $50,000.

Is it fair to view these as a future collectable?

Damian Eckersley, via email Possibly, but after some consideration, I reckon you should buy to drive, Damian, not to speculate. That’s the best way to beat the house. – Ed

CONE OF SHAME Hey MOTOR. Are you still looking for an ice cream cone middleman to get the goods? If the manufacturer gets the goods, it can save you more profits. If you want to know more about the product catalog, please reply to me.

Bingguang Han, via Email While we were unaware that we were looking for an ice cream cone middleman, we’re all about getting the goods, Bingguang. Sign us up.

Can we pay in FlogCoin? – Ed

The Tiebreaker You send in the cars you’re stuck on, we pick the one you should get

HELP! I’M IN A BIT OF A PICKLE. MY WIFE WANTS AN SUV AND I DON’T. SHE’S SET HER HEART ON A PORSCHE MACAN GTS AND I’D RATHER SPEND THE MONEY ON A NEW GOLF R AND A USED BMW M5 F10 INSTEAD. CAN YOU HELP HER SEE SOME SENSE IN MY PLAN? – MIKE G

2021 PORSCHE MACAN GTS VS 2894cc V6, DOHC, 24v, twin-turbo

2012 BMW M5 + 2021 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF R 4395cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo 1984cc I4, DOHC, 16v, turbo

280kW @ 5200-6700rpm

412kW @ 5800rpm

235kW @ 5000-6200rpm

520Nm @ 1750-5000rpm

400Nm @ 6000-7000rpm

420Nm @ 1600-4300rpm

1910kg

1945kg

1551kg

4.9sec

4.4sec

4.7sec

$112,300

$50,000 (second hand)

WHOAH! A TWO-FER Tiebreaker this month. That’s a first. You know what they say, Mike, happy wife, happy life but we think you may well be onto something here. As lovely as the Macan GTS is, when you look at what you actually get, there are a few similarities with the Golf R, which will retail at around half the price. Both are all-wheel drive, both reach 100km/h in less than 5.0 seconds and both feature a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The MQBchassis Porsche is longer in the wheelbase, liberating a little more rear space and also offers 488 rather than 381 litres of boot space.

The VW counters with a five rather than a three year warranty.

To be honest, it caught us on the hop that M5s can now be found from 50 grand, and they’re a good deal more robust than

$64,000 (estimated new)

their E60 predecessors. In all likelihood, the only way you’re going to get this one to pass the sniff test is to stress the lifestyle benefits of having two cars. The Macan is due for replacement and the Golf Mk8 is a new model, so that could affect future residuals.

Of course, the way to truly win at this game is to choose a used car that will absolutely never depreciate.

As a compromise, how about suggesting a base Macan rather than the GTS? It’s plenty quick enough and would then leave you a $30k or so slush fund to play with for something fun, keeping everyone happy. That’ll get you into an M135i, a tidy 86 GTS or, with a bit of determined haggling, an early i30 N. That’d still represent a beaut of a two-car garage. - AE

THE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN BEHIND THIS ISSUE. AT YOUR SERVICE. EDITOR Andy Enright ART DIRECTOR Damien Pelletier DEPUTY EDITOR Cameron Kirby STAFF JOURNALIST Alex Affat GROUP ROAD TEST EDITOR Scott Newman STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Ellen Dewar, Alastair Brook DIGITAL RETOUCHER Paul Breen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ben Barry, Alex Goy, Ben Miller, Kyle Fortune, Trent Giunco, Daniel Gardner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Split Image, Alex Tapley, Jordan Butters EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENTS Georg Kacher, Greg Kable, Michael Taylor QUEENSLAND SALES Todd Anderson 0409 630 733 WEST AUSTRALIA SALES Emily Thompson 0408 516 176 NSW AGENCY SALES Max Kolomiiets (02) 8275 6486 VIC AGENCY SALES Adrian Christian (03) 9567 4178 CUSTOMER CARE Regina Fellner 1300 362 355 PRINTED BY Ovato Warwick Farm, 8 Priddle Street, Warwick Farm, NSW 2170 PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Di McLarty ADVERTISING PRODUCTION Kali Cooke CIRCULATION MANAGER Stuart Jones GENERAL MANAGER PUBLISHING, ARE MEDIA Andrew Beecher ARE MEDIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jane Huxley Published by Are Media Pty Ltd, ABN 18 053 273 546, 54-58 Park Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. © 2020. All rights reserved.

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FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED

07 . 2021

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24 RIMAC NEVERA The numbers simply beggars belief 34 MAZDA MX-5 RF GT Can it still be great with an auto ’box?

30 PORSCHE PANAMERA GTS Is this the pick of the range?

38 MCLAREN ELVA As expensive as it is unique... and fast!

42 PORSCHE TAYCAN CROSS TURISMO Taycan down ‘n dirty

46 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI Gen eight of the OG hot hatch

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BELOW If you’ve got time to see the speedo, you aren’t concentrating hard enough!

RIMAC NEVERA Taking performance to a demented realm Rating

5.0

ENGINE 120kWh battery, 4 electric motors POWER 1408kW TORQUE 2360Nm 0-100KM/H 1.97sec WEIGHT 2150kg PRICE $3.17million

LIKE: Truly savage acceleration; driveability; quality parts; recharge time DISLIKE: Astronomical price; extremely limited availability; end of ICE?

BY % ALE X GOY

O1

WHEN A CAR is so quick it takes your breath away, you know you’re in for a good time. The Rimac Nevera, the world’s quickest production car, is not just ‘a good time,’ but THE good time.

With 1408kW and 2360Nm fired to all four wheels, 0-100km/h in 1.97 seconds (0-97km/h in 1.85), 0-300km/h in 9.3 seconds, a top end of 412km/h, a 120kWh battery that can be charged from 20 to 80 per cent in 18 minutes, and a 550km range, on paper it’s hardly lacking in wow factor.

You probably know the Rimac backstory by now. In short, thirtythree-year-old founder Mate Rimac, was encouraged by a teacher and discovered he was something of an engineering wunderkind.

After winning awards all over the globe for various innovations as a teenager, then setting world records in an electrically-converted BMW E30 3 Series race car, Rimac set up his own company.

Initially offering EV conversions for road cars then moving on to building his own, today Rimac’s powertrain and battery

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solutions are found in the likes of Koenigsegg and Aston Martin. The company is part owned by Porsche and Hyundai, and, if recent news reports are accurate, is set to take over Bugatti and will be floated on the stock market next year.

The Nevera is Rimac’s second car. The first, Concept One, was pretty much just that: a concept with only a handful produced.

Nevera is something of a rolling shop front for what Rimac can do without budgetary constraints.

On the design front, Rimac wanted his car to be more timeless than in your face. Sleek, rather than angry. Along the side you’ll notice the Rimac signature: a necktie graphic. Something of a Croatian sartorial hallmark, incorporating it into the car allows Rimac to spread a touch of heritage around the world.

An active spoiler hidden in the rear deck keeps the back-end slick but can be deployed for maximum downforce, kept stashed away for peak slipperiness, or set anywhere in between depending on what the car needs it to do. And, of course,

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FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED it acts as an air brake when you need it to. The interior, a feast of leather and carbon fibre, is a minimalist affair. Most features are operated via a simple touch screen.

The Nevera uses an electrohydraulic brake booster with a brake pedal feel simulator to distribute braking force between the friction brakes and electric powertrain, and is capable of regenerating more energy than any other production car.

The brake calibration in this pre-production felt good, but a touch soft in the middle, with the reassurance of a whacking great set of Brembos and carbonceramic discs as backup for the re-gen. You need them when you have to stop in a hurry – the Nevera weighs a little more than 2.1 tonnes and you can feel it under heavy braking. At more modest speeds, one pedal driving with that much power is a strange experience.

Cutting weight is key, so there’s plenty of carbon fibre in its construction. Its monocoque includes the roof, battery storage… most of the car, and weighs just 200kgs. It’s the biggest single carbon-fibre construction in the automotive industry. It’s stiff too, aiding handling and safety.

It’s here we should address the power. Helpfully, Rimac laid on a runway to demonstrate just what the car can do. Jamming your foot on the brake, the other on the throttle primes the system. When the dash lights up with ‘LAUNCH’ take your foot off the stop pedal and the most overwhelming thing happens. The car fires forward, jamming you back in your seat.

The steering is unfussed as each wheel works out how much torque is needed for the smoothest launch possible thanks to all-wheel torque vectoring. Where other cars take a beat to build to peak torque,

WHERE OTHER CARS TAKE A BEAT TO BUILD TORQUE, YOU GET ALL 2360NM AT ONCE

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RIGHT At just 33, Mate Rimac has the eyes of the automotive world on him and what his company is currently producing BELOW This isn’t an ultra rare one-off, with the Nevera set to go into production – albeit in very small numbers

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FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED

ABOVE A Nevera is a “quick, sudden and mighty Mediterranean storm that races across the open sea off Croatia”

The

you get all 2360Nm at once. Your eyes fix on the distance, the rest of the scenery becomes a blur, while numbers keep piling up and up and up on displays in your eyeline.

The car’s electric powertrain whirrs loudly and wind attacks the front creating a thunderous bellow.

From inside it sounds like a storm, from the outside a jet passing at low altitude. A touch under nine seconds and a mile later you slam the brakes on and the Nevera stops straight and true, flinging you forward for an argument with the seatbelt. You

LOTUS EVIJA LO

NEMESIS 28

take a moment, remember to breathe, and wonder if the car’s up for round two. It very much is, and you go again. And again, because it’s awesome.

On the road the Nevera requires some getting used to. With only one gear, throttle pressure is what dictates pace. You can keep the car going at a sensible speed easily, but overtaking requires thought – if you pin it you’ll find yourself two towns over in a second, so small increments are best to pick up pace in public.

There are, of course, drive modes

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70kWh battery, four motors, 11470kW/2000Nm, 0-100km/h 2.2sec 0 (est.), 1680kg,

ALIEN LOOKS with out of this world numbers: Lotus’ upcoming Evija EV powerhouse boasts similar stats, with a near-500kg advantage. Next-gen power wars are shaping up to be huge.

BELOW Electric cars aren’t fun you say... hold our beer. Rimac has built in a drift mode so eco-friendly buyers can burn lots and lots of rubber

IT’S A LOT OF CASH, BUT FOR A BESPOKE TAKE ON THE FASTEST HYPERCAR… FOR SOME IT’S CHEAP AT TWICE THE PRICE to play with. Seven, in fact. Two can be used to adjust the car to your preference, and the usual sport, track, drift (yup, it’ll do that), etc. are there, too. They’re adjusted with a pleasingly chunky switch.

Rimac says it’s more GT than balls out nutter. A relaxing road drive backs that up, but the moment you lean on it the whole GT thing feels moot. It’s a hypercar.

Its drive-by-wire steering feels sharp, connecting you with what’s going on up front, and differently

weighted depending on your mode of choice. Importantly, it’s easy to drive like a normal car. A damn good normal car at that.

Rimac’s latest is, thus far, peak hypercar and EV. There will only ever be 150 of them, each built by hand, and getting your name on the list will set you back at least $3.17million. It’s a lot of cash, sure, but for a bespoke take on the fastest hypercar there is… for some it’s cheap at twice the price. The game’s moved on.

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FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED

LEFT Panamera cabin is a great place to spend time for drivers and passengers alike. There’s one seat that’s better than the others, though

PORSCHE PANAMERA GTS

Stuttgart distils two divergent disciplines into a single cohesive body Rating

4.0

ENGINE 3996cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo POWER 353kW @ 6500rpm TORQUE 620Nm @ 1800-4000rpm 0-100KM/H 3.9sec (claimed) WEIGHT 2020kg PRICE $309,500 BY

CAMERON KIRBY

THERE IS A WORRYING array of forces conspiring against the Porsche Panamera GTS. The time of big, twin-turbocharged V8 limos that are sold sans batteries is coming to an end. Add to that the fact the Panamera has significant rivals within the Porsche family.

With the arrival of the Taycan, the Panamera is no longer the only four-door sedan from Porsche. If you have family-hauling duties the Cayenne is supremely capable, and if driving purity is what you demand, then there are a trio of sports cars for your go-fast needs.

All that paints the Panamera GTS as an underdog, but in the

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LIKE: Suspension calibration; telepathic gearbox; multi-purpose DISLIKE: Steep price; befuddling climate vent controls; standard rims

real world it is anything but, with the driving experience being endearing, entertaining, and wholly convincing of its sports limo remit.

The GTS rides lower than its more powerful sibling, the Turbo S, and has a raft of options fitted as standard to best cater to the enthusiast owner. But it must still meet Porsche’s high standards of dynamic prowess while being big, long, and comfortable at the same time. No easy task.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s cover the basics.

The Porsche Panamera is now in its second generation, and the GTS sits above the entry-level models,

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RIGHT The four-wheel steering system transforms the Panamera dynamically.

However, it’s amazing what a few millimetres of movement from the rear axle will do for around-town liveability

but below the bonkers Turbo S flagship. Under the bonnet is a 4.0litre twin-turbo V8 that produces 353kW and 620Nm. That’s a 15kW increase over the previous model.

While no longer a world-breaking level of grunt, it’s more than enough for most tastes.

Power is sent to all four wheels via an eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission, helping rocket the Panamera to 100km/h from a standstill in 3.9 seconds. Oh, and if you were curious, the top speed is a neat 300km/h. To cap it all off, there’s space inside for four adults, plenty of boot space, a heavy lashing of leather and Alcantara, and a vast array of tech goodies.

But here’s the catch. You will need to pay a steep price of admission. The GTS starts with a price tag of $309,500 before on-roads – and our test car adds more than $30K of optional extras.

Some of those options we could go without, however, others are

O2

THE CAPABLE DO-EVERYTHING ABILITY THE PANAMERA EXUDES IS ENTIRELY INFECTIOUS

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RIGHT GTS gets Alcantara on the steering wheel and seats as standard rather than leather. Check the MOTOR YouTube for more

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wheelbase second generation in 2017. The exterior styling tweaks also made a world of visual difference. That hard work is slightly undone by the standard 20-inch rims that don’t exactly match the $300K+ price.

Start the GTS and you are met with a deep, distinct V8 burble. It’s not the most characterful engine in the world in terms of rev range or outright grunt, but power delivery is potent, with peak torque coming on from 1800-4000rpm.

Then there’s the eight-speed PDK gearbox. Finding a chink in the armour is near impossible. Left to its own devices and it seems to have a psychic link, giving you the right gear at the right time.

Switch to manual and the shifts are quick and crisp. Pull the paddle and bang, you get exactly what you asked for. It’s also perfectly calibrated to the driving modes, remaining smooth and subtle in Normal, and progressively ratcheting up the intensity through Sport and Sport Plus.

But before we assess its dynamic talents, it’s important to pay credence to the Panamera’s luxury credentials. In its normal setting, the Panamera GTS has a silky smooth ride. It wafts along

LEFT The three-piece rear wing is a direct result of Porsche engineers and designers both fighting to get what they want. We think it’s ace

DESPITE ITS SIZE AND LENGTH, IT’S ON A TWISTING ROAD THAT YOU REALLY UNCOVER THE DEPTHS OF THE PANAMERA’S TALENTS a must-tick – namely the $9870 Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control Sport (which includes Porsche’s Torque Vectoring Plus system), and $3750 for four-wheel steering.

On the subject of pricing, it’s hard to avoid the consideration that here is a 353kW sports sedan that wears a $309,500 sticker. A 467kW BMW M5 CS is $274,900, a 446kW Audi RS7 is $224,000 and a 450kW Mercedes-AMG E63 S lists at $253,900. In those terms, you really have to want the Porsche to stump up that asking price. But then it has come a long way in a relatively short lifespan.

While unloved when the first generation was revealed, the looks of the Panamera have been subtly matured, with Porsche’s design team introducing the longer

ABOVE The V8 under the bonnet won’t break your neck with acceleration, but its a charming and solid unit

wonderfully, even on typically pockmarked and deteriorating Australian B-Roads. That’s thanks to the air suspension, which has new damper settings and management system for this 2021 update. For long-distance cruising, the Panamera GTS is a brilliant place to be, getting you to your favourite driving road feeling fresh and relaxed. That is until you have to adjust the central air vents, which you can only do via the central touchscreen after navigating a pair of sub-menus.

Frustrating to say the least!

On a challenging driving road, this big sedan is almost as composed as its sportscar siblings when you decide to turn up the wick. The GTS rides 10mm lower than the rest of the Panamera

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range, and that small difference gives it a hunkered down, confident demeanour. The old thinking that air suspension is antithetical to dynamic ability is long gone, with Porsche’s Active Suspension Management and Dynamic Chassis Control giving the Panamera GTS a respectable level of body control.

