Autocar

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

BRITAIN’S BEST

DRIVER’S CAR This is the first XI from the class of 2014, plus the defending champ from last year. So which is Britain’s Best Driver’s Car? PHOTOGRAPHY STAN PAPIOR, LUC LACEY, MALCOLM GRIFFITHS [[1L]] AUTOCAR.CO.UK 26 SEPTEMBER 2012

26 SEPTEMBER 2012 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[2R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

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he Britain’s Best Driver’s Car line-up usually assembles itself. There’s a big name, a must-have, which everything else falls easily around. But not this year. Not since Lamborghini declined, wisely perhaps, to allow any publication to compare a Huracán alongside any other car. So we mulled over a long list of what we thought we should gather for what we informally know as Handling Day. Usually, we’d then cut that list down to 10 plus last year’s winner. But we realised that the 12-car list was one of the most stonkingly strong line-ups in the competition’s 25-year history, so we left it entirely as it was.

Handling Day is actually three days of testing, photography and video on the road and on a circuit. This year we based ourselves at Castle Combe, Chippenham, within easy reach of decent roads in Wiltshire and surrounding counties. And by decent, we of course mean poorly surfaced and badly cambered as only the finest British roads can be.

The track itself? It has been developed from the perimeter road of a wartime airbase so is fast and mostly right-handed, with a few chicanes to provide a fine test of traction and braking stability. But although it is quick (the fastest cars exceed 150mph along the start-finish straight), it’s so bumpy and cambered that it’s a surprisingly good test of a road car. Even a modestly powered hot hatchback feels in its element around here. You’ll find one listed below, alongside the 11 other competitors. The reckoning begins overleaf.

CASTLE COMBE Follylyy Avvonn Rise Avon Riise Camp mp CCooorne mp orner or rner ner err Quarry Corner Dean Straight

FFarm Far Fa arm arm Straigght The Esses

West We esst sstwa twwa waayy Old Paddock Bend

Bobbies

MATT PRIOR ROAD TEST EDITOR

Ham Hammerdown Hammerdo Hammerd Hamm

THE JUDGES Richard Bremner, Nic Cackett, Andrew Frankel, Lewis Kingston, Matt Prior, Matt Saunders, Steve Sutcliffe, Mark Tisshaw

Tower Cor CCorn Co Corne Corner orner orne

THE COMPETITORS

Alfa Romeo 4C Deserves its chance to show what it can do here.

Ariel Atom 3.5R Most-focused version of the latest Atom.

BMW i8 More GT than sports car but a must-have for BBDC.

BMW M4 A 3-series-based M coupé is usually a front-runner.

Chevrolet Corvette Stringray It’s already impressed us.

Ferrari 458 Speciale Five-star road test car, but BBDC is full of surprises.

Jaguar F-type R coupé Hardcore V8 coupé with plenty of fans here.

McLaren 650S A grower, we think, and a force to be reckoned with.

Porsche 911 GT3 Last year’s winner earns itself an automatic recall.

Porsche Cayman GTS Dubbed the best sports car in the world. Let’s see.

Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy Hot hatchback heaven.

Vauxhall VXR8 GTS Provides the brawny, large-capacity kicks.

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[1R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

THE SUPERCARS

Ferrari 458 Speciale vs McLaren 650S vs Porsche 911 GT3

McLAREN 650S Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

T

hese three are sure to be at the business end of this year’s contest: Ferrari’s achingly brilliant 458 Speciale versus McLaren’s unfeasibly potent 650S versus last year’s outright winner, the already proven

Porsche 911 GT3 – in non-barbecue specification this time around.

Between them, these three represent the pinnacle of dynamic possibilities this side of a full-blown hypercar. In many ways, they are the most capable road cars that money

The GT3, last year’s winner, has superb traction, fine steering feel and great brakes

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can buy in the real world. Around a circuit like Castle Combe, they are also a whole lot more approachable than their hypercar cousins and are therefore not that much slower than them against the stopwatch.

Inevitably, though, the Ferrari ended up posting the fastest time, and by a fair margin. But then the 458 Speciale is one of those rare cars that always over-delivers, no matter what your expectations of it may be.

The noise that it makes is enough on its own to make your heart skip a beat. Quite how it manages to pass road car noise regulations is hard to fathom, considering how deliciously deafening it sounded every time it hammered past the pits. And every time it did so, anyone lucky enough to be standing around in the paddock would stop, stare and smile.

From behind its multi-function,

£195,250 3.2sec 204mph 1468kg V8, 3799cc, twin-turbo, petrol 641bhp at 7250rpm 500lb ft at 6000rpm 7-spd dual-clutch auto

suede-rimmed steering wheel, the 458 feels, well, just very special indeed. Its cabin is quite sparse, deliberately so, with bare aluminium staring back at you from down in the footwells. But all of the main ingredients for major driving thrills are there and, as it turns out, are all in exactly the right position. So you sit nice and low in the car, with a big, yellow revcounter dominating the instrument cluster, arms outstretched slightly, right foot hovering over a big accelerator pedal.

As you move off, the 458 Speciale bounces a touch along the bumpy pit lane, but the moment that it makes contact with the circuit at anything approaching a decent speed, it settles and feels immediately at home, totally at one with its surroundings.

Its steering is extremely light and perhaps a mite overly responsive to ◊

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Britain’s Best Driver’s Car ∆ begin with. Relatively small inputs exact a surprisingly instant response from the front tyres, and if you’re in any way clumsy with your inputs at the rim or with the throttle, the 458’s tail will let you know how keen it is to contribute to your progress.

As a result, the Speciale can, just to begin with, seem a little bit neurotic in its responses.

However, learn to drive it in the way its makers intended, which takes no more than a couple of laps, and the Speciale really does burst into life beneath your hands and backside.

And the thrills that it can deliver from that moment on, not to mention the speed that it can generate along the straights and through the corners, really is something to experience.

“Closer to a racing car than a road car” was how Andrew Frankel summed up the Speciale, and Mark

Tisshaw said that it has “a quite ridiculous turn of pace, with an amazing willingness to change direction”. Matt Prior also noted how the Ferrari “keeps you quite busy but is supremely accurate and steers on the throttle rather well”.

Everyone who climbed out of the 458 Speciale wanted to climb straight back in and do it all over again, in other words, and for a car to make you feel like that when it is this quick – its lap time of 1min 11.9sec is outrageous for a car with number plates – is a very rare thing indeed.

Having said that, the GT3 and 650S were far from blitzed by the Ferrari at Castle Combe, neither subjectively nor against the clock.

The Porsche lapped in 1min 13.1sec, the McLaren in 1min 12.9sec. And in its way, the Porsche was just as exciting to drive as the Ferrari, with

massive composure under brakes, bundles of feel from its rear end, great traction (better traction than the 458, to be honest) and amazingly good feel through its electric power steering, plus a phenomenally good dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

The only element that the GT3 lacked beside the others was pure horsepower. It couldn’t quite live with the 458 or the 650S along the straight bits, basically, which is not something you find yourself saying very often about a ‘991’ GT3. But for many – for most, indeed – this didn’t matter one iota because the GT3 was (a) still extremely rapid in isolation and (b) if anything, even better at the touchy-feely stuff than the 458 in certain places, especially when riding the kerbs.

Matt Saunders described the GT3 as “the one you most want

to make your own. You unwrap it like a jewel in a gift-wrapped box.

This is a proper, grown-up sports car.” Prior noted simply that the GT3 is “still the one”.