Despite its size and length, it’s on a twisting road that you really uncover the depths of the Panamera’s talents. The front end is seriously impressive, which means you can really grab the GTS by the scruff of the neck and chuck it into corners with confidence. The steering is accurate, with a quick, but not too quick ratio. It falls into that Goldilocks window where you don’t need to apply huge armfuls of lock to get the nose pointed into bends, without the twitchiness of super-direct systems. This is aided by the four-wheel steer setup, which gives the Panamera athleticism and stability that belies its size and weight. The unsung hero of this dynamic prowess is the rubber. Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tyres feature at all four corners, in pretty significant sizes.

Porsche has done something incredible with the Panamera GTS. The concept and character traits you’d want from a long-distance cruising limo, and those exuded by a sportscar seem mutually exclusive. And yet Porsche has distilled a brilliant version of both into one body. This is one of the best executive limos you can buy today, while also possessing some of the finest driving dynamics you can experience with four doors and a boot. It can be driven calmly every day and it’s an absolute delight, yet when you want to relish in the joys of driving, it delivers.

There may be purer sportscars in the Porsche family, or more practical SUVs, or quicker fourdoors. However, the do-everything ability the Panamera exudes is entirely infectious. This is a car that makes it about the joy of driving, no matter the flavour. A 7 Series could only dream of being as capable in the bends as the GTS, while AMG’s GT63 4-Door is outclassed in terms of refinement.

The forces conspiring against the Panamera GTS may be strong, but they can’t tarnish the refinement and capability of Porsche’s genreblending limo. Appreciate cars like this while you can.

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THE MX-5 DISTILS THE ESSENCE OF MOTORING JOY INTO A SIMPLE AND ACCESSIBLE PACKAGE

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MAZDA MX-5 RF GT

An automatic choice in this sector?

Rating

4.0

ENGINE 1998cc, I4, DOHC, 16v POWER 135kW @ 7000rpm TORQUE 205Nm @ 4000rpm 0-100KM/H 6.5sec (claimed) WEIGHT 1134kg • PRICE $50,100 BY

LIKE: Open-air motoring; dynamic experience at low speeds; comfy and friendly DISLIKE: Pricey; artificial steering feel; cramped cabin with roof closed

A L E X A F FAT

THE CURRENT ND-GENERATION of the world’s most popular roadster, the Mazda MX-5, has been around for some time now.

It burst on to the scene in 2015, winning Wheels’ Car of the Year and making a strong impression at our own Bang For your Buck competition. It also carries one of the most compelling design philosophies of any modern car, with Mazda engineers defying the model’s generational size and weight creep and returning to the dimensions benchmarked by the original NA of 1989.

Five years on, the ND MX-5 still maintains a strong presence on the sales charts, too. This year so far, it’s bested in volume by only the Ford Mustang in its own sub-$80K sports car segment. However, after half a decade on the scene, has the game moved on?

Indeed, while the Mazda MX-5 may have resisted bloating dimensions and weight over

the years, it hasn’t survived a significant price creep. While Mazda has made great strides to reposition its brand and models upstream, the MX-5 may no longer be quite the same champion for affordable motoring as it once was.

In fact, the cheapest MX-5 you could buy upon launch started at $31,990. But the high-spec automatic 2.0-litre MX-5 RF GT we have here carries a list price of $50,100 (before on-roads).

For that money, you’re getting the familiar ‘big-block’ 2.0-litre four-cylinder yielding 135kW and 205Nm, a six-speed automatic, and a folding metal roof.

As the family’s most premium offering, the RF GT’s pricetag significantly exceeds that of its closest natural rival, the naturally aspirated rear-drive 2.0-litre flat-four Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ. You’d have your pick of the litter as well: from the base 86 GT, at $34,480 for the auto, to

ABOVE New-for-2021 features include wireless Apple CarPlay BELOW 205-section Bridgestone S001s deliver a benign transition from grip to slip

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the fully loaded BRZ tS which scores Brembo brakes and Sachs dampers for $43,190 in automatic configuration.

The MX-5 RF GT also encroaches on the territory of some seriously rapid hot hatches, like the Toyota GR Yaris ($49,500) and Hyundai i30 N ($41,400).

In actuality, however, the prospective buyers of those cars likely aren’t looking at the MX-5 as the experience and ethos are entirely different.

The MX-5’s USP is steeped in its decidedly old-school charm, and its biggest drawcard is its ability to distil the very essence of motoring joy into such a simple and accessible package.

With a claimed 6.5 second 0-100km/h time, the MX-5 won’t be hoping to embarrass much at the traffic lights, but the naturally aspirated four-cylinder’s incredibly smooth and linear delivery makes relative ease of overtaking opportunities with peak torque delivered at 4000rpm.

Around the bump and grind of any Australian metropolitan city, the MX-5’s ultra-low seating position, diminutive dimensions, and sprightly mid-range poke make it an absolute hoot to zip through traffic. The origami-like folding metal roof stows away in just 15 seconds, and is operational at up to 50km/h so you can avoid that red light anxiety.

The cabin itself is well presented with a graceful and minimal dashboard. In terms of tech there is a 7.0-inch touch screen with the familiar Mazda MZD Connect infotainment system, SatNav, Android Auto and, for the first time, wireless Apple CarPlay.

It’s a fairly snug setting however and, with the roof closed, there’s little headroom to spare for myself at 175cm. The closed cabin does

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FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED feel a little claustrophobic, so all the more reason to drop the top at every opportunity. In fact, the RF’s targa configuration does much to reduce buffeting in the cabin while the roof is down. On that score, it’s leagues better than the open-air soft top at highway speeds.

Also included is a full suite of active safety equipment, including: blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, emergency brake assist, lane-departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert.

Some ergonomics may seem a little counterintuitive upon first interaction: the cupholders are behind you, as is the ‘glove box’, and the main rotary dial can feel a little too far back. Upon further reflection, however, Mazda has made the most of the available space, and laid it out in a way that is unobtrusive and doesn’t distract from the driving experience.

And the driving experience is what the MX-5 is all about.

Not ‘speed’, per se. Not necessarily ‘performance’ in the traditional MOTOR sense, either.

The MX-5 is an experiential machine through and through.

It’s not very powerful, and it’s rather softly sprung with a lot of compliance; two features that often seem to be the anathema to many motoring journalists. But those are two features that, in this application, help make the MX-5 accessible and communicative.

On an uncharacteristically warm winter morning, in the mountains north of Melbourne, the MX-5 – roof down, of course – was an absolute pleasure.

The RF GT automatic is the heaviest roadster in the family, at 1134kg. That’s tremendously lithe by today’s standards, but it’s still a fair amount of mass to ask of just 135kW. Subsequently, you quickly learn that you can apply full throttle virtually, everywhere.

And with the soft and benign suspension settings, you get tangible sensations of pitch under acceleration, dive under hard braking, and roll under lateral load. These are sensations that would otherwise be ironed out, or transition so rapidly to be almost imperceptible in a more rapid, better tied-down vehicle.

With much of the engine positioned behind the front axle, turn-in at speed is sharp, given the car’s roll response. Back off

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sharply and you’ll get frequent hints of neutrality and oversteer without ever needing to reach truly consequential speeds.

The fly-by-wire throttle is well calibrated, and sharpens in response in Sport mode. The automatic gearbox is similarly welljudged and, in manual mode, was accommodating of shift requests.

My only real grievance was the steering which, while incredibly direct and precise, felt a little artificial and didn’t offer the same

tactile delight as the Toyota 86/ Subaru BRZ twins.

Not once did the gearbox refuse to give me a downshift but it must be said that I wasn’t zinging the little four-pot off its head as there’s little reason to be hanging at the top end of the tacho. The little MX-5 feels best when happily clicking up and down gears without nerfing the redline.

And that brings our MX-5 under a more philosophical lens. Its strength of character is entrenched in its retro, almost classical, charm.

If the MX-5 is likened to the modern resurgence of the film camera or record player, the automatic gearbox and – to an extent – the RF’s folding metal roof, is a bit like a new brand-new digital Leica made to look like a

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RIGHT Manual offers maximum engagement but auto is agreeable

ABOVE A friendly face if we’ve ever seen one

vintage filmy. What you choose depends on how far you want to buy into the Mazda’s little artifice.

In isolation and for what it is, there’s much to commend the MX-5 RF GT but take a wider perspective and it’s easy to start questioning the appeal of a $50K automatic Mazda MX-5.

Put it next to something like a cheaper Hyundai i30 N and of course, it looks tremendously expensive and outmoded for the level of practicality, technology, and performance on offer.

However, an MX-5 is not bought for the same reason as an i30 N. If you were to put that same $50K Mazda MX-5 next to a six-figure classic Austin-Healey? Well, that begins to look like the bargain of the century.

BACK OFF SHARPLY AND YOU’LL GET FREQUENT HINTS OF NEUTRALITY AND OVERSTEER WITHOUT REACHING CONSEQUENTIAL SPEEDS

ABOVE Previous facelift achieved uprated 135kW output thanks to a larger intake manifold, injection pressure, and a more freeflowing exhaust

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McLAREN ELVA This Ultimate Series speedster is the craziest and most fun model Woking has produced , Rating

4.5

ENGINE 3994cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin- turbo POWER 600kW @ 7500rpm TORQUE 800Nm @ 5500rpm 0-100KM/H 2.8sec WEIGHT 1269kg PRICE $2.6m BY

ANDREW FRANKEL

IT HAS TO be said that there are some hurdles to clear here; a few things to get your head around first. The Elva costs $2.6m. Ouch.

McLaren were going to build 399, until it announced it would only be 249. Then it was reduced to 149. And they’re still not all sold.

You might have a mental image of the person who would choose to buy a McLaren without a roof or windscreen and even suspect his or her motives for doing so: is it a car to drive or just to be seen in?

And I understand all that. But on that last point, I can help, having now driven one on mercifully quiet roads and then around the Goodwood race track.

Whatever else you might think about the Elva and whether some or more of its owners choose to or not, it’s a car for driving first, second, third and fourth. I hadn’t taken this for granted.

The new Aston Martin V12 Speedster, lovely and lovelier to regard though it is, isn’t a car for balls-to-the-wall driving. The Elva,

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LIKE: One of the most rewarding and hardcore driving machines ever built DISLIKE: Hideously impractical; expensive; build run struggling to sell

by dint of being not just the most powerful non-hybrid McLaren but also the lightest of all since the F1, is a car that more than makes good on the promise of its appearance.

However mad it looks, it’s madder even than that.

It’s not a car for the selfconscious. McLaren supplies each Elva with a pair of bespoke, aerodynamically sculpted helmets, but I preferred to wear the bulletproof (yes, literally – that’s not a joke) sunglasses that come with it too.

To operate, the Elva is much like any McLaren, save that the chassis and powertrain modes are now on rocker switches a finger’s stretch from the steering wheel.

Trundling through the suburbs enjoying the excellent ride quality, there’s plenty of time to consider the Active Air Management System (AAMS) that flips up in front of you. To call it a wind deflector is to sell it stupidly short. Air sucked in through the front of the car is turned through 130deg inside the

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➜ MAIN Frankel had a full head of hair when he set out. You can now add a windscreen at no extra cost but does that defeat the Elva’s purpose?

BELOW The Elva takes inspiration from Bruce McLaren’s original ’60s opentop racers, being the M1A, M1B and M1C

O4 THE ELVA IS A CAR THAT MORE THAN MAKES GOOD ON THE PROMISE OF ITS APPEARANCE

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car, then spat out of a vent on the bonnet, creating an enormous ball of air travelling in the wrong direction, which then punches the main air flow upward, forcing it up and over your head. You only have to raise an arm into that elevated flow to realise the job it’s doing.

However, here’s the thing: it’s still not a windscreen, not even close.

But thanks to a few US states in which you can’t sell a car without a screen, one is now a no-cost option that I would take in a heartbeat.

When the roads clear and you let loose, the sensation of speed as the Elva accelerates might be the greatest I’ve experienced in a road car. More power and less weight than the McLaren Senna combined with exposure to the elements provides a unique sensory experience. But to use it properly, you need a track.

Although I was told that the

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Elva is track-capable but not track-optimised like the Senna, I actually preferred it. Because it has relatively little downforce, you don’t get the sense ever present in the Senna that the limitations of its street tyres are holding it back.

It just joyously attacks the circuit, sounding better than any McLaren since the F1 as it does so.

There’s a playfulness, a wonderful balance and that sense of it being hard wired into your thoughts that you get only with really light, beautifully set up cars. And it makes straights simply vanish – even at Goodwood, where the main one is quite long. Emerge from Lavant, let it rip, gear, gear, pause, gear, BRAKE! It feels like that.

It might not sound that vast a compliment to pay a car costing this much, but its feel is that of the best-sorted Caterham Seven you could imagine, turned up until

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ABOVE The AAMS works on road but turns off in Track mode because, above 200km/h, the ball of air it produces becomes so big that it actually causes more turbulence in the cockpit RIGHT Carbon-ceramic brakes help arrest the huge speeds the Elva can reach

the dial comes off in your hand.

And I know some will now ask why one wouldn’t then save millions by buying a Caterham, or an Ariel Atom, or any other similarly impractical sports car. But to those who do buy an Elva for its look, its exclusivity and its name, the answer is that it’s not a calculation it would occur to them to make.

I know some will still sneer at its impracticality and price and jump to probably accurate conclusions about its abbreviated production run, and I get that.

However, it would be a shame were that to obscure what is also the truth about the Elva, and an important one at that: this is the most fun car that McLaren Automotive has produced in its 10 years to date – which, for the maker of the Senna, P1 and all those LTs, is quite a back catalogue to beat.

➜ ABOVE According to McLaren, “advanced Ultrafabric materials” have been used to protect the cabin

THE SENSATION OF SPEED MIGHT BE THE GREATEST I’VE EXPERIENCED IN A ROAD CAR

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PORSCHE TAYCAN CROSS TURISMO Sporting electric wagon gets off-road makeover – is it one ingredient too many?

Rating

4.5

ENGINE Two permanent magnet motors POWER 560kW (overboost) TORQUE 1050Nm (overboost) 0-100km/h 2.9sec WEIGHT 2320kg PRICE $350,000 (est) BY $

RICHARD LANE

4S form, costs $201,000.

For that price, you get 420kW in an elegantly low-slung (if reptilian) shooting brake body that has Ferrari-grade kerbside ‘wow’ factor but is also fitted with roof rails and mounts at the rear for a bike rack.

It’s all outside the ordinary.

Yet that’s not all, because the comparatively sensible 4S isn’t the car we have here. Our first taste of the Cross Turismo in non-prototype guise instead comes in the form of the steaming-hot Turbo S, which sits at the very top of Porsche’s now eight-strong line-up of Taycan derivatives and seems an even more extraordinary device.

However, before you get too excited, it’s worth noting that the entry level Cross Turismo and the halo Turbo S aren’t currently

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➜

EACH AND EVERY summer, students graduating from the prestigious Vehicle Design masters degree at the Royal College of Art put on a show. Many of the scale models on display are spectacular, as you would expect given that they’re dreamed up in the brains of one-day chief designers for the world’s greatest car makers.

However, the ideas are often equally unrealistic: deliberate flights of fancy belonging far into the future. The cars look wild and purport to do everything you could imagine, but they could never actually exist. You can see where we’re headed here: Porsche’s new Taycan Cross Turismo feels a lot like one of those end-of-year concepts at the RCA. Only it’s on sale in 2021, rather than 2121, and in

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LIKE: Electric pseudo offroader; supercar pace; high levels of grip and traction DISLIKE: Turbo S guise not currently slated for Oz; pricing will put some off

TOP LEFT Cross Turismo shares its cabin with the sedan-based Taycan, so you get all the luxury/tech with extra space RIGHT Power/torque figures aside, pause for a moment as you take in the fact that this 2320kg wagon reaches 100km/h in 2.9sec and covers 400m in a claimed 10.7sec

slated for Australia. Instead, we get the meat in the sandwich, being the aforementioned 4S and the $271,200 Turbo (500kW/850Nm).

The Turbo S in particular is an automotive platypus: impossible to categorise. With 560kW and an extremely low centre of gravity it’s pure supercar, but three-chamber air suspension, space for four (or five, with the optional rear-bench) and an opulent cabin suggest plush-riding family GT. Overlaid on this are five rideheight settings, beefy wheel-arch claddings and a Gravel mode, all of which hint at some level of rough-road ability, and, along with the improved head room, are where the Cross Turismo delineates from the regular Taycan saloon.