And what of the McLaren? Despite being quite brilliant at dealing with Castle Combe’s notoriously bumpy surface, which endowed it with a composure in certain places that threw both the Ferrari and the GT3 (under brakes into Quarry, for example), the 650S wasn’t quite at the same level overall. Not for pure speed – along the main pit straight and through the flat-out kink down to Quarry, the McLaren was actually the fastest of all – but instead for pure driver indulgence. People tended to climb out of the 650S with a knowing smile, full of admiration for the speeds that it could generate and the composure that it maintained

FERRARI 458 SPECIALE Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

£208,090 3.2sec 202mph 1395kg V8, 4497cc, petrol 597bhp at 9000rpm 398lb ft at 6000rpm 7-spd dual-clutch auto

SECOND OPINION

Andrew Frankel on the McLaren 650S

Over bumps, the 650S was very composed

The 458 Speciale really comes to life at speed on a track

over the bumps, but rarely were they giggling with delight. Not like they did after stints in the GT3 and 458.

The McLaren also understeered where the GT3 and 458 just gripped at the front and went. At the exit of Quarry and through Tower, for example, the 650S’s front end washed away surprisingly fast, and all you could then do was wait and be patient. Dialling up more throttle merely added understeer, or a wild hit of oversteer, and in these two corners alone the 650S lost a fair chunk of time (and reputation) on the day.

A couple of testers also noted that its brake pedal began to go long after sustained lapping, although, to be fair, most drivers emerged after a session in the McLaren feeling

PORSCHE 911 GT3 Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine

Power Torque Gearbox

£100,540 3.5sec 196mph 1505kg 6 cyls horizontally opposed, 3799cc, petrol 468bhp at 8250rpm 324lb ft at 6250rpm 7-spd dual-clutch auto

The McLaren understeers more easily than its two rivals here but is still entertaining [[1L]] AUTOCAR.CO.UK 15 OCTOBER 2014

LAP TIMES

Does things other cars can’t do.

Over the bumps, it is from another world. Minor niggles: a touch understeery, brakes got smelly and the pedal went slightly long, and I would prefer more steering feel, but still one of the most impressive weapons to wear a numberplate.

1min 11.9sec

pretty exhilarated. Frankel noted that “over the bumps, it is from another world. Hard to believe it is related to the car they brought to Rockingham three years ago”.

Tisshaw also had high praise for the McLaren, saying that “whatever the thing that was missing from the 12C has been well and truly found in the 650S. Shows how far McLaren has come in such a short time.”

A very long way in a very short space of time, yes, but not quite as far as Ferrari and Porsche have come, albeit over a far longer period of time. Give it another year or two, though, and the sky will be the limit for McLaren. One day, it’ll win one of these things outright.

STEVE SUTCLIFFE

1min 12.9sec

1min 13.1sec

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[2R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

RENAULT MEGANE RS 275 TROPHY

ALFA ROMEO 4C

Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine

Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine

Power Torque Gearbox

£28,930 6.0sec 158mph 1379kg 4 cyls, 1998cc, turbo, petrol 271bhp at 5500rpm 266lb ft at 3000-5000rpm 6-spd manual

Power Torque Gearbox

£45,000 4.5sec 160mph 895kg (dry) 4 cyls, 1742cc, turbo, petrol 237bhp at 6000rpm 258lb ft at 2200-4250rpm 6-spd dual-clutch auto

THE MISFITS Alfa Romeo 4C vs Ariel Atom 3.5R vs Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy

ARIEL ATOM 3.5R Price 0-60mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

£64,800 2.6sec 155mph 550kg 4 cyls, 1998cc, supercharged, petrol 350bhp at 8400rpm 243lb ft at 6100rpm 6-spd sequential manual

M

isfits, oddballs, square pegs… call ’em what you will, our most eclectic category produced the widest range of results, one car coming bog last by 13 clear points, another missing outright victory by just three.

There is no point trying to find a thread to unite the Ariel Atom 3.5R, Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy and Alfa Romeo 4C. They all have four cylinders, forced induction and four wheels and that’s about it. So we’ll avoid the contrivance of establishing a link that’s simply not there and start – where else? – than at the bottom.

By any standards, the Alfa 4C did badly. When six out of eight judges place it 12th out of 12 and the other two 10th and 11th respectively, you don’t need to read comments like Matt Prior’s “its steering still follows lines seemingly first furrowed by farmers 700 years ago” to know how poorly it has done. And were this some revved-up hatchback based on unworthy underpinnings, we might be disappointed but not too surprised. But it’s not: the 4C is a mid-engined two-seat sports car with a carbonfibre tub, unassisted steering and a kerb weight comfortably below 1000kg. With raw material like that, we’d expect it to be right up at the sharp end.

It stands as proof that even the best ingredients can only add up to so much if the cook is not following the recipe. The number of ways the Alfa squanders its inherent advantage includes, but is not limited to, its slow and inconsistent paddle-shift gearbox, the lag from

the engine, the lack of feel from and kickback through the steering and an unwillingness to hit its marks like the precision instrument you’d think it should be.

Despite its fundamental stability, it did little to inspire confidence in younger testers and even less to encourage the more experienced hands to fling it around the track in the way that you might think a car of this shape and specification would beg. Lewis Kingston spoke for many when he said: “The leaden, numb steering and brakes didn’t impress and, overall, I found it a nervous, disconcerting car to drive.”

It wasn’t all bad. The 4C coped with the Combe bumps admirably well and it felt quick in a straight line, but perhaps the most illuminating stat of all was a lap time slower than all bar two of its competitors.

In the end, the 4C doesn’t present as an inherently bad car, just one that has been whipped out of the oven before it’s ready. This, of course, leaves open the tantalising possibility that they’ll put it back and let it cook until it’s done; despite all of its flaws, the 4C remains a car of massive potential, almost all of which right now remains sadly untapped.

In many ways, the Mégane 275 Trophy suffers from precisely the opposite issue. It’s not a low-slung, two-seat, mid-engined carbonfibre exotic. It’s a Renault Mégane. Not only that, but it’s a front-drive hatch that has been honed and honed for years until this current point, where it must be on the absolute limit of its development potential. And yet its capacity both to entertain and ◊

Mid-engined and lightweight, the 4C should have excelled

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Britain’s Best Driver’s Car Aero mods and new dampers improve the Atom’s handling

The 4C was quicker but the Mégane RS was more enjoyable

THE MEGANE WASN’T COWED BY COMPANY THAT SET THIS COMPETITION’S HIGHEST STANDARD YET ∆ make us giggle at what is possible within the limitations of the front-wheel-drive format remains undimmed.

Tellingly, this was the car that almost all testers drove first, the one that would most reliably and safely allow them to dial themselves into the circuit. Matt Saunders said: “Nothing else here was as easy to drive quickly or inspired more confidence.” Mark Tisshaw’s view that the Mégane is still “the world’s best hot hatch and getting better every year” would have been hard to counter on this performance.

Indeed, a lone front-drive hatch amid a sea of rear-drive performance cars, it would have exceeded every expectation had we not already known very well just how good it is. It wasn’t cowed by company that set the highest overall standard yet seen in this competition, but instead showed that you don’t need a carbonfibre tub, a mid-mounted engine or double wishbone suspension to create a finehandling car. If you know how to tune suspension, you can do it with front drive and a torsion beam rear axle.

Strengths? It has exceptional damping, probably the single most

important component required for a happy driver at Combe. Its tail is loose enough to cope with mid-corner changes of plan but sufficiently stable to allow trail-braking right in to the apex. And torque steer, although evident, is rarely intrusive.

On the negative side, traction is inevitably an issue, even with a clever limited-slip differential; it can mitigate wheelspin away from the exit but not eliminate it entirely.

Also, the engine has some lag and the gearbox is too notchy and slow to suit the character of the car. But in the end, Matt Prior called it “still the best wrong-wheel-drive car in the world” and, certainly in the context of what we were looking for here, it’s a judgement with which we’d all agree.

Which brings us to the Atom.