The long shooting brake silhouette then allows for a generous 1171 litres of boot space when the rear seats are folded flat; and even with the backrests up. You get 366 litres with the seats in place, which aces even the 357 litres of the Tesla Model X. Real utility, in other words,

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M FRONT END. JUST LAUNCHED even if the aperture itself is highlipped and slightly narrow, on account of the Cross Turismo’s phenomenally broad hips, which cover 305/30-section Pirellis and optional 21-inch wheels.

Finally, there’s the fact this thing is electric. And that’s the most startling element of the package, because before 2019, no roadgoing car had left Zuffenhausen without pistons. So, what exactly is the Cross Turismo? Beyond an engineering flex of truly Schwarzeneggerian proportions, I’m still not sure.

Kerb weight is in excess of 2.3 tonnes as a result of the 93.4kWh battery, which yields a claimed 418km or 495km in city driving.

That heft is competitive in terms of its electric rival set, the Tesla Model X Performance tipping the scales at more than 2.5 tonnes.

As for charging, the 800V electrical system (400V is more typical in the industry) means you’ll replenish from 5 to 80 per cent capacity in 20 minutes if you can locate a 350kW DC charger.

The sense that you’re guiding an awful lot of momentum is everpresent but is so well masked that it becomes only a faint awareness.

Instead, you marvel at the manner in which the suspension – doublewishboned at the front with something similar at the rear – seems to pad out imperfections in the road surface but keep you

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thoroughly dialled into it, aided by the surprisingly chatty steering and excellent sports seats.

This car flows down even quite technical roads with the kind of delicate accuracy you would be delighted to discover in something much smaller and lighter. You can steer it with your fingertips, while balancing the chassis with the responsive throttle, which biases the more powerful rear-axle motor over the one at the front.

The Turbo S touts the full scope of Porsche’s complex chassis tech, including active anti-roll bars, torque vectoring and rear-steering, yet the resulting blend of comfort and control feels effortless.

As for handling, the priorities are stability and roadholding. The physics involved are extreme, and the Cross Turismo isn’t a car that naturally encourages you to take liberties. Flick it through tighter corners and the clandestine battle that constantly rages between all that mass and the mammoth tyres is thrown briefly into relief.

Whereas a Porsche 911 gives you some freedom, here the stability control clamps down on any form of waywardness without hesitation.

And if the electric motor does get the better of the rear contact patches, the traction control steps in with prescient speed.

However, both are infrequent events, because the reserves of grip and traction are enormous,

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➜ RIGHT We’d hesitate about launching the Cross Turismo at the French Line but it’s pretty adept at this sort of thing BELOW RIGHT If the rear boot isn’t enough cargo capacity for you, the ‘frunk’ offers an additional 84 litres of storage space BELOW If you plan to take your Cross Turismo through some dirt, there is an optional off-road pack – optimistically, it even comes with a compass

especially in Sport mode, where the air springs contract and the body hunkers down (the default ride height is some 20mm higher than that of a Taycan sedan).

Fast, finessed and secure, the Cross Turismo has one more card to play that you wouldn’t expect in terms of real-world appeal: fine cruising manners. With the optional double-glazed windows, passengers can converse with little more than a whisper at 110km/h.

That kerb weight also gives the car a fundamentally reassuring and very relaxing gait – one superior to what you would experience in a Panamera or indeed many a hardcore sedan. Or, indeed, a regular Taycan. It would be a joy to deploy for the road trips, assuming that you had your charging pit stops planned out.

So, again, what is this Porsche?

Well, it isn’t as practical as the Audi RS6 Avant or as playfully fluid as AMG’s GT 4-Door Coupe, and it doesn’t tout the range of the Tesla Model X (which in Plaid form is even more accelerative).

What it can do is reward and relax in equal measure, all while feeling supercar-special, despite possessing a genuinely impressive breadth of ability.

The Turbo S is hugely expensive and pointlessly fast, but one imagines lesser versions available already will feel no less cohesive and every bit as desirable.

WHAT IT CAN DO IS REWARD AND RELAX IN EQUAL MEASURE, ALL WHILE FEELING SUPERCAR-SPECIAL

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VW GOLF GTI Sharpness comes to GTI’s handling but not its price

Rating

4.0

ENGINE 1984cc inline-4, DOHC, 16v, turbo POWER 180kW @ 5000-6200rpm TORQUE 370Nm @ 1600-4300rpm 0-100KM/H 6.4sec (claimed) WEIGHT 1309kg • PRICE $53,100

LIKE: Sharper to drive; wide spectrum of damper settings; great cabin tech DISLIKE: Close to $60,000; no extra grunt; no manual for the diehards

BY JEZ SPINKS

LEFT VW says larger 19-inch alloys won’t be offered – a boon for ride quality, but not so in term of exterior styling

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AS A HOT-HATCH consistently regarded as the consummate all-rounder, the Volkswagen Golf GTI hasn’t needed to set race tracks alight.The heritage-heavy hatchback’s success has been based on an endearingly durable formula: fun-to-drive five-door (sometimes three-door) with refined everyday utility over raw, single-focused ability.

As we find ourselves at Sydney’s Luddenham circuit for the local launch of the eighth-generation GTI, the “brains over brawn” approach – to use VW’s words – is even more emphatic.

While the Mk8 GTI carries over the same 180kW/370Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder from its predecessor (with only some detail updates including new, higher-pressure fuel injectors), the Golf’s chief new trick is a driving dynamics computer.

The Vehicle Dynamics Manager (VDM) is designed to keep the GTI’s limited-slip front diff,

ESC-based electronic ‘diff’ and adaptive suspension all synced through corners rather than operating independently. There are significant componentry changes, too. Front suspension changes include an aluminium subframe that increases stiffness while reducing weight by three kilograms. Spring rates are also increased front and rear – by 5 and 15 per cent, respectively.

The Mk7 GTI, particularly in Performance guise, gave a respectable account of itself on the track, though multiple laps of the short-and-sweet Luddenham Raceway in the Mk8 point to a hothatch that is now sharper to drive.

Start pushing for those extra tenths with later braking and faster corner-entry speeds and the Mk8 seems more inclined to match the driver’s ambitions and stay within the vicinity of their desired line.

Through Luddenham’s best corner – a medium speed, uphill

RIGHT The venerable EA888 continues on with updates and remains a linear and tractable unit

MAIN With a 374-litre boot, official fuelconsumption claim of 7.0L/100km and decent cabin space, it’s no wonder the GTI is often lauded as the ultimate useable hot hatch

O6

THE CHASSIS FEELS ALIVE AS IT SLIDES ACROSS THE APEX, ADJUSTING TO SUBTLE LIFTS AND NUDGES OF THE THROTTLE PEDAL

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right-hander that tempts you to be greedy but is tighter than the initially wide entry suggests – the GTI’s chassis feels quite alive as it four-wheel slides across the apex, adjusting to subtle lifts and nudges of the throttle pedal.

In addition to the Comfort and Sport modes that influence steering, drivetrain and suspension responses, the driver can access no fewer than 15 damper settings – selected via a sliding scale on the centre touchscreen.

The GTI naturally feels at its tautest and sharpest on a track in its stiffest set-up. Drivers can also tailor the interventions of the stability and traction control systems via the touchscreen.

ESP Sport allows some lateral movement without the electronics feeling overly intrusive and killing the fun, while ESP Off does what it says on the tin without bringing spookiness to the ever-friendly, predictable handling.

Plenty of grip from the 18-inch Bridgestone Turanzas helps, as do the brakes that provided consistent feel and strength for successive laps. The GTI gets its power down neatly, too, with negligible torque steer and wheelspin from the front axle.

In GTI tradition, the steering

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isn’t especially communicative but serves the driver well with its accuracy and directness.

Volkswagen’s mid-range hothatch doesn’t feel any quicker than before – and isn’t by the clock based on an unchanged 0-100km/h claim of 6.4 seconds.

Performance from the EA888 engine is still enjoyable with minimal lag, linear delivery and a vigorous mid-range. It revs cleanly towards higher rpms, though an earlier upshift always feels more productive to exploit a wide torque band covering 1600 to 4300rpm.

And there’s no missing the bright red central rev counter, complete with GTI logo, provided by the new-look (and still customisable) digital instrument display.

With limited demand killing the local business case for the sixspeed manual, paddles are the driver’s tools for manipulating gears via the seven-speed dualclutch gearbox. The spread of ratios felt spot on at Luddenham, and the transmission responds quickly if not always slickly.

The GTI’s four-cylinder, which runs on 95RON, continues to sound purposeful, though exhaust theatrics are a bit subdued. Extra noise would be expected from the 221kW/400Nm Clubsport 45

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available overseas, though VW for now is making Australians wait for any special editions.

The regular model’s price is already a bit of an elephant in the pitlane garage, mind. Starting from $53,100 before on-road costs, the Mk8 GTI is priced more than 10 per cent above the last Mk7.5 and a long way from the $37,490 entry point of just three years ago, albeit for the stripped-back, three-door manual GTI Original.

There’s never been more standard equipment in a GTI, however. Even over its wellequipped predecessor, the Mk8 gains metallic paint, privacy glass, three-zone climate control, wireless smartphone charging, multi-colour LED ambient interior lighting, and a 10.0-inch infotainment touchscreen. An expanded driver assistance suite includes partial

WE’LL NEED NORMAL ROADS AND THE EVERYDAY GRIND TO FULLY TEST ITS ROUNDEDNESS ABOVE Fully digital instrument cluster works/looks a treat, but the (almost) buttonfree dash requires acclimatisation LEFT Body-hugging seats offer decent bolstering for the track and comfort for the daily grind

autonomous steering.

There are still a couple of option packs, which can further embellish the interior with various items but have no influence on the way the GTI drives. Not even 19-inch wheels are now offered, with VW Australia believing the 18s provide the perfect ride/ handling balance.

For now, we only know how the Mk8 GTI drives on a track, and it ticks that box in a convincing way. But to truly understand how good a GTI the Mk8 is, we’ll need normal roads and the everyday grind to fully test its roundedness.

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50 YEARS: CELEBRATING THE LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH

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50 YEARS OF EXTREME LAMBORGHINI ST STUNNED THE WORLD IN ’7 ’71 WITH THE COUNTACH, A REVEAL THAT SET A SUP SUPERCAR TEMPLATE. OR DID IT?

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938 WAS A VINTAGE year for Italian car designers. It gave us Leonardo Fioravanti, Giorgetto Giugiaro and Marcello Gandini.

These three men, each in their own particular way, were responsible for the legendary Lamborghini Countach, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Of course, it’s Gandini. It always was. The Geneva Motor show of 1971 was Gandini’s finest hour. Not only did Lamborghini show the astonishing Miura P400 SV, it also unveiled the car that set a trajectory for the modern supercar that endures to this day.

Giugiaro didn’t care for Gandini. When the latter applied for a position with Carrozzeria Bertone in 1963, it was Giugiaro who blocked his way. Gandini was patient, and when Giugiaro left for Ghia two years later, the 27 year-old designer had better luck.

Now, consider the timeline. Gandini was hired as a junior stylist and one of his very first jobs was to work on clothing the rolling Miura chassis that Lamborghini had originally presented at the 1965 Turin Show. Sant’Agata couldn’t claim credit for inventing the mid-engined sports car, as Rene Bonnet had already brought the delightful Matra Djet to market, but the Miura moved things into a new realm and Gandini was responsible for creating the clamshell front and rear ends to wrap around the compact passenger cell. The louvred rear window and the flip-up headlamps were obvious Gandini garnishes. He even sketched the Miura badge, replete with bull’s horns and tail.

To this day, Gandini and Giugiaro disagree on much about the Miura. The latter feels that the Miura was his work and that Gandini merely completed what he had started. Naturally, Gandini has a different opinion.

“In the autumn of 1965, Ferruccio Lamborghini, Paolo Stanzani and Gianpaolo Dallara came to me and proposed that I work with them on a project,” he says. “I didn’t start straight away because I still had a few projects to finish, so in the end I produced the first sketches in late November. I remember that by 10.00pm on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1965, we had practically finished the model in wood and ecowood. We managed to beat Father Christmas to it by a couple of hours. Then the car was made in January and February and presented in March.”

Depending on who you believe, Gandini had seemingly come from nowhere, with no formal design qualifications to create the shape of the very first supercar within the space of twelve months or, well, he didn’t. That’s by the by. What we do know is that there’s no Giugiaro influence at all in what came next, the astonishing Countach. The extremity of its design was fuelled by Gandini’s desire to obliterate the influence of Giugiaro.

“The fact is that the Countach represented a clean break from some of the car industry’s consolidated practices. It didn’t refer to any other previous cars.

It was not in people’s eyes; tastes had not been educated to appreciate it. Initially it was a culturally alien form, but within a few years it became an object-symbol,” says Gandini.

Time tends to move slowly at Sant’Agata. It’s rarely been a place where there seems in much of a rush to get

THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW OF 1971 WAS GANDINI’S FINEST HOUR

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COUNTACH 50 YEARS ONE Original badging was an exercise in a word not really associated with the Countach - understatement TWO Countach build process was incredibly labour-intensive. Getting the door fit right was the biggest headache THREE Alfa Montreal, E12 BMW 5 Series, Fiat X1/9, Maserati Khamsin and Citroen BX all sprang from Gandini’s drawing board FOUR With LP400 prices now starting at over $1m, this one is more within our budget FIVE Famous periscopio never worked. It projected a view too high to be useful

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ABOVE The basic proportions of the Countach’s profile have carried over into every mid-engined Lamborghini mborghini since

things done. In a market where buyers want the newest and shiniest things, Lamborghini’s supersports cars are the Huracan, which has been on sale for seven years, and the Aventador, which has been around for 10. It’s quite remarkable, therefore that the Countach appeared a mere 60 months after the Miura was unveiled, and instantly consigned its predecessor to the back catalogue.

The yellow 5.0-litre LP500S that appeared on the show stand in Geneva was a chimera. Beneath its alien skin, it featured a shortened half-spaceframe chassis and engine that wasn’t to see production, the prototype eventually meeting its end being driven into a concrete block at the MIRA facility north of Nuneaton, in what has to be the

world’s most pointless and tragic crash test.

Even then, production was not guaranteed. At around the same time that flashbulbs were popping at Geneva, Lamborghini’s tractor operations were struggling.

Without that cashflow and with the oil crisis looming, Ferruccio Lamborghini was unconvinced by the numbers around the Countach. After a protracted bout of armtwisting by engineers Stanzani and Bizzarrini, he was talked into a wager. If test driver Bob Wallace could drive the prototype from Sant’Agata down to the Targa Florio in Sicily and back without it breaking down, Lamborghini would green light production. In May 1972, Wallace Ferruccio’s office a and shook sounded the horn outside Ferruccios

THIS AUTOMOTIVE COLOSSUS IS MINUSCULE, TAKING

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hands with the old man, who smiled, shrugged and returned to work.

Between the 1971 Geneva Show and the first LP400 customer deliveries in 1974, the Countach changed a great deal. Out went the 328kW 5.0-litre V12 and in came a 276kW 3929cc unit developed from the Bizzarrini powerplant in the Espada. Likewise the chassis changed, adopting a full tubular spaceframe which weighed 90kg less than the show cars’ steel plate lash-up. Steel body panels made way for aluminium bodywork, the electronic dash was ditched and breathing was improved using air scoops and NACA ducts. After smashing 20 of the twopiece side windows trying to fit them, Lamborghini p

relented and fitted a simpler three-pane arrangement.

The Countach entered production in LP400 guise, but it wasn’t long before Austrian-Canadian multimillionaire and F1 team owner Walter Wolf wanted something more special. And what Mr Wolf wanted, he tended to get, unless you choose to bring F1 constructors’ championships into the mix. Wolf’s vision for the Countach changed its direction for good. Out went the sensuality of the original shape and in came a car that would launch millions of bedroom wall posters. Tacked-on wheelarch extensions, teledial alloys, huge Pirelli P7 tyres, the iconic but aerodynamically hopeless arrow-section rear wing and, most importantly, a 5.0-litre engine. Wolf ordered

ABOVE The only thing recognisable at Sant’Agata today are those terracotta floor tiles

UP LESS ROAD SPACE THAN A MODERN FORD FOCUS

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01

02

COUNTACH 50 YEARS

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ONE V12 engine spun longitudinally compared to the Miura’s transverse fitment.

Driveshaft ran through the sump as a result TWO Original LP112 design study didn’t feature the now-iconic box intakes THREE Few cars wore pop-up lamps better than the Countach FOUR Brazed spaceframe is a work of art but slotting the engine into it is a black art FIVE Switchgear is haphazard. Budget went on chassis and left little for interior. The tab on the gate is a lockout to prevent snagging reverse when going for second

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YOU WON’T FIND A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE COUNTACH ON THE WALLS OF GANDINI’S STUDIO two of these cars, one red and the second finished in Bugatti Blue, and these were to become the basis for the LP400S, which arrived in 1978.