Read these two comments: “It’s very twitchy on turn-in, catchable but not exploitable” and “Tricky to drive because it wants to oversteer on entry and it’s difficult to manage because more power just makes it oversteer more”. The interest here is that these notes were made and published a dozen years apart, by me, as it happens. The first was when a 190bhp Rover K-series Atom first ◊

SECOND OPINION

Matt Saunders on the Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy Lively, grippy, nicely poised and chuckable. Quick enough to keep up with plenty of the more expensive machinery, too. Can’t think of a front-driver that would have done better. Having said that, I wasn’t as amazed by it as I was the RB8 Mégane. Wonderful, communicative steering and awesome body control over the bumps. Nothing else here is as easy to drive quickly or as confidence-inspiring.

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[1R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

The 3.5R has set a new high-water mark for Atoms

Alfa’s 4C has plenty of untapped potential

LAP TIMES

Mégane 275 Trophy shows what can be achieved with tuning, as does the Atom 3.5R

∆ took part in this event in 2001, the second with the Atom 3.5 last year.

To say that we had our hopes for this year’s Atom 3.5R under close control is probably understating it a bit.

That it would be fast was a given.

A standard 245bhp Atom has the same power-to-weight ratio as a Ferrari F12. This one has 350bhp and a sequential shifter that allows clutchless changes in both direction.

On past form, that would only make matters worse. But Ariel has also had a long, hard look at the chassis, introducing Öhlins TTX dampers costing over £1000 per corner, an adjustable limited-slip diff, very trick Kumho track day tyres and, if you want it (and you do if you’re serious about this car) the front and rear wing pack from the Atom V8.

The transformation is almost beyond belief. Forget the lap time – it was always going to be the quickest car here – and focus instead on the real story. Ariel reckons that on all but the longest tracks, the 3.5R is actually quicker than the 500bhp

1min 10.7sec

Atom V8, yet despite that, this is the easiest Atom that any of us has ever driven. And by some margin.

It feels like a car with its potential finally released, as if each additional component were the missing pieces in the jigsaw that lets you for the very first time experience the Atom in its full glory. That nervousness on turnin? Gone. You can drive it like the racing car it very nearly is – holding the brake way past the turn-in point, then using that seamless flow of power to cannon it away from the apex with just a touch of understeer, transitioning to easily held oversteer at the exit if you want it. In short, a flawless demonstration of poise, feel, accuracy and simply blinding pace.

It’s not important how much each alteration to the aero, tyres, diff and dampers accounts for this change; what matters is that a car we’ve always loved more in theory than in practice can finally take its rightful place among the finest-handling cars of its or any other era.

ANDREW FRANKEL

1min 17.7sec

1min 19.4sec

A 245BHP ATOM HAS THE SAME POWER-TO-WEIGHT RATIO AS A FERRARI F12. THIS ONE HAS 350BHP 15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[1R]]

SPORTS COUPES BMW i8 vs Porsche Cayman GTS vs BMW M4

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trio of rear-drive cars here, two of them with your enthusiast’s preferred mechanical hardware, the third with something quite radical and no less promising for that. BMW’s M4 coupé is a traditional front-engined, reardrive machine powered by a 425bhp twin-turbo 3.0-litre straight six, and the Porsche Cayman GTS is midengined and propelled by a naturally aspirated 335bhp 3.4-litre flat six.

The i8, however, is twin-engined, the 228bhp 1.5-litre turbocharged triple sitting behind its cabin boosted

by a 129bhp electric motor driving the front wheels to make the plugin hybrid, carbonfibre-bodied i8 all-wheel drive. The i8 is new to our Handling Day, but previous editions of the Cayman and M3 have been front-runners or outright winners. So although these three are far from the most potent cars here, two of them have very positive form.

Despite its driveline, this M4 is far from old-school in detail makeup. Its gearbox is the optional M DCT seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and its engine is turbocharged for the first time in the model’s history.

The i8 brings supercar looks, a supple ride, sharp handling and a pleasing soundtrack

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car It revs to 7600rpm and delivers a resonant rumble under load that certainly builds the excitement.