Enter Leonardo Fioravanti. Every story needs an antihero and, as far as Sant’Agata is concerned, here’s your man, because Fioravanti is cast as the wrecker, the man to demolish a fifty-year-old myth. You probably know the story already. Ferrari was selling Fioravanti’s frontengined 365 GTB/4 Daytona, which instantly appeared a relic when the Countach launched. And after that, Ferrari followed Lamborghini with another Fioravanti design, the 365 GT/4 BB, playing mid-engined catch up.

Except that’s all baloney. It never happened.

The first Ferrari BB was shown at the same 1971 Turin Show as the Countach prototype and beat it to market, customers taking delivery a year before any paying punters got the keys to a Countach. At this stage, Ferrari had more experience in building mid-engined cars than Lamborghini, with more than 3000 Dino-badged 206 GT and 246 GT/GTS models rolling from Scaglietti’s gates.

The BB never had to play catch up either. Between launch and the end of its life in 1982, it outsold the Countach by better than five to one.

Fioravanti then reprised that success with the BB’s replacement, the Ferrari Testarossa. Lamborghini designed the 5.2-litre Countach QV in response to Testarossa development, and not vice versa. In three years from 1985, Lamborghini sold 610 units of the angriest production Countach. By contrast, Ferrari sold more than 1000 Testarossas every year across its seven year production run.

So perhaps Lamborghini’s spinning of the Countach yarn is a filigree of tall tales and exaggerations. This is a car that sold, on average, 122 units per year across its sixteen-year lifespan. Marcello Gandini doesn’t care for sales figures, nor does he particularly care about the one thing that defined the Countach, its aesthetic.

“Just styling is not fun,” he says, preferring to concentrate on assembly, mechanisms and architecture.

Gandini’s next commission after the Countach was for Ferrari, with the Bertone-credited 308 GT4, a hat tip

by Ferrari to the quality of his work for the tractor boys across the Emilian plain.

So perhaps the Countach is a car that has always benefited from a certain fudging of fact. Its adherents don’t care and nor do we. The reason nobody remembers that the 365 GT/4 BB was present in the show hall in Turin back in ’71 speaks volumes. There was only one word on showgoers’ lips. Countach!

Half a century on, its impact has barely palled.

By today’s standards this automotive colossus is minuscule, taking up less space on the road than a modern Ford Focus. Gandini doesn’t think of it as his finest work, preferring instead the similarly petite Lancia Stratos HF. No matter. Somewhere between the romance and reality is the story of how the work and influence of three men resulted in the definitive supercar. You won’t find a photograph of the car on the walls of Gandini’s studio.

“My archive is generally the waste paper basket, which I keep under here. I prefer the archive of memory: it easily erases the disagreeable items.” d

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M COMPARISON. MACH 1 MUSTANG V SUPRA GTS

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FORD ENTERS NEW TERRITORY AT MACH 1 AND ENGAGES A FORMIDABLE OPPONENT

BY C A M E R O N K I R BY + P I C S E L L E N D E WA R

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N OCTOBER 14, 1968, the famously benign Switzerland initiated an unprovoked military attack on its diminutive neighbour, Liechtenstein.

The target was the Malbun ski resort, which was hit with five artillery shells in a dominant show of force. It would have been quite a shock for the largely defenceless European microstate, which occupies an area roughly a hundred square kilometres smaller than the regional Victorian city of Bendigo.

That is, if it hadn’t been for one thing.

Switzerland, the larger aggressor both in terms of physical size and outright power, initiated the assault completely by accident, and apologised profusely.

Thankfully, the only casualties were a handful of outdoor dining chairs.

This, oddly enough, goes someway to explaining Ford’s accidentally hostile strategy with the Mach 1 Mustang.

When the Mustang first landed in Australia in 2016 the flagship 5.0-litre V8 powered GT cost a smidge less than $60K, making it a natural rival to the final Holden Commodore SS-V, and not much else. Its relative affordability paired with 306kW of naturally aspirated V8 power and iconic coupe styling made it a sales hit, and it’s easy to understand why.

Now five years later, in a perfect display of mission creep, the flagship Mach 1 Mustang costs more than $80,000, putting it in the same financial ballpark as cars it never intended to compete against on initial launch.

Ford has made small incremental bumps in performance and exclusivity to match the increased price, with 345kW now being deployed by the specialedition ’Stang (along with a raft of new go-fast mechanical additions), of which just 700 are coming Down Under.

The most important updates for the Mach 1 sit underneath its more aggressive bumper treatment and retro badging, with the induction system, intake manifold, oil cooler and 87mm throttle bodies lifted from the Shelby GT350. Initially the track-focused ’Stang was intended to be fitted with a Torsen limited-slip differential as standard, but the final specification ended up somewhat other than expected (see sidebar). All righthand drive Mach 1s are instead fitted with Ford’s own mechanical limited-slip differential instead of the Torsen unit, which is identical to that found in the Bullitt and GT Mustangs. Despite the change Ford says the Mach 1’s diff is still fitted with the requisite cooler to ensure performance remains unchanged. Scott Newman’s track test in MOTOR’s May issue, and our day of hard driving for this comparison, would indicate that customers are at no great loss because of the swap.

THE MUSTANG IS NOW IN THE SAME REALM AS CARS IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO COMPETE AGAINST

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LEFT Both cars have their own distinct styling flavour, but retro badging on the Mach 1 is old-school cool

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Despite the noble intent of these upgrades, Ford has. perhaps inadvertently, found itself marching with a heavy foot into the territory of a car that speaks more quietly yet carries a very big stick – the Toyota Supra. It’s only fair then that we bring the pair together to see if Dearborn’s hero can hold its own against the pride of Japan, or Graz if we’re being accurate. The Toyota is smaller, less powerful, and more expensive than the Mustang, but wears a badge of honour from narrowly vanquishing the MercedesAMG A45 S in a previous comparison test. Game on.

Both cars are exclusively rear-driven and utilise torque converter automatics (10 ratios in the Ford and eight in the Toyota). The variant we have here is the full-fat Supra GTS, but as we’ve noted before, the entry-level GT offers exactly the same performance credentials with 10 grand slashed from the price tag, which is only a couple of thousand dollars more compared to the Mach 1.

These cars fight in different weight classes. The Mach 1 is carrying an extra 284kg of heft, which you can’t escape behind the wheel. It’s also 410mm longer, with an extra 250mm between the axles. Interestingly, the Supra has the wider front-track of the two. You get a larger cabin and rear seats in the Mustang because of the physical differences, but the extra size and weight play against it dynamically, and the back seats are practically useless.

When it comes to firepower, the Mustang has the edge, with its naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 producing 345kW and 556Nm. The Supra uses a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six cylinder, which now produces 285kW and 500Nm after a power bump late last year.

Where the previous 250kW example would only reach peak power at 7800rpm, the updated Supra gives you 285kW from 58006500rpm, while the peak torque figure remains unchanged but is spread across a larger window of 1800rpm-5000rpm (previously 1600-4500rpm).

Lined up for performance testing, the Supra and Mustang both struggle for traction. However, it’s the Toyota which manages better off-the line, and between 10-60km/h it ekes out a circa four-tenth advantage that it never relinquishes. The key difference is the length it takes for the Mustang to recover from flares of wheelspin at low speeds. Identical 80-120km/h times are a testament to the evenly matched performance. Both coupes are fourtenths behind their claimed 0-100km/h sprint times on a cold and intermittently drizzly day but hard acceleration in each presses your head back into the seat and requires your full attention as they chirp the tyres between shifts.

BMW’s B58 engine has a vast powerband which the Supra deploys at will. With peak torque and power now available more readily, the Supra feels eager to launch toward the next bend the moment you start to apply more throttle. The power delivery feels well judged for fast road driving. Drive the Supra on a winding back road and you won’t feel short-changed or be left wanting for more.

The Coyote V8 is a peach of an engine that is happy to rev hard. If you are used to thinking of V8s as primitive, cumbersome, iron-block anchors, this 5.0-litre is a complete subversion of the stereotype. However, access

FAR RIGHT Oh joy, another engine bay filled with plastic. Extra bracing is new for 2021 Supra RIGHT (MIDDLE) At no point when driving the Supra do you rue BMW’s interior influence

THE TOYOTA IS SMALLER, LESS POWERFUL, AND MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE MUSTANG

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MAIN Mid-corner speed is where the Supra really excels, and that’s saying something given it can crack 100km/h in just 4.5sec

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to the best it has to offer is oddly hidden away. This is due to a number of factors; primarily a surprisingly long throttle pedal – you can find yourself thinking you are at max attack only to discover there is another inch of travel remaining. When you finally break the mental barrier and keep your foot pressed firmly to the firewall, it’s not until the final thousand revolutions that peak power comes on tap. The result of this issue is that unless you have your eyes glued to the tacho you can be plucking another ratio circa 1500rpm before the 7500rpm redline to avoid colliding with the soft-cut limiter. Ford’s decision to give the Mustang a mile of throttle travel seems even stranger when you consider the high brake pedal. While it works fine for heel and toe, merely transitioning from throttle to brake without bothering the shifter means you can easily slide your foot into the side of, instead of onto the top of, the second pedal.

Once you adapt to the Mustang’s quirks it becomes apparent that this is a sports car worthy of its new found tax bracket. It is a fast car, and thankfully the Brembo brake system has impressive bite once you push through the initial hesitance at the top of the pedal’s arc. The suspension has a softer demeanour with a level of body control that seems slackened very slightly to provide more pronounced pitch and roll. This small level of extra movement compensates in terms of communication for the steering, which can most generously be described as vague. It has a level of numbness that blankets all your inputs, and the returning feedback is muted.

Part of this can be attributed to the slower steering rack (2.5 turns lock-to-lock compared to the Supra’s 2.0), but it also provides little in the way of positive communication. In this area the Toyota has so much more finesse that it’s a clear class above.

The Strip A replacement for displacement

TOP RIGHT Recaro seats provide plenty of support in the Mustang, but even at their lowest setting sit a touch too high for us

FORD MUSTANG MACH 1

TOYOTA SUPRA GTS

0-10km/h

0.46

0-10km/h

0.46

0-20km/h

0.94

0-20km/h

0.88

0-30km/h

1.45

0-30km/h

1.26

0-40km/h

1.91

0-40km/h

1.66

0-50km/h

2.35

0-50km/h

2.03

0-60km/h

2.85

0-60km/h

2.43

0-70km/h

3.33

0-70km/h

2.86

0-80km/h

3.79

0-80km/h

3.38

0-90km/h

4.37

0-90km/h

3.93

0-100km/h

4.86

0-100km/h

4.49

0-110km/h

5.54

0-110km/h

5.13

0-120km/h

6.26

0-120km/h

5.83

0-130km/h

6.95

0-130km/h

6.63

0-140km/h

7.81

0-140km/h

7.44

0-150km/h

8.74

0-150km/h

8.33

0-160km/h

9.71

0-160km/h

9.37

0-170km/h

10.86

0-170km/h

10.45

0-400m 12.89sec @ 185.45km/h

0-400m 12.55sec @ 187.36km/h

80-120km/h 2.4sec

80-120km/h 2.4sec

100-0km/h 35.85m

100-0km/h 36.51m

SPEED IN GEARS

SPEED IN GEARS

MIDDLE RIGHT Brembo brakes are brilliant on the Ford - slightly soft initial pedal bite aside

1st 60km/h @ 7500rpm

1st 54km/h @ 7200rpm

2nd 94km/h @ 7500rpm

2nd 84km/h @ 7200rpm

3rd 130km/h @ 7500rpm

3rd 130km/h @ 7200rpm

4th 158km/h @ 7500rpm

4th 164km/h @ 7200rpm

5th 184km/h @ 7500rpm

5th 215km/h @ 7000rpm*

6th 219km/h @ 7500rpm

6th 250km/h @ 6200rpm*

BELOW RIGHT Everything in the Mustang’s cabin feels like it was built for a 500lb Texan called Jimbob

7th 270km/h @ 7250rpm*

7th 250km/h @ 5100rpm*

8th 270km/h @ 6150rpm*

8th 250km/h @ 3960rpm*

9th 270km/h @ 5000rpm*

9th N/A

10th 270km/h @ 4325rpm*

10th N/A

Winton Raceway, dry. Driver: Scott Newman *Manufacturer’s claim.

Official timing Partner www.vboxaustralia.com.au

Because of the steering you have to work at the Mach 1 to access the best of its dynamic abilities. While the muted front-end and extra weight compared to the Toyota are ever present, the Mustang remains an absolute laugh when you grab it by the scruff of the neck – it is a joyous experience for those wanting something that doesn’t take itself quite so seriously. This is accentuated by the soundtrack, which is classic hits rock’n’roll V8 roar with the amps turned to 11. Even in its ‘Normal’ exhaust setting the Mustang is shockingly loud. In direct contrast the Supra’s exhaust is comparatively muted. Sure it’ll pop and bang here or there, but it seems almost half-hearted compared to the bombastic antics of the ’Stang. Want every drive to feel like an event? The Mustang is the car for you. The Mustang’s shortcomings are difficult to establish until you put it against a car as focused and well-prepared

THE SUPRA WILL POP AND BANG HERE OR THERE, BUT IT SEEMS HALF-HEARTED NEXT TO THE MUSTANG

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SPEC OPS

In the time between the Mach 1 being announced for Australia, and finally arriving, several features had been removed from the physical cars, but not promotional materials – namely the Torsen limitedslip diff, adaptive cruise control, and audible parking sensors. To say sorry, Ford

is giving Mach 1 owners a free track day and servicing.

For buyers in the market for a Supra there are just two variants on offer. If you opt for the Supra GTS over its cheaper GT sibling you gain 19-inch wheels (up from 18 inches), wrapped in the same Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres as the

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GT, larger rear brakes with red calipers, metal pedals, a head-up display, JBL sound system, and the ability to option Alcantara interior trim and matte grey paint at $2500 a pop. The extra features will set you back 10 stacks and you don’t even get a free day at the track.

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DRIVE THE SUPRA ON A WINDING ROAD, AND YOU WON’T LEAVE ANYTHING ON THE TABLE

as the Supra.

If you don’t test drive another vehicle, you’ll be none the wiser, and can easily and understandably fall for the Mach 1’s charms.

It must be said that the V8 engine and its associated theatre in the Mustang attracts buyers of its own right. While Toyota can’t match Ford on an emotional level, it makes a compelling logical case. If you completely disregard the Supra on the basis of its cylinder count alone you are walking away from one of the finest driving experiences for less than $100K, and it might be time to re-evaluate your priorities.

Driving the Supra quickly is a more engaging experience compared to the Mustang, with information transferred from the road to your extremities clearly and concisely.

You know exactly what is going on with the front wheels at all times, with the intimate and instant connection between driver and car aided by the small cabin and slender steering wheel. Where the Mustang has a big, chunky feel to everything it does, the Supra has greater poise, is lighter on its feet, and incredibly agile. Toyota has pulled a rabbit out of the bag with the steering. It

TOP RIGHT Note the beltlines.

Sitting in the Toyota you are almost at eye level with the Ford’s door handles LEFT Tyre widths are identical on both, with 275mm at the rear and 255 up front. Though, Supra wears slightly sportier treads

is light and delicate, yet has plenty of feedback which is communicated with fine levels of fidelity. It is truly a delight.

Put simply, it is a faster, crisper, purer experience. But sometimes you don’t want pure. Sometimes you want to feel like a hero – which is exactly where the Mustang steps in with all its bravado.

Despite its BMW origins, the Supra still has all some key hallmarks of a Toyota, for better or worse. Namely the ESC setting, which is typical Toyota in its early interventions.

That’s a shame, because when you loosen the nannies, you realise the Supra has a wonderfully neutral chassis balance and is progressive and communicative in the way it relinquishes grip, allowing you to compensate appropriately. Understand its limits and the Supra will engage and interact as a very willing participant, where the Mustang always feels like you have taken it out of its comfort zone. That brutish muscle car character is ever present compared to the Supra’s refined and polished sports coupe credentials.

To its credit, where the Mach 1 is comfortable is a wider window of operation than that offered by the Supra. You d

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could easily use the Mustang as a grand tourer on long drives where doing the same in the Toyota would only be understandable if your end destination is an insane asylum with the smaller physical size and persistent road noise eradicating any long distance driving credentials it may hope to possess. The Supra’s cabin, which feels shrink wrapped around you, is great on a twisting road, but when the world opens up and you want space to breathe, the Mach 1 is the only viable option.