But not as much as the BMW’s behaviour near the limit, its body tilting towards oversteer that often trips up its on-track pace. That’s fun, but as one tester said: “It can be quite annoying because it compromises the car’s ability to get into a corner. You can find yourself busier than you were expecting before the apex and in a way you might not always appreciate.”

On the other hand, the suppleness of dampers that allow some closeto-the-limit roll also enable the M4 to soak up Castle Combe’s often unhelpful dips, crests and mid-bend bumps with less disturbance than some of the other cars here, although the Cayman and i8 are calmer.

Some testers complained that the M4’s gear ratios weren’t ideally suited to Combe circulating duties, but for the most part there was praise for a powertrain that delivers substantial thrust with a minimum of fuss and a potent soundtrack. The BMW’s

dynamic crudities are less intrusive than the mildly wayward Jaguar F-type coupé’s, incidentally, but present enough that you feel slightly short-changed. The original E30 M3 (and BMW must be sick of reading about this car) was far less fast but provided better balance and a lot more high-precision control.

And that’s what you get from the Cayman, as well as the intriguing swivel-about-the-centre turn-in that you enjoy in the best mid-engined cars. Its reactions are measured enough to avoid twitchiness, allowing you to lean on it until it produces controllable oversteer that’s rewardingly straightforward to control. ‘Measured’ captures the character of much of this car, its confidently precise way with bends, its unflustered absorbency of bumps, its secure braking and evenly delivered acceleration making this an easy car to drive fast and a forgiving one, too.

However, this doesn’t mean that it’s not exciting, especially for one tester, who complained that it was ◊

The Cayman is well balanced, the M4 prone to oversteer

BMW M4 COUPE M DCT Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

£59,135 4.3sec 155mph 1572kg 6 cyls, 2979cc, twin-turbo, petrol 425bhp at 5500-7300rpm 406lb ft at 1850-5500rpm 7-spd dual-clutch auto

PORSCHE CAYMAN GTS Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

£55,397 4.9sec 177mph 1665kg 6 cyls, 3436cc, petrol 335bhp at 7400rpm 280lb ft at 4750rpm 6-spd manual

BMW i8 Price

£ 99,845 (after gov’t grant) 0-62mph 4.4sec Top speed 155mph Kerb weight 1560kg Engine 3 cyls, 1499cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor Power 357bhp (combined) Torque 420lb ft (combined) Gearbox 6-spd automatic

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Britain’s Best Driver’s Car Tall gearing blunts this PDK-equipped Cayman’s progress

THE i8 OFFERS MANY REWARDS, BUT THE BEST OF THEM ARE NOT TO BE FOUND ON A RACE CIRCUIT

SECOND OPINION

Mark Tisshaw on the BMW i8

Looks like a sports car, sounds like a sports car, feels like a sports car, but deep down there’s a nagging sense of artificiality about it.

You’re never quite convinced that it’s the driver doing all the work.

Short on top-end grunt and the steering lacks feel. The future’s on its way, but it’s not here yet.

Other cars here show that the old ways are still the best — for now.

∆ too easy to tip the Porsche into oversteer. But most marvelled at the Cayman’s balance, not only in chassis terms but as a complete car.

“What can’t this thing do?” asked one. “The only reason the Cayman S didn’t get my vote last year is because it lacked that final hard edge when you really wanted it. The GTS has that and also improves every component on top of it.”

Despite its 335bhp, ‘measured’ often describes the performance, too, the Cayman’s fuel-eking gearing making third practically a 100mph ratio, with three more to go. Absurd, and it takes the edge off its grunt. On the road, this makes it a bit less of a thrill than you’d think until you learn to work the lower gears, doubtless to the detriment of economy. But that’s when the tactile rewards really flow and the Cayman emphatically underlines its credibility as a properly sorted piece of driver’s kit. It’s also very civilised. With the fire of lower gearing, it would be close to perfection.