While Australians miss out on the full-fat GT350R and GT500 Mustangs, the Mach 1 is essentially a Shelbylite and all the better for it. This is the best performing enthusiast-focused Mustang ever offered for sale in Australia. Where the R-Spec had the feel of a wicked-up hot rod, the Mach 1 is a more holistic sports car. Both in terms of price and performance it justifies its existence in a way that puts a mile-wide grin on your face. For those wanting an experience when driving, the Mach 1 gives you that at every turn. It’s an elbows out arrival into hostile waters from Ford Performance.

Despite costing more and providing less power, the Supra bobs and weaves beyond the Mach 1’s reach. It’s sharp, tactile, and is one of the best drivers’ cars you can buy at this price point. From inception to execution Toyota has been clear with the Supra’s intent, achieving it brilliantly. Driving the Supra after the Mustang is akin to going from a bass-heavy Beats Bluetooth speaker to a full set of Naim hi-fi separates.

The finer levels of fidelity gives you greater clarity and a purer experience behind the wheel.

But the fact the Supra outperforms the Mustang points to an interesting historical shift that is at play with these two cars. Both Ford and Toyota have transitioned them away from the true spirits of their ancestors, closer toward what the collective zeitgeist has decided each should represent.

Where the original Mustang of the ’60s was a lighter, smaller, nimbler counterpart to the swaggering muscle cars Detroit was building en masse, this modern interpretation has a distinct brutish flavour because that’s what buyers now expect of it. Similarly, the MkIV Supra was more grand tourer than sporting scalpel, but pop culture phenomena like The Fast and the Furious and Gran Turismo transformed that perception in its entirety.

The MkV is as focused as it is partly due to its Germanic links, but mostly because The People demanded it.

Perception has become reality.

Where the Ford stumbled into its place in the sports car hierarchy and has performed a clever remedial job in justifying its newfound status, the Toyota was brought into the world riding on the coat tails of BMW’s dynamic excellence, comfortable with its end goal and effortlessly assuming its new sporting mantle.

Following its first salvo in ’68, Switzerland would ‘invade’ Liechtenstein a further five times. Ford may have lost the first battle, but with a new generation of Mustang looming in the distance, we suspect this isn’t the end of the Blue Oval’s accidental performance car war.

BOTH ’STANG AND SUPRA HAVE MOVED AWAY FROM THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THEIR ANCESTORS

TOP RIGHT We are yet to fully adjust to seeing the GR badge instead of TRD, but if Toyota keeps using it on products like the Supra we won’t mind MAIN RIGHT It’s hard to look at this photo and not be excited about the current state of performance cars BELOW RIGHT Admire those curves while you can. Few cars cover ground as quickly as the Supra, so good luck keeping up

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The T he S Specs pecs Crossing Cros Cr ros ossi sing sing gw weight eigh ei ght cl c classes las a se sess FORD MUSTANG MACH 1 BODY DRIVE ENGINE BORE X STROKE COMPRESSION POWER TORQUE POWER/WEIGHT TRANSMISSION WEIGHT

TOYOTA SUPRA GTS

2-door, 4-seat coupe

2-door, 2-seat coupe

rear-wheel

rear-wheel

5038cc V8, DOHC, 32v

2998cc inline-6, DOHC, 24v, turbocharged

93 x 92.7mm

82 x 94.6mm

12.0:1

11.0:1

345kW @ 7000rpm

285kW @ 5800-6500rpm

556Nm @ 4600rpm

500Nm @ 1800-5000rpm

194kW/tonne

190kW/tonne

10-speed automatic

8-speed automatic

1779kg struts, coil springs, adaptive dampers, antiSUSPENSION roll bar (f); multi-links, coil springs, adaptive dampers, anti-roll bar (r) L/W/H 4789/1916/1387mm

1495kg struts, adaptive dampers, coils, anti-roll bar (f); multi-links, adaptive dampers, coils, antiroll bar (r) 4379/1854/1292mm

WHEELBASE 2720mm TRACKS 1585/1654mm (f/r) STEERING electrically assisted rack-and-pinion

2470mm

BRAKES WHEELS TYRES PRICE PROS CONS

380mm ventilated discs, 6-piston calipers (f); 330mm ventilated discs, single-piston calipers (r) 19 x 9.5-inch (f); 19 x 10.0-inch (r) 255/40 R19 (f); 275/40 R19 (r) Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S $83,365 Raucous soundtrack; larger than life character; last of the atmo V8s?

Lack of steering feel; high seating position; can’t hide extra weight; odd pedal placement

STAR RATING 11113

1594/1589mm (f/r) electrically assisted rack-and-pinion 348mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (f); 345mm ventilated discs, single-piston calipers (r) 19 x 9.0-inch (f); 19 x 10.0-inch (r) 255/35 ZR19 (f); 275/35 ZR19 (r) Michelin Pilot Super Sport $97,126 Useable performance; overall chassis balance; agile handling Small cabin; intrusive road noise; muted exhaust sound

11112

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HOLY TRINITY. McLAREN F1 v PORSCHE 911 GT1 v MERCEDES-AMG CLK GTR

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THE

Wild

ONES

FORGET ABOUT HYBRIDS, THIS IS THE TRUE HOLY TRINITY. WE GATHER THE THREE ICONIC ROAD-LEGAL LE MANS LEGENDS... AND DRIVE THEM B Y H E N R Y C AT C H P O L E + P I C S A N DY M O R G A N

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NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY, I FIND I CAN’T HELP BUT SMILE AT THE ABSURDITY OF WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE ABOVE McLaren F1 was first to this party, with rivals from Porsche and Mercedes following – once it had won Le Mans RIGHT MAIN Tail-lights from Mercedes’ midranking CLK coupe are fooling nobody

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and the incredible road cars they spawned are something that even today, with the new LMH category, the FIA is striving to recreate.

Famously the McLaren F1 was never intended to go racing. Gordon Murray and the team created a road car.

And you can feel that as soon as you get into it. Granted, there is a convoluted technique (that I’ve yet to master) required if you want to get into an F1 as gracefully as you would a Ford Fiesta but, once ensconced, you can revel in a cockpit that feels all at once fantastically focused but also supremely spacious. Comfortable, too, despite the thin seat. You could imagine covering long distances in it. In fact, as the whole car is only 4288mm long and 1820mm wide, you could also happily conceive of popping into town.

Anyway, despite the obvious habitability of the F1, it was nonetheless created to exacting standards by a race team. As a performance road car, it had no equal at the time it was launched and so it was almost inevitable that,

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LEFT MAIN Peter Stevens’ sublime styling simply wraps the mechanical components – and refuses to date BELOW Central driving position is unique in this trio, even though the F1 was developed for the road first

THE MCLAREN F1 IS A CAR THAT YOU NEED MORE THAN A FIRST DATE TO GET TO KNOW in a race series based on road cars, it would also be top of the tree. When customers convinced McLaren that a race car program should be undertaken, it dominated the BPR Global GT Championship, winning both drivers’ and team titles in 1995 and 1996.

But it was the car’s victory, first time out, at Le Mans in 1995 that really put the cat among the pigeons. The victory may have been a little lucky, with the atrociously wet weather playing into the F1’s hands, but nonetheless it made the F1 GTR an instant icon.

Driving the F1 today remains an extraordinary experience. This, chassis 037, is the third F1 that I’ve been lucky enough to drive but these are such special cars that getting reacquainted isn’t the work of a moment. The 6.1-litre V12 dominates the experience because it is so responsive, so alive to every movement of the throttle.

The power really is palpable and it’s intimidating. It takes quite a bit of courage to really extend the engine, partly

LEFT The 6.1-litre atmo BMW V12 looks as dramatic as it sounds with genuine gold plating

because the gearshift has such a tight gate that for the first few miles there is a real concern about missing a shift across it as you go from second to third.

What’s more, in comparison to the whip-crack V12, the rest of the controls can feel a little slow in their responses.

The steering is full of feel but also heavy, with very little inclination to naturally re-centre. The brakes are certainly not the most reassuring. Combine these with suspension that allows a lot of movement in terms of roll, squat and dive, and tyres that have plenty of sidewall to flex, and you can quickly find your hands very full. Brake hard, sense that delicate nose dip, add a bit of steering lock, feel the weight of the engine behind you and... well, you want to be very careful about what you do next with the throttle.

It’s a car that you need to be positive with, otherwise you can feel like it is in control of you, not the other way round.

But you also need to be deft and in tune with the way it moves. It would be a glorious car to own, because it would not only thrill you every time you cracked the throttle and felt the manifestation of that startling power-to-weight ratio, it would also be a constant learning experience. In the same way that you need time to master the weightbalance wiles of an old 911, so the McLaren is a car that you need more than a first date to get to know. Talking of 911s...

That win at La Sarthe in 1995 must have really annoyed Porsche. The 24-hours was its playground. So, for 1996, Norbert Singer was tasked with producing a car that was d

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based on a 911 road car but could beat the mighty F1 on track. The result was the union of a 993 with a 962. As you sit in the driver’s seat of the GT1, there is every impression that you are sitting in a 911. The seat is from a 964, the five-dial dashboard is exactly what you would expect to find in a 993, save for the water temperature gauge. But behind you, hidden by the bulkhead through which the chunky gear linkage disappears, is pure race car.

Its first race in the BPR series was round eight at Brands Hatch in 1996 and, even though most thought the drivers were sandbagging, Hans-Joachim Stuck and Thierry Boutsen won easily. However, they couldn’t claim points because they were an invited entry (and it was late in the season) so McLaren again took both titles. The 911 GT1 had already been beaten to the outright win at Le Mans earlier that year by the TWR/Porsche WSC-95 prototype.

Just a couple of road versions with the 993 nose were produced (one of which I have driven), but most of the 20 or so examples of the Straßenversion were based on the 996-nosed GT1 Evo from 1997 – which we have here. And the fact that Porsche never fulfilled the full homologation quota of 25 road cars means this is the rarest of our trio.

After the F1 the GT1 feels almost agricultural. Apart from some clonking noises from the suspension the McLaren is very refined, but the Porsche is all noise and pugnacity. Its clutch is heavy and aggressive and is married to a gearshift that is incredibly positive. You feel as confident in the shifts in this as you feel suspicious of the ones in the McLaren.

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It feels like a race car. In fact, more than that, it feels like a race car designed to last for 24 hours. A tough car, built to endure. Despite the claimed kerbweights being separated by just 13kg, the Porsche feels like a heavier car than the McLaren. Not because of any lack in performance, just because the controls are that much heftier, the ride is firmer and there is this rugged air about it.

And yet, for all that, it is a car that gives you huge confidence. The steering is beautiful, just as you’d expect from a Porsche, and there is a real sense of connection with the front tyres. Perhaps more surprising, however, is that through your backside there is also a really good sense of the grip from the rear tyres. It feels like a chassis that you want to grab by the scruff of the neck and start to throw around. Curiously, despite its very definite mid-engine layout, there is still a slight feeling of 911 about it; vague like an unclear memory from your childhood, but triggering nonetheless. It’s probably mostly down to the steering feel, but the initial weight transfer as you turn into a corner feels familiar too. It’s just not backed up by a 911 pendulum.

If you’re sensible, then the power delivery undoubtedly makes the first few miles in a GT1 easier too. The watercooled, turbocharged flat-six is the grandfather of all the

MAIN Recognisably 993-sourced fascia feels familiar, but there’s a 996 nose. Out back it turns into a 962 racing car – though there are 996 tail-lights. Roof-mounted air intakes and rear wing are rather less disingenuous

THE GT1’S MONSTROUS HURRICANE FORCE OF TORQUE PICKS YOU UP AND LAUNCHES YOU DOWN THE ROAD

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McLAREN F1 With McLaren having strong ties with Honda for its Formula 1 program, Gordon Murray approached the Japanese giant for a 410kW engine with a maximum weight of 250kg. In the end, no deal. And a proposal from Isuzu (with a 3.5-litre V12) was also rejected. BMW came to the party and developed its S70/2 V12.

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MERCEDES-AMG CLK GTR The road car’s capacity rose to 6.9-litres (up from 6.0-litres) and an air restrictor was removed, resulting in the 450kW power figure. With help from H.W.A, the CLK GTR Super Sport was created using a newer 7.3-litre V12. It was good for 488kW and was also used in the Pagani Zonda and Mercedes-Benz SL73 AMG.

PORSCHE 911 GT1 The Straßenversion (or Street Version) saw approximately 20 units make it to production, with a detuned 400kW/600Nm version of the flat six required to meet European emissions laws. In race applications, the 3.2-litre twin turbo produced about 441kW. The roadgoing GT1 also featured the ‘Evo’ style front end.

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Mezger engines in 996- and 997-generation GT3s, and it obviously delivers its performance in a starkly different way to the F1’s V12. Stay off-boost, short shift, and you have a relatively docile car. Relatively.

However, find a straight, squeeze the throttle, feel the boost build and then with a surprisingly large number of revs on the central dial the rush hits you, the monstrous hurricane force of torque picks you up and launches you down the road. It is addictive, like all good turbocharged deliveries. But the GT1’s use of turbochargers was also one of the reasons why it was uncompetitive in 1997.

McLaren produced the Long Tail version of its F1 for ’97 and, combined with the talents of JJ Lehto and regulations that favoured naturally aspirated engines, Woking was faster than Stuttgart. But the F1 wasn’t fast enough to claim the new FIA GT Championship, because Mercedes had muscled in on the action with its own interpretation of the rules...

I’ve never driven a CLK GTR before and that instantly makes it a little more intimidating than the others.

Gaining access doesn’t make me feel any more at ease, either. The Porsche’s door opens normally and there’s just an ‘X’ of rollcage to clamber over. The McLaren is obviously a little trickier, but even that feels like a doddle compared with the Mercedes. ‘Cool,’ you think, as the tiny door sweeps upwards, but then you look at the wide sill you need to cross (big enough for a luggage compartment inside it) and the tiny aperture you’re supposed to go through. Legs first is best, but if you’re of even average height then I think there’s probably no dignified way to get in. Or out, for that matter.

Once you are sitting snugly, it’s bizarre because the

THE PORSCHE AND MERCEDES BOTH FEEL LIKE THE THINLY DISGUISED RACERS THEY ARE switchgear suggests you’re in a Mercedes road car from the ’90s, but the claustrophobically cramped cabin and the fact that you can’t put the windows down tell you that this is nothing but a pure racer. This is chassis number 7 and thought to be one of only two with plaid trim on the seats, evoking Moss’s famous 300 SLR. Its glorious M297 engine is a 6.9-litre variant of the 6.0-litre V12 used initially in the race car (a V8 was used later) and it feels every bit of its capacity. It would later find a home in the Pagani Zonda and there is something significantly bigger-chested about both its delivery and soundtrack in comparison to the McLaren’s V12. Like the Porsche’s, the engine seems to be right in the cabin with you all the time. There are three pedals in the footwell and you use the clutch for every shift, but you change gear with the small, light-action metal paddles on the back of the wheel. It’s actually much easier and more intuitive to use than I’d been led to believe, although as it’s a sequential ’box you need to make sure you go all the way back down through the gears as you come to a stop.

Once I’ve got my bearings, the whole car feels much friendlier than I was expecting. Traction is reassuringly impressive so, although you don’t have quite the sense of d

ABOVE A total of six Roadsters were built

by AMG specialist group H.W.A. Apart from being without a roof and adding 105kg to the kerb weight, the drop-top is signified by a large three-pointed star in the front grille MAIN It’s the least userfriendly of the trio, but you could endlessly drool over the CLK’s race-car DNA for a lifetime

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I CAN’T THINK OF ANY MORE EXTREME EXAMPLES OF MODERN SUPERCARS connection as in the Porsche, you feel at ease deploying the huge amounts of torque. You can feel the stiffness from the carbon and aluminium honeycomb tub, but the suspension has a nice pliancy to it, so it’s not the totally brutal experience you might fear. It feels wide and corners flat, but it is also much more wieldy than you might expect from looking at its near-five-metre length.

The power-assisted steering is easy to use and there is so much flexibility from that fabulous-sounding V12 that you can get into a rhythm with it. You can even start to push the tyres, nibbling at the limits of the front end midcorner. It’s actually really fun to drive.

I’m sure it was fun for Bernd Schneider, who took the championship in 1997, and Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta who did the same in 1998. But they were too successful; Mercedes-AMG amassed 149 points to win the Teams title in ’98, while Porsche AG in second place scored only 49.

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MAIN No prizes for guessing which was a road car that later morphed into a racer

for homologation in 1997 (it would eventually produce 28, including two prototypes and six roadsters – one of which DK engineering also looks after) but Porsche felt that, while its GT1 still stuck to the spirit of the class, the GTR took things too far. Porsche countered with its own version of the GTR in 1998, which was a totally different animal to the GT1s of ’96 and ’97, based around a carbon tub and sequential shift. It still wasn’t the quickest but it did succeed in one arena that Mercedes couldn’t. It won Le Mans thanks to that crucial component: reliability.

What all the racing has left us with is these extraordinary road cars – except only one really feels and looks like a true road car. Because only the McLaren began life that way. The Porsche and Mercedes both feel like the thinly disguised racers they are. In fact, I can’t think of any more extreme examples of modern supercars. This trio’s sense of purpose, the lack of compromise, the sheer presence of their looks – with/without bodywork – means that, more than 20 years later, nothing has yet surpassed them.

The Specs Silver bullets: the original hypercar trio BODY DRIVE ENGINE BORE X STROKE COMPRESSION POWER TORQUE POWER/WEIGHT TRANSMISSION WEIGHT

MCLAREN F1

PORSCHE 911 GT1

MERCEDES-AMG CLK GTR

2-door, 3-seat coupe

2-door, 2-seat coupe

2-door, 2-seat coupe

rear-wheel

rear-wheel

rear-wheel

6064cc V12, DOHC, 48v

3164cc flat-6, DOHC, 24v

6896cc V12, DOHC, 48v

86.0 x 87.0mm

95.0 x 74.4mm

89.0 x 92.4mm

10.5:1

9.0:1

10.5:1

461kW @ 7500rpm

400kW @ 7200rpm

450kW @ 6800rpm

617Nm @ 7500rpm

600Nm @ 4250rpm

770Nm @ 5250rpm

403kW/tonne

320kW/tonne

313kW/tonne

6-speed manual

6-speed manual

6-speed sequential manual

1250kg double wishbones, pushrod-operated double wishbones, alloy dampers, co-axial dampers, coil springs, anti-roll bar (f); double SUSPENSION springs, anti-roll bar (f); double wishbones, pushrod- operated dampers, coil alloy dampers, co-axial springs, anti-roll bar (r) wishbones, springs, anti-roll bar (r) 4710/1980/1173mm L/W/H 4290/18200/1140mm

1440kg double wishbones, pushrod-operated dampers, coil springs, anti-roll bar (f); double wishbones, pushrod- operated dampers, coil springs, anti-roll bar (r) 4855/1950/1164mm

WHEELBASE 2720mm TRACKS 1570/1470mm STEERING hydraulically assisted rack-and-pinion

2500mm

2670mm

1502/1588mm (f/r)

1665/1594mm (f/r)

BRAKES WHEELS TYRES PRICE PROS CONS

1138kg

hydraulically assisted rack-and-pinion 332mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (f); 380mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (f); 305mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (r) 380mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (r) 17.0 x 9.0-inch (f); 17 x 11.5-inch (r) 18.0 x 11.0-inch (f); 18 x 13.0-inch (r) 235/451ZR17 (f); 315/45ZR17 (r) 295/35 ZR18 (f); 335/30 ZR18 (r) Goodyear ‘F1’ Pirelli P Zero $20 million (estimated current value) $7-10 million (estimated current value) Legend status; the OG hypercar broke speed Porsche engineered practicality and useability records; remains special in modern context into the road version; desirable; performance If you want one, you’ll need very deep pockets Somewhat forgotten in this trio despite despite build numbers exceeding rivals winning a 24hr; it’s the rarest of them all

STAR RATING 11111

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hydraulically assisted rack-and-pinion 355mm ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (f); 330mm ventilated discs, 6-piston calipers (r) 18.0 x 10.5-inch (f); 18.0 x 12.5-inch (r) 295/35 R18 (f); 345/35 R18 (r) Bridgestone $7-10 million (estimated current value) Roadster version offers access to epic engine note; true race car for the road; presence You’ll need origami skills to get in and out of it; never achieved its brief of winning Le Mans

11111

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FEATURE. TYRE MEGA TEST

AFTER A FORCED BREAK, THE ANNUAL TYRE TORTURE TEST IS BACK TO FIND OUT WHICH PERFORMANCE RUBBER DESERVES YOUR CASH

TYRE TEST 2021

B Y LO U I S C O R D O N Y + P I C S A L A S TA I R B R O O K

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ROLL CALL SIX PERFORMANCE-FOCUSED HOOPS AFTER YOUR HARD-EARNED CASH

$225 $149 $399 $359 $319 $369

ANIC. THAT’S WHAT set in when I realised that MOTOR’s 2021 Tyre Test was only days away, and I hadn’t yet checked the forecast.

Call it traumatisation, but memories briefly returned of last time when biblical weather forced us to abandon the event halfway through.

That’s not to say our annual rubber torture test – back after a Covid-induced hiatus in 2020 – can’t handle a bit of rain. Just intermittent showering can undermine the predictability of data. And given Australia’s most trusted and longest running independent tyre test is built on solid bankable numbers, I didn’t want to stress thinking about how we could avoid that being compromised.

Fast forward to Tuesday, April 27. Morning dawns without a cloud in the sky as we roll into Sydney Dragway, where the space outside the scrutineering shed will be our official place of business for the day. We’re on.

Gun-driver for hire Warren Luff is already scanning the area from the passenger’s seat, mapping out cones in his mind to design the slalom, wet and dry emergency braking test, lateral G test and motorkhana within the vast area. We’ll get on to them later.

Supporting crews crucial to getting today off the ground, including the team from Tyreright that will be on the rattle guns, begin to arrive as Luffy zig zags the car park in our hire car with a boot full of orange cones.

A ute-load of our rubber arrives next, delivering six high-performance patterns and two distinct groups of competitors. First, there are the big boys. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S is back to defend its 2019 win. Meanwhile, it’s flanked by the Pirelli P Zero, Yokohama Advan Sport V105 and Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport.

Rounding out the field are a pair of budget contenders in the GT Radial Sportactive and HiFly Challenger HF805 DSRT. What was missing? Unfortunately, Bridgestone’s new Potenza Sport had not launched in time, and the Maxxis Victra VS5 missed the boat, literally – they were stuck at a port up north. Unfortunately it’s also the first time Continental did not have its always-competitive rubber in the ring since 2012.

Few cars are fit enough to put a field of tyres through their paces for any tyre test, let alone on tyres of this calibre. But the Mercedes-AMG A45 S, a 309kW/510Nm all-wheel drive turbo terror with punchy diffs and adaptive suspension, is as precise as it is explosively quick.

With 360mm brake discs and bulging six-piston calipers up front pairing with 19-inch wheels wearing 245/35 ZR19 all around (a relatively common tyre size in performance car land), the quick-footed A45 S stood up as the perfect tool to dissect our field.

Delivered with a full tank of fuel, the only preparation needed for the A45 S was to switch off ESP and turn on its Race Mode, priming its various hardware for their highest performance. And lastly, a VBOX – which we use for any competitive test where data is paramount – was plugged

Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S ORIGIN: FRANCE TREADWEAR: 300 RATING: 93Y

Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport ORIGIN: GERMANY TREADWEAR: 240 RATING: 93Y

Yokohama Advan Sport V105 ORIGIN: JAPAN TREADWEAR: 240 RATING: 93Y

Pirelli P Zero ORIGIN: GERMANY TREADWEAR: 220 RATING: 93Y

HiFly HF805 Challenger DSRT ORIGIN: CHINA TREADWEAR: 280 RATING: 93W

GT Radial Sportactive ORIGIN: CHINA TREADWEAR: 320 RATING: 93Y

*Prices are not definitive and a guide only. Call your local dealer.

into the 12-volt power supply so it could track each run with satellite-linked accuracy.

Before we unleashed Luffy, though, there were a few matters of process to clarify. The first rubber to run through our disciplines was already on the A45 S, given they are our control set. But setting them to placard pressures – 44psi on the front and 41psi at the rear – begins a process we’ll repeat again for each tyre for the sake of consistency.

Importantly, with all sorts of variables threatening to change the testing conditions throughout the day, the control tyres were tested in the morning, midday and late afternoon to reveal if a specific time is more favourable than another. We then used linear regression to adjust the raw data with a weighting based on this, eliminating any doubt about the run order favouring specific tyres.

Each tyre was run through the disciplines in the same order, beginning with a short run-in to de-glaze the tyres.

The first victim was the control, followed by the Goodyear, HiFly, GT Radial and then the control again before a lunch break and re-fuel. After lunch, Luffy will finish with the Pirelli, Yokohama, Michelin and control. And with that out of the way, let the games begin... d

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TYRE TEST 2021 MOTORKHAHA

IT’S HARD TO spot, but down the opposite end of the carpark, a ‘race track’ hides in plain sight. Among the rectangular lawns laid in a grid are twists and turns used for a much larger motorkhana during North Shore Sporting Car Club’s tarmac rallies.

We focused on just nine of those corners for our 424m motorkhana. The exercise is an indispensable tool for tyre testing because not only are fundamentals like braking, traction and lateral grip crucial to a fast lap, but it focuses on peripheral aspects of tyre performance as well.

For instance, extra feedback helped Luffy hit his markers more precisely. Then there’s endurance.

Because the course was tackled in a clockwise direction, the left front tyre was worked hard consistently until the A45 S briefly straightened out over the start-finish line at over 90km/h and then barrelled into the first right-hander again.

The results are decided on the elapsed time each

ONLY THE YOKOHAMA AND MICHELIN HAD THE CHOPS TO KNOCK OFF THE GOODYEAR tyre needs to complete three laps. And to eliminate as many variables as possible, Luffy began with a fullspeed flying start.

It was quickly established that Goodyear would be the one to beat this year, despite Luffy saying the Eagle F1 suffered from some understeer compared to the control tyre. It trounced the following HiFly, GT Radial and Pirelli.

Only the Yokohama and Michelin had the chops to knock off the Goodyear. But as we’d find out, only one of them did it convincingly enough to avoid being relegated by the linear regression-based formula.

The control tyre results revealed that they favoured conditions later in the day, improving by almost half a second overall. The formula responded to this by handing each tyre a weighted improvement, with the further a tyre was from the ideal conditions equalling a more dramatic adjustment of their results.

In the end, the Goodyear was close enough to the Yokohama on raw data to bag second place.

TOP MIDDLE Tyre testing is all about the variables, so we try to keep a track on them. Here, we’re reading surface temperature with a laser pyrometer

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TOP RIGHT Mercedes-AMG’s A45 S wears 19-inch wheels with special security covers over the nuts, we had to ditch them for the sake of efficiency

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MOTORKHANA TIMES 1 MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S 2 GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT 3 YOKOHAMA ADVAN SPORT V105

76.58 seconds 76.97 seconds 77.01 seconds

4 PIRELLI P ZERO

79.17 seconds

5 HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

79.27 seconds

6 GT RADIAL SPORTACTIVE

79.99 seconds

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TYRE TEST 2021 LATERAL G

LATERAL G-FORCE 1 MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S

1.03G

2 GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT

1.02G

3 HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

0.99G

4 YOKOHAMA ADVAN SPORT V105 5 PIRELLI P ZERO

0.98G 0.95G

6 GT RADIAL SPORTACTIVE 0.93G

THE HOT SEAT Warren Luff, the ring master WITH MORE THAN 20 individual exercises to run on each tyre, testing rubber is serious work – both on the mind and body.

This is why we’re lucky to have someone of Warren Luff’s calibre behind the steering wheel.

Lending his services to MOTOR for more than a decade as the gun driver on most of our mega tests, whether they be to find the best performance car or tyre, he also finds himself regularly on the roster of Australia’s top motorsport firms.

A two-time Sandown 500

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winner in 2012 and 2016, he’ll again be looking to add a Bathurst 1000 win to his multiple podiums at The Mountain this October for Walkinshaw Andretti United as co-driver alongside young gun Bryce Fullwood.

Even with this experience, he still admits tyre testing is one of the most physically demanding tasks he faces.

But this makes his consistent ability to get the most from each tyre – fundamental to a successful event – more astonishing. We’re lucky to have him.

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OUR LATERAL G-FORCE test measures how hard a tyre can hang on to the road, full stop. Back near the motorkhana, Luffy picked out two corners that make a double-right. After approaching the first bend at 40km/h, he accelerated as hard as possible into the second, pushing the tyre to the edge of grip.

During this, a tyre inevitably might step over its grip limit and spike a reading on the VBOX. While the software already applies a smoothing value to the data to minimise any anomalies, Luffy also ran the test three times in either direction to give us a broader and more accurate range of results.

Then, to refine them even further, we also flick the worst and best G-force figures each tyre records and then average the remaining four. Straight away, like in the motorkhana, the Goodyear set a benchmark average for the day. Its 1.0226G remained the top score until, again, the Michelin dethroned it with a dominant 1.039G average.

The differences in control tyre performance were only minor, with grip improving from an average of 1.0075G to 1.0125G. As a result the Michelin and its big grip-loving shoulder blocks, were safe.

THE HIFLY WAS THE ONLY OTHER TYRE THAT LOGGED 1G-PLUS ON TWO OF ITS ELIGIBLE ATTEMPTS NEAR LEFT Along with compound type and construction, tyre tread pattern plays a huge role in the performance and feel of a tyre

TOP Luffy wasn’t pining for much in the AMG’s speccy pews. In fact, he remarked it left no question on reliability, with sturdy brakes that lasted the day

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Feeding the data into our formula only split the equally matched Yokohama and HiFly’s raw results in the latter’s favour.

And while no tyre followed the Goodyear and Michelin above an average of 1G, it’s worth mentioning the HiFly was the only other tyre that logged 1G-plus on two of its eligible attempts. d

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TYRE TEST 2021 SLALOM

THE SLALOM REMAINS a relatively simple way to effectively size up a tyre’s performance capability for two reasons. The repeated direction change requires good mid-corner stability, while forward momentum needs tenacious traction.

With nine cones set at equal distances over 160m, Luffy approached the first one at 40km/h and then dropped the hammer once that cone disappears past the A-pillar in his peripheral vision. From there, it’s about going as fast as the tyres allow until over the finish line.

The test was repeated four times after the first run.

Once the data was downloaded and verified against Luffy’s handwritten notes, the best and worst runs were dropped to leave us with an average of the remaining three – minimising the chance of anomaly.

Again the test was the Goodyear’s to lose. Every tyre after failed to knock off the German-made hoop from top spot until, surprise surprise, the Michelin. But while the Michelin found five hundredths on average over the Goodyear, we’d stop short of saying it won the test.

Our control tyre also found speed throughout the day.

It gained a tenth on its second run and then a hundredth on its third and final go. This tapering advantage was most likely dictated by the surface temperature, which jumped from 27.7 degrees Celsius in the morning to 36.9 degrees at midday but then only peaked at 39 degrees.

In the end, our formula only penalised one tyre after adjusting the results. The Goodyear put in a good enough performance on raw results alone, much earlier in the running order, to overtake Michelin once a weighted adjustment was applied.

IN THE END, OUR TESTING FORMULA ONLY PENALISED ONE TYRE AFTER ADJUSTING THE FINAL RESULTS FAR RIGHT Luffy completed the dry braking tests after the first, third and fifth slalom runs to give its stoppers a chance to cool down

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NEAR RIGHT Yep, the tyre test relies on a lot of witches hats. Thankfully the clowning stops once Luffy straps himself into a car

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SLALOM TIMES 1 GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT 2 MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S 3 YOKOHAMA ADVAN SPORT V105 4 GT RADIAL SPORTACTIVE 5 PIRELLI P ZERO

9.40 seconds 9.43 seconds 9.49 seconds 9.66 seconds 9.69 seconds

6 HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

10.00 seconds

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DRY BRAKING DISTANCE 1 GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT 2 MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S 3 YOKOHAMA ADVAN SPORT V105

36.27m 36.37m 36.67m

4 PIRELLI P ZERO

40.86m

5 HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

41.24m

6 GT RADIAL SPORTACTIVE

41.32m

WET BRAKING DISTANCE 1 GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT 2 YOKOHAMA ADVAN SPORT V105 3 MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S 4 PIRELLI P ZERO 5 HIFLY HF805 CHALLENGER DSRT

TYRE TEST 2021 BRAKING

6 GT RADIAL SPORTACTIVE

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25.21m 26.24m 26.47m 29.85m 30.54m 30.93m

FEW THINGS STRESS a tyre’s importance more clearly than an emergency braking test. That’s not only because the results spew out the widest variation between best and worst in our field, but also because it’s easier to understand how the difference translates to the real world. Five metres here could hold the difference between avoiding or meeting disaster.

Ours involved seeing which tyre can stop in the shortest distance from 100km/h. It’s not far from the truth saying you or I might find ourselves trying this out unexpectedly behind a pile-up on the highway.

The method involved Luffy charging at a braking zone at 110km/h and then braking as hard as possible for a full ABS stop. This way we measured how well the car can stop from 100km/h, rather than the driver.

The wet test, meanwhile, replicated our dry method. Instead, this time Luffy approached a section drenched under soaker hoses at 90km/h so Eagle SMF, and it made the VBOX can record the distance us wonder if we’d ever it takes to stop from 80km/h. Every need to travel to a tyre tyre had three runs at each test, shop again when they can with the average of those stopping simply go to you. distances being counted.

Make sure you visit Although the Michelin logged the tyreright.com.au or phone shortest average distance in the dry, 138 168 when shopping for closely followed by the Yokohama, your next set of tyres. the control tyre performance improved considerably over the day. A combination of rising surface temperatures and increasing brake efficiency saw its distances fall from 38.91m at first to 37.77m and then finally 37.55m.

So, after feeding the results into our linear regression-based formula, the earlier run Goodyear emerged on top.

The formula slashed just over one metre from its stopping distance. Meanwhile, the Yokohama and Michelin only improved by 0.3m and 0.1m respectively because they ran just before the last control tyre, which wasn’t enough to catch the Goodyear.

It was a similar story for the wet test. Rising temperatures and a slight breeze in the afternoon saw the control tyre performances improve as the day went on. However, this made no difference at all to the eventual winner, only second place. The Yokohama leapfrogged the Michelin into second after the formula set the results straight.

HOORAY TYRERIGHT Our number one pit crew A HUGE THANKS goes to the crew at Tyreright.

As the operational bedrock of our tyre test and critical to a successful day, they kept our schedule ticking over as planned after handling the 36-plus tyre changes we needed

without a flinch – all while only having the one set of wheels on the A45 S to work with.

Their high-end Mobile Tyre Fitment station based on a Ford Transit came decked out with professional gear from

FIVE METRES HERE COULD HOLD THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AVOIDING OR MEETING DISASTER

NEAR LEFT Despite no second set of wheels like years past to speed up tyre changes, the Tyreright crew were on top of things from start to finish

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TOP A 30m section of road provided the basis for our wet braking test.

Soaker hoses were kept on at full blast for 40min between tests to drench it

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W I N N E R

SLALOM

DRY BRAKING

MOTORKHANA

WET BRAKING

LATERAL G

TOTAL

TYRE TEST 2021 RESULTS

GOODYEAR Eagle F1 Supersport

GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT

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MICHELIN PILOT SPORT 4 S

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1

3

1

9

Final Ranking 01 02 03 04 05 06

TO DETERMINE a winner, we’ve kept YOKOHAMA ADVAN 3 3 SPORT V105 it as simple as possible. Each placing a PIRELLI 5 4 tyre achieved is the score given to it for P ZERO that discipline. Those scores are then HIFLY HF805 6 5 CHALLENGER DSRT tallied. Finally, the lowest score wins.

GT RADIAL 4 6 It was clear from the outset a SPORTACTIVE dogfight was brewing between three patterns: the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S and Yokohama Advan Sport V105. They shared the top-three places in every discipline, except the Lateral G, where the Yokohama was downgraded to ABOVE fourth after the results were adjusted.

The asymmetric Besides a strong wet braking test, the Yokohama Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport proved primarily occupied third place – leaving the Michelin to be the real deal, and Goodyear to duke it out for the win. But running and is available in the two premier patterns at opposite times of the day diameters 18- to put a lot of power in the linear regression-based 21-inches formula’s hands, as the Michelin’s top showings on raw data were never guaranteed.

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As it turned out, with the control tyre consistently improving towards 4 4 5 22 the day’s end, the formula made the reigning champ Michelin relinquish 5 5 3 24 the slalom and dry braking wins to the 6 6 6 28 Goodyear. Add that to a convincing win in the wet even on raw data, and the event was sealed in the Goodyear’s favour.

Victory comes as redemption for the Goodyear, which fought hard in 2019 to finish second behind the Michelin.

The improvement was unexpected, but the Goodyear faced the exact same settings as its competitors, so we can’t take anything away from a deserving win.

Down the order our bottom three found themselves locked in a battle similar as the top. The Pirelli P Zero, HiFly Challenger and GT Radial finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in most disciplines and placed in the order as such, completing the picture for the class of 2021. Bravo.

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2ɝFLDO

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COMPARISON. FERRARI ROMA v ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR v BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8

SUPER GT IF YOU’VE GOT $400K TO SPEND, FERRARI JUST MADE YOUR GRAND-TOURING DECISION HARDER B Y M AT T S A U N D E R S

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ERSONAL PREFERENCE REMAINS THE DECIDING factor for anyone choosing a new sports car. Nobody can tell you what you like – just as you can’t be told to take to a bottle of Argentinian Carménère, a rib-eye steak done ‘black and blue’, or the music of Andre Rieu.

Even so, in such a diverse exotic sports car market as we now have, it can be hard enough just to narrow down the options. So, what next?

Should I have the really fast one, or maybe the hybrid one, perhaps? Or the throwback, lightweight one? What about the heavyweight electric one, or the really wild, hardcore one?

My stock response tends to be to drive as

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many as you can and then, barring any revelations or revulsions, to plump for whatever it was that you really fancied in the first place. But whatever you’re favouring, I’d always advise, think carefully about where, how and how often you might be able to actually use and drive it before you sign anything.

For all its many-splendoured variety, today’s sports car market contains only two kinds of prospect when you really get down to brass tacks: cars you can use, and those you can’t. Nothing has more influence on how much you’ll enjoy owning one than useability. It sounds like a simple distinction to make, but it’s very often either forgotten or overlooked. And it really can be a peculiarly personal thing.

Which brings us to the concept of the sporting GT, the sports car made more usable. That’s really all the modern grand tourer is: a car indulgent, exciting, exclusive and special at its heart, but tempered with just enough versatility, practicality and pragmatism to give

A MODERN GT SHOULD SLIP INTO YOUR LIFE, BECAUSE THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THE GOOD ONES ARE DESIGNED TO DO us more ways and occasions to enjoy it. I do love ’em.

A modern GT should slip easily into your life, because that’s exactly what the good ones are designed to do. But some are designed to do it very differently from others.

And, it turns out, a brand-new type of front-engined, rear-driven, turbo V8-powered, $409,888 Ferrari GT car does it in a very particular, fresh and dynamically compelling way. One that, you’ll find, is quite unlike that of its nearest equivalent from either Bentley or Aston Martin when you have the chance to compare them back to back, as we’re doing here.

It has long seemed odd to me that a company with the GT-making pedigree of the Daytona, 250 GT and 550 Maranello should have allowed itself to become so under-represented in the modern market for cars like this of late. Ferrari’s more expensive front-engined V12 models have become quite niche prospects, after all.

But the Roma returns the company right to the centre ground of the grand touring sports car class where it belongs. It’s beautiful and elegant, powerful and exciting, compact yet useable – all of which you’ll already have read in our first drives of these cars.

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ABOVE While it’s different in execution, the Roma has certain 550 Maranello vibes. Is this the modern version of a legend of the past? We think so

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PRETTY MUCH WHICHEVER ANGLE YOU HAVE OF IT, THE FERRARI ROMA IS QUITE THE THING TO BEHOLD But the really impressive thing about it is that, next to even an Aston Martin DB11 AMR that outguns it on cylinder count and headline power output and a Bentley Continental GT V8 that has luxury touring appeal unlike any other GT on the planet, the Roma makes space for itself so very effectively. It carves out a positioning and a micro-niche within a niche exactly of the sort that, frankly, a decent road tester should have predicted.

And yet, even if you had, you couldn’t fail to be struck a little dumb as the Roma works its magic. As it uses all of those acknowledged Ferrari dynamic hallmarks to shrink itself around you and to disguise its weight; to set itself so free and clear of its rivals for the sheer energy, immediacy and zip of its driving experience. All the while it has to retain just enough breadth of appeal, dayto-day versatility and classic front-engined elegance to set itself apart from its mid-engined range-mates, too.

The Roma is the everyday-use GT sports car done with really distinguishing Latinate energy and vigour.

The first clue of what the car is up to can be seen in its proportions. It looks tellingly small next to the Aston and Bentley. (It’s light, too: up to 300kg lighter even than the Aston, and as light as a four-cylinder Jaguar F-Type.) And it certainly feels that way from within. The car’s major dimensions don’t tell quite the full story (the DB11’s roof is actually lower), but to sit in, the Ferrari’s scuttle and bonnet are both so low. The packaging of the car’s front end must be very tight indeed, and its engine position notably lower than in either of its rivals.

So while driving the DB11 or Continental along a narrow lane can feel a bit like carrying a teak dining table down a corridor only just about wide enough to admit it, the Roma is much easier to place. It’s not effortless over distance like the Bentley can be, nor quite as rich and delectable as the Aston – but it’s really special. It offers a wonderfully evocative, sculptural view of the road, too: those swollen front wings over the wheel arches look like Apennine foothills on either side of a lush river valley.

Pretty much whichever angle you have of it, this Ferrari’s quite the thing to behold. It’s so much simpler and more lithe than the more butch, muscular Aston Martin, and so much smaller and more delicate than the handsome but imposing-looking Bentley. It outMAIN While the Roma leads the way in corners, the fact it records an impressive 296kW/ tonne means it also leads on the straights

RIGHT The Conti’s cabin is a mix of analogue and digital, while Bentley hasn’t held back on the diamond-stitch leather treatment

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dazzles them both for static appeal even in a dark, slightly nondescript metallic colour like the ‘Blu Roma’ of Ferrari’s press car. It’ll look a little too feline and feminine for some tastes, I suspect. Not to us, though.

On the inside, you expect that it’ll feel significantly smaller than its rivals. There is certainly an intimacy to the Roma’s cockpit that you won’t find in the Bentley. But the Ferrari is actually pleasingly well packaged; clearly much better so than the bigger Aston Martin, whose broad sills and wide transmission tunnel seem to rob it of any advantage on roominess that it might otherwise have had.

The Roma seats tall occupants comfortably enough up front, albeit without quite as much legroom as the DB11 or the outright space of the bigger Continental.

For occasional back-row space, the Aston and Ferrari are more or less equals: you could put younger kids in the back of either (and I did in the Roma) but you wouldn’t want to for hours at a time. Forget about carrying adults back there, though, or even teenagers.

The Bentley is the only adult-sized four-seat GT of our three, just as it’s the only truly lavish, luxurious, effortless long-distance tourer. What a cabin it has.

Superbly comfortable, multi-adjustable seats sit in front of a fascia dripping in tactile, alluring brightwork and finished with a solidity of feel and a lavishness of

equipment specification that make it the standout luxury operator by a country mile. Our test car’s 22-inch alloy wheels made for a slightly noisier motorway ride than I’d have preferred, but it’s only the remarkable refinement in a wider sense that makes you aware of it.

The Bentley is so comfortable, accommodating and easy-going that you could, as a colleague put it, “just use it as if it was a Mk7.5 Volkswagen Golf R”. Of a $400,900, 2.2-tonne exotic, that’s quite a statement. To imagine owning and using one is absurdly easy; and the simple enrichment of the everyday that you’d get from doing so would be something to savour.

The same tester, however, also said that while he enjoyed driving the Continental, he didn’t get much more out of doing so on a great Snowdonian mountain road than he would have expected of the aforementioned VW hot hatchback. Interesting observation, that, with more than a grain of truth in it. The Continental is a pleasing, woofling, thrusty thing when it really gets going, with quite supreme and genteel driveability. The finesse you feel through the weighty, perfectly paced steering is striking and it makes a big car surprisingly easy to guide.

But the Bentley is a big, heavy car that often spreads itself across more than its share of a twisty road. It can be enjoyed at speed up to a point, absolutely; especially

THE ROMA MIGHT EVEN EXCITE AND INVOLVE ITS DRIVER LIKE NOTHING ELSE WITH A FRONTMOUNTED ENGINE

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BELOW Given the Roma reaches 100km/h in 3.4sec, 200km/h in 9.3sec and will go on to more than 320km/h, it blurs the line between GT and sports car BELOW RIGHT While not as plush as the regal Bentley, there’s plenty of Italian luxe here

where the lanes are wide and the corners fast flowing.

But it’s still not a car to be hustled or threaded along like either the Ferrari or Aston Martin can be. It simply doesn’t have their dynamic duality.

The DB11 is a car for hustling, while we’re on the topic, and the Roma is more for threading. The Aston’s got much more traditional GT dynamic flavour about it.

Even in AMR performance-tuned form, it’s supple and a little soft around the edges. It dips an outside shoulder and takes a split-second to respond as it turns like a back-row forward attacking the defensive line, and it squats and springs just a little underneath you as the road dips and rises.

But it really communicates. It has meaty control weights and some old-school hot-rod charm; a clear surfeit of mid-range grunt over rear-driven grip levels, too, and an adjustable, slightly naughty chassis balance.

I would have preferred better handling precision from it. The slightly rubbery, elastic feel of the DB11’s rear axle location and the way it breaks traction make you approach its limits with just a little caution and uncertainty. But it’s an easy car to like at almost any speed and it’s certainly a lovelier, richer and more enticing thing to drive gently than the Roma is.

What the Roma can do, though, at the kinds of speeds and effort levels you might expect to reserve for really thoroughbred sports cars, is a class apart. Want body control? You’ve certainly found it. The Ferrari has tautness and first-rate vertical control of the kind you can only deliver on a lightweight car, and its directional

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THE BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8 IS A PLEASING, WOOFLING, THRUSTY THING WHEN IT REALLY GETS GOING

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The Specs ASTON MARTIN DB11 AMR BODY 2-door, 2+2-seat coupe DRIVE rear-wheel

2-door, 4-seat coupe

2-door, 2+2-seat coupe

all-wheel 3996cc V8, DOHC, 32v twin-turbo 86.0 x 86.0mm

rear-wheel 3855cc V8, DOHC, 32v, twin-turbo 86.5 x 82.0mm

9.3:1

10.1:1

9.45:1

470kW @ 6500rpm

404kW @ 6000rpm

465kW @ 5750-7500rpm

700Nm @ 1500rpm

770Nm @ 2000-4500rpm

760Nm @ 3000-5750rpm

262kW/tonne

187kW/tonne

296kW/tonne

8-speed automatic

V12, DOHC, 48v, ENGINE 5204cc twin-turbo BORE X STROKE 89.0 x 69.7mm

COMPRESSION POWER TORQUE POWER/ WEIGHT TRANSMISSION WEIGHT

BENTLEY FERRARI CONTINENTAL GT V8 ROMA

8-speed dual-clutch

8-speed dual-clutch

1795kg independent double wishbone, coil springs, bar, adaptive SUSPENSION anti-roll dampers(f); multi-links, coil springs, adaptive dampers, anti-roll bar (r) L/W/H 4750/1950/1290mm

2165kg

4850/1954/1404mm

1570kg independent double wishbone, coil springs, anti-roll bar, adaptive dampers(f); multi-links, coil springs, adaptive dampers, anti-roll bar (r) 4656/1974/1301mm

WHEELBASE 2805mm TRACKS 1665/1645mm (f/r)

2851mm

2670mm

STEERING BRAKES WHEELS TYRES PRICE PROS

CONS

double wishbone, adaptive dampers, air suspension, anti-roll bar (f); multi-links, adaptive dampers, air suspension, anti-roll bar (r)

1672/1664mm (f/r) electrically assisted electrically assisted rack-and-pinion rack-and-pinion 400mm ventilated discs, 420m ventilated discs, 6-piston calipers (f); 360mm 10-piston calipers (f); 380mm ventilated discs, 4-piston ventilated discs, 4-piston calipers (r) calipers (r) 20.0 x 9.0-inch (f) 20.0 x 22.0 x 8.5-inch (f) 22.0 x 11.0-inch (r) 10.0-inch (r) 255/40 ZR20 (f) 295/35 275/35 ZR22 (f) 315/30 ZR20 (r) ZR22 (r) Bridgestone S007 Pirelli P Zero $435,035 $403,257 Beautiful, soulful engine; Ride quality on big wheels; superbly judged ride/ decent body control for handling balance; feel-good weight; big sense of factor occasion Android Auto; some tyre Dated infotainment; throttle No noise; price of options is tip-in too sharp; expensive; ridiculous; needs and can’t think of anything else automatic

STAR RATING 11112

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1652/1679mm (f/r) electrically assisted rack-and-pinion 390m carbon-ceramic discs, 6-piston calipers (f); 360mm carbon-ceramic discs, 4-piston calipers (r) 20.0 x 8.0-inch (f) 20.0 x 10.0-inch (r) 245/35 ZR20 (f) 285/35 ZR20 (r) Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S $409,888 Well rounded and useable overall package; supercarrivalling pace; dynamic ability ‘Portofino with a roof’ and ‘entry-level’ Ferrari stigma; missing 550’s sweet V12 soundtrack

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1 07

THE ROMA IS A LOT MORE LIKE AN F8 TRIBUTO THAN AN ASTON MARTIN OR BENTLEY agility is little short of mind-boggling. It’s so impressive.

It’s a bit too much at first, actually. Get out of the Bentley, for example, and the sheer pace and response rate of the Roma’s steering can be problematic to begin with. But give it some time, get used to the delicacy and pace of the Roma’s wheel, find a driving mode that suits you, and you can simply sit back and marvel that a GT sports car can handle with as much sheer grip, swivelling energy, level poise and pin-sharp balance as a flyweight track car.

Given its head, the Roma might even excite and involve its driver like nothing else with a front-mounted engine – save, perhaps, a powerful Caterham or a front-engined V12 Ferrari. For dynamic immediacy, drop-of-a-hat balance, throttle adjustability and rapier incisiveness, it’s a lot more like an F8 Tributo than an Aston Martin or Bentley. Makes sense when you think about it. It’s modern Ferrari, after all.

For this tester, that pin-sharp driver appeal combined with the Roma’s 2+2 seating versatility and its creditable cruising manners give it a broader range of dynamic abilities than either the Continental or the DB11 has, as well as even more spectacular dynamic high notes to hit.

With a long drive home ahead of you after a long day’s driving, you might well pick either of its rivals, each of which, in their different ways, makes the miles go by the window very agreeably indeed.

However, trust me, it’s the Roma you’d be thinking about as you dropped off to sleep that night – and GT cars like that don’t come along often.

MAIN ABOVE The AMR can be In this company, the Aston Martin’s cabin hustled in a way the falls to the back of standard DB11 can’t, the trio by being yet it doesn’t fall to pieces when you less luxurious and ease the pace tech savvy

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M BACK SECTION. SWEET DREAM HYUNDAI SANTA CRUZ N

Sweet Dream CARS THAT DON’T EXIST, BUT SHOULD

BY CAMERON KIRBY I L L U S T R AT I O N T H E O P H I L U S C H I N

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ALBERT BIERMANN IS doing wonders at Hyundai’s N division. Between the hotted up i20, i30, and Kona, the Korean performance division is on a roll. However, we think it’s time it tackles something a bit more challenging – and much bigger!

Behold our vision for the Hyundai Santa Cruz N. A supercharged V8 dual cab that will be the pride of Seoul.

The Santa Cruz debuted earlier this year exclusively for North America (boo!), and right-hand drive production is already a hard no from Hyundai. But that hasn’t stopped us envisaging a future where Biermann’s N division made things right with a performance variant.

Phrases like ‘solid rear axle’, and ‘body-on-frame’ would send shivers down most performance car enthusiast’s spine. But just because we desire a bit more driving purity doesn’t mean we should miss out on any potential performance dual-cab shenanigans. So instead of following in the off-road Baja-style footsteps of Ford’s Raptor family and RAM’s Hellcat-powered TRX, the Santa Cruz N would play to its strengths on tarmac. Think of

it as a Korean homage to the sports utes of old like the Dodge Ram SRT-10.

There are a variety of engines that would be suitable for this application, the most modern of which is the twinturbo V6 SmartStream G3.5 T-GDi found in a number of Genesis models. However, we think that the old-school vibe of the Santa Cruz N deserves a more hardcore powerplant. That’s why we’d slide a supercharged version of the oft-overlooked Tau V8 under the bonnet.

Sports suspension, low(ish) profile rubber of the performance-orientated compound, a more vocal and angry exhaust system, some subtle body tweaks, and a series of deliciously ostentatious colours to choose from would be among key changes.

The result would be a supercharged V8 dual cab that’d harass super sedans while hauling modest cargo. Sound rad? We thought so as well. Read on to discover the finer details of how we’d make it all work.

Want to play fantasy product planner with us? Send your best ideas to MOTOR@aremedia.com.au

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HYUNDAI SANTA CRUZ N

Imagine a world where Korea goes all-in with a boosted V8 sports ute

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M BACK SECTION. SWEET DREAM

THE RESULT WOULD BE A SUPERCHARGED V8 DUAL CAB THAT COULD HARASS SUPER SEDANS AND ALSO HAUL MODEST CARGO

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HOW WE’D

Build it

01. TAU ABOUT TOWN

The 4.6-litre supercharged engine under the bonnet would be a tweaked production version of the Tau V8 Hyundai showed at SEMA in 2009. Power would come in at 350kW/600Nm, thanks to a screw-type supercharger and water-to-air intercooler. Cylinder deactivation will help keep fuel consumption (relatively) in check.

06

02. RUBBER DOWN

Continental SportContact 6 XL rubber will give the Santa Cruz N a sure-footed stance and confidence in mixed conditions.

Power will be sent to all four wheels at all times, while Hyundai’s new eight-speed dual-clutch ’box will change gears.

03. TRACK BACKED

The Santa Cruz N would be more comfortable on a race track than the Mexican peninsula thanks to suspension fine-tuned on the Nürburgring (because the James May idiom about it ruining cars is patently false).

04. RINGS OF STEEL

A two-tonne kerb weight will require some serious stoppers. N division will demand not only sizeable drilled rotors, but six-pot calipers up front (four out back), with thicker pads.

05. SCREAM ‘N’ SHOUT

The Santa Cruz N would offer plenty in the sound department thanks to a full sports exhaust system as standard. Subtle isn’t in the remit for a V8 sports ute.

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06. NECK BREAKER

On the topic of subtlety, the Santa Cruz N will be available with a veritable rainbow of colour options. The Tau V8 and exhaust system will ensure you a heard before seen, but only just.

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M BUYING A MODERN CLASSIC WORSHIPPING THE DEPRECIATION GODS

A U D I

S8 V10 EVERYTHING A SLEEPER CAR SHOULD BE, AND ONE NEVER TO BE REPEATED W O R D S A L E X A F FAT

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IF SEDANS ARE a dying breed, a car like the Audi D3 S8 can only be thought of as functionally extinct.

While buyers turn away from traditional saloons in droves (especially niche, opulent long-wheelbase limos) and carmakers increasingly trade off cylinder counts for turbochargers, the notion of an Audi-badged S-Class rival with a Lamborghini-derived 5.2-litre V10 in its snout seems simply unfathomable in a contemporary context.

And yet, Audi produced exactly that from 2006 to 2010, costing more than $250,000 when new.

Today, you can find D3-generation S8 V10s asking between $35,000 and $45,000, which is virtually unmatched on the ‘lot of car for your money’ equation.

However, don’t buy into the experience expecting a cut-price four-door Lamborghini Gallardo.

While its V10 is closely related the Lamborghini unit, the Audi powerplant utilised different injectors, manifolds, engine management, and even differed in cylinder bores, cylinder spacing and compression – yielding 331kW compared to the facelifted 5.2-litre Gallardo’s 368kW output.

Peak torque matches the updated Gallardo’s 540Nm

ABOVE All the comfort and a V10 soundtrack, what’s not to like?

However, maintaining it won’t be cheap

output, and is delivered at a lazy 3000rpm – half that of the Italian coupe’s heady 6000rpm peak.

And despite the large limo’s all-aluminium body, its large stature, big engine and quattro underpinnings yielded a hefty 1940kg kerb weight. The V10 limo will still hang with modern traffic, however, with a claimed 4.9-second sprint from 0-100km/h.

As the brand’s flagship luxury offering, it was filled to the gills with tech and amenities. In fact, there’s little missing on the original equipment list that one could want for in a car today. The list of kit includes: 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo, SatNav, four-zone climate control, power memory seats, LED daytime running lights, front and rear parking sensors, auto headlights, adaptive air suspension, keyless entry and even fingerprint keyless start!

Visually, the Audi S8 flies well under the radar and, as a package, is one of the most compelling modern sleepers you can buy. Audi will never build a car quite like this again, and a Lamborghini-tinged V10 may never be more attainable. Go on, you know you want to... d

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M BUYING A MODERN CLASSIC AUDI S8 V10 BODY ENGINE POWER TORQUE TRANSMISSION WEIGHT USED RANGE

4-door, 5-seat sedan 5204cc V10, DOHC, 40v 331kW @ 7000rpm 540Nm @ 3000rpm 6-speed automatic 1940kg $35,000-$45,000

A LAMBORGHINI-TINGED 5.2-LITRE V10 MAY NEVER BE MORE ATTAINABLE AGAIN

1. MERCEDES-BENZ S600 Another luxury limousine, the W220-generation Mercedes-Benz S600 boasted a 5.8-litre V12 and claimed to clock 0-100km/h in just 4.3 seconds. On the second-hand market, they’re more readily available, generally with less mileage, for less money than the Audi S8.

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2. BMW E60 M5 The E60 5 Series remains one of the more controversial designs of the Bangle era of BMW. But what we could all get behind was that wonderful F1-inspired S85 V10. It was the world’s first production saloon fitted with a V10, appearing one year before the larger S8.

3. VOLKSWAGEN R50 TOUAREG Not exactly a direct comparison, but there are very few competitors at this price point, cylinder count and of this vintage. The notion of a super SUV is commonplace today, but the 5.0-litre twin-turbo diesel V10 R50 Touareg was something entirely new back in 2004.

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IN THE MARKET The D3 Audi S8 underwent a facelift in ESSENTIAL November 2007, most notably CHECKS introducing a revised and more direct Servotronic steering AUDI S8 rack, updated shock absorbers and air suspension dampers as well as added noise insulation. Audi’s ‘Side Assist’ blind spot monitoring and Lane Assist systems were also introduced as cost options.

A second facelift later occurred and was strictly limited to exterior styling. These series III cars can be distinguished by a vertical bar grille, side mirrors with integrated turn signals, and LED tail lights.

S8s didn’t sell in huge numbers so they are rare to find today. We only observed a couple of series I and II cars on the market, both asking less than $45,000.

Naturally, the reputation of costly maintenance afflicting used European cars – a V10 one, at that – has seen values plummet below one-fifth of the large barge’s as-new sticker price. But for so much car, it’s hard to imagine values falling much lower.

BODY & CHASSIS With this generation of A8, Audi was able to reduce the number of components in the allaluminium body while greatly increasing the degree of automation in its production. One of the downsides of the material’s weight and corrosion-resistant benefits is that dents and damage are costly to repair. Presence of corrosion may indicate dodgy repairs.

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION This is the scary part, however, you’ll be glad to hear that many in the Audi

ONE A techno tour de force of yesteryear, the S8 cabin feels charmingly analogue today TWO Series III facelift gained LED taillights, new grille and wing mirrors THREE Like BMW, Audi is also big on supersized grilles these days, just look at the current A8 FOUR 14-speaker B&O sound system was standard on Australian cars, and is deemed an essential option overseas

clan regard this powertrain to be rather durable with proper love and care. The big V10 is quite demanding when it comes to oil changes, and drinks around 10 litres every 100km. Full service history is essential.

Oil pump seals and cam cover gaskets are known to grow leaky around 160,000km. Beware that access to all spark plugs and coil packs require a partial engine removal, and a starter motor replacement is an engineout exercise, so expect labour-intensive invoices.

Coil packs can fail, so ensure the engine runs smoothly throughout the rev range, and it’s generally advised against proceeding with a car possessing a noisy or rough transmission.

SUSPENSION & BRAKES The air suspension system is known to be problematic so cycle between all modes and listen for an overly noisy air compressor, and any ‘greyed out’ options on the central MMI screen.

On the road, listen for clunks and noises most often occurring at the front end. There are eight suspension arms up there, and double the bushings. And the only way you’re getting new bushings from Audi is by buying a complete replacement arm.

INTERIOR & ELECTRONICS These cabins are generally bolted together well, however, listen for rattles that may have developed over time. The S8 was also filled with some incredibly advanced technology for its time (the fingerprint thing was very sci-fi, but problematic in reality), so press every single button and test that all the functions work. In rare cases, the central power screen and B&O rise-up dash tweeters can fail with age, as can the boot’s power-close motor or switch. d

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07 . 2021 M BACK SECTION. TECH TALK ELECTRIC MOTOR

BY CAMERON KIRBY

Yamaha’s electric monster Maestros of internal combustion turn their attention to building tech for the next generation of electric hypercars THE CREATORS OF ARGUABLY some of the greatest combustion engines ever made have begun building new electric motors that pack one hell of a punch.

Yamaha has a long history of building engines for car manufacturers – outside of its motorcycle business – with its first being the twin-cam inline-six cylinder that was fitted to the Toyota 2000GT in 1967.

For those needing more reason to be excited, Yamaha’s resume also includes Toyota’s iconic 4A-GE 1.6, muscular 2UR-GSE V8, and legendary 1LR-GUE V10 and the company recently announced it has developed an electric motor specifically for performance vehicles and hypercars. While Yamaha will continue to produce internal combustion engines, it has begun to transition into the world of EVs. Its first foray came last year with a series of units producing between 35kW-200kW. However, this year the Japanese manufacturer has stepped things up, building a stonking 350kW prototype unit which will be made available to car manufacturers to utilise in future performance products.

While the 350kW figure alone is impressive, Yamaha has stated that the unit is designed to be used multiple times in a single vehicle for ultra-powerful fully electric hypercars applications. A press image showed four of the units (one on each wheel) placed on an EV platform for a total system power output of 1400kW. Yikes!

The same attributes that make for great combustion engines translate directly to electric motors – namely big power, small size, and low weight.

To ensure size and weight were kept to a minimum, Yamaha focused on finding efficiencies in packaging.

The end result was the combination of both the electric and mechanical components, with the inverter and single-speed transmission being combined alongside the oil-cooled Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor into a single unit. The entire casing for the motor is cast in-house by Yamaha.

This is an important development for electric motors, with the decrease in size allowing multiple units to be more easily fitted to a single vehicle.

“We thought making the units compact was paramount and the coils inside use segment conductors,” said engineer Takashi Hara.

The trade-off here is that there is no scope for a twospeed transmission to extend a production car’s total possible driving range. However, with advancements in battery technology, and the performance focus of the system, we aren’t too worried.

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power-dense electric motors that will be available to manufacturers.

Speaking of manufacturers, OEMs can begin placing orders for prototypes now, with Yamaha able to tweak both the output and cooling methods of unit depending on the client’s specific application and needs.

While Yamaha’s appearance in the EV sector might seem new to performance enthusiasts, the company has actually been developing these technologies for several years now for multiple applications.

Instead of regulating temperatures using water, Yamaha has built the 350kW electric motor to be oil-cooled (while its less powerful units are predominately watercooled). Oil has a higher boiling point than water, and is an electrical insulator, meaning it can cool the system at higher temperatures, while also being in direct contact with key pieces of equipment.

Yamaha provides a simple solution for car manufacturers without the time, or money, to build a bespoke electric motor from scratch. Instead of investing huge sums into R&D, each company can get an almost ready-made unit tailored to their vehicle quickly and (relatively) cheaply.

With extensive experience in casting, machining, and assembly the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer says it will “customise the prototype to the specific needs of individual customers and deliver in short time spans utilising production technology that the company flexibly adapts to its various product groups.”

We hope applications will stretch beyond high-end

THE DECREASE IN SIZE ALLOWS MULTIPLE UNITS TO BE MORE EASILY FITTED TO A SINGLE VEHICLE hypercars. The prospect of a 350kW, rear-wheel drive EV with a small body and battery is a tantalising one. Or perhaps a four-door, all-wheel drive sedan with 700kW is more your flavour?

Regardless of the final applications with Yamaha’s superb track record in providing world-class propulsion for performance cars, don’t be surprised if the next EVs with a focus on fun come with a trio of tuning forks symbol hidden under the metal.

1. TURBO TIME Renowned turbocharger manufacturer BorgWarner is also getting involved in the electric motor development arms race. Where Yamaha used an Alfa 4C, the automotive supply giant built an Ariel Nomad test mule, ditching its Hondasourced engine and replacing it with a 30kWh battery, inverters, and a pair of electric motors with torque vectoring.

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2. THE ITALIAN CONNECTION During the development of its electric motors, Yamaha used an Alfa Romeo 4C as its test mule. A 200kW electric motor was used, making the prototype more powerful than the 177kW/350Nm production car, which used a 1.75-litre turbocharged four-pot. Add globs of instant torque, and we are sure Yamaha engineers had a terrible time during the evaluation process...

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4. TRIED AND TESTED Italian company e.d.c. specialises in the design and production of testing system and has developed a new system for which it claims can detect 100 per cent of defects in an electric motor during partial discharge tests. This will allow manufactures to further refine their electric motors before they go into production, while also decreasing the time spent to complete final validation of a product.

3. NEW AGE ENGINE SWAP Just because you don’t have a bank account to match an OEM doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the hi-po electric motor craze. British company Integral e-Drive has launched a new range of off-the-shelf electric motors that can be ordered in single quantities, with power of up to 400kW/520Nm. Barra who?

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