Fire is what you think you’re going to get from the i8, with its satisfyingly dramatic, supercar looks. It may be the unlikely wearer of an eDrive badge, but the little three-pot sounds at least twice as big as it really is and, together with the electric motor, allows the i8 to get going pretty smartly. This dramatic machine looks like a

mid-engined car and duly behaves like one on track, with the impression of a chassis pivot point not far forward of your seat. It turns in well and, in contrast to the early reports from its launch, understeer is not an issue. It will oversteer readily enough on a trailing throttle, too, before transitioning smoothly to gently run wide.

Your enjoyment of this behaviour is somewhat spoiled by a steering wheel that feels unpromisingly light unless you’re in Sport and, regardless of mode, this turns out to be the numbest rim here. But the wheel does shuffle encouragingly over camber changes. Fulsome brake feel has also been neutered by the i8’s electronics, although there’s no doubting their effectiveness. And while we’re whining, the instruments are near unreadable at speed despite their trick graphics.

The brakes’ scope for recharging the BMW’s battery pack in track conditions appears to be limited, though, the battery charge sinking to a solitary segment’s worth within a couple of hours of intermittent use. Which doesn’t mean that the electric motor turns dormant; the battery always retains enough charge to power the front wheels when necessary, BMW’s aim being to provide consistent handling regardless of circumstance. However, what you won’t get is the overboost

that a semi-charged or fully charged battery pack would provide. To restore that, you’ll need a session of less committed action to allow the battery power to regenerate. Or a mains recharge.

A less frenetic drive will allow you to enjoy the BMW’s near-languid suppleness over bumps, its motion over these surfaces integral to its sophisticated allure. So is the sound of that engine – the unaware will be amazed to hear that it’s shared with the Mini – whose racey downshifting blips are satisfyingly timed. This BMW is quick, too, but feels less so at

higher speeds, its progress dulled by eco-oriented gearing.

All of which makes the i8 a more intriguing machine on the road, where its twin engines usually function at full strength and its sharp handling and supple ride gel in a manner that makes you dream of long-distance drives. The disappointment of the steering is less evident here, and you get the pleasure of uncovering what it’s up to via the information displays. “A complete enigma, better on road than on track but not entirely out of its depth here,” concluded one tester.

The i8 offers many rewards, but the best of them are not found on a race circuit. Its more traditional sister, the M4, is of far less complicated character, almost too much so on the track, where its lively rear end denies it some of the delicate driftability of M3s past. Still, there’s little wrong with its powertrain, although some yearned for the previous-generation M3’s normally aspirated V8.

You won’t be doing much yearning in the Cayman GTS unless it’s for shorter gearing; the Porsche is the most complete, and completely satisfying, driver’s car of our trio.

“Beguiling controls, velvet-smooth powertrain and a forgiving ride make it great on the road or track” was one summation, and that just about nails it.

RICHARD BREMNER

The i8 will oversteer if you want, but its light steering lacks feel [[1L]] AUTOCAR.CO.UK 26 SEPTEMBER 2012

The i8 coped well with the notoriously bumpy Combe track

LAP TIMES

M4 is rapid on straights and sounds magnificent, but a loose tail can compromise bends

1min 16.8sec

1min 17.4sec

1min 19.4sec

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[2R]]

V8 MUSCLE CARS Chevrolet Corvette Stingray vs Jaguar F-type R coupé vs Vauxhall VXR8 GTS

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andling Day never fails to defy your expectations.

The more ‘foregone’ the contending line-up seems, the greater the potential for confounded surprise.

For every underachiever, though, there is always a delightfully unpredicted ace in the pack. And nothing in the pit lane is more disappointing than prejudice.

This year, you could spot the veteran judges of these big tests by

their approach to the Jaguar F-type R coupé, Chevrolet Corvette C7 and Vauxhall VXR8 GTS in particular – all front-engined, rear-drive V8s of pretty much the oldest sporting mould of them all. Cars like this shouldn’t demand many laps to decode – should they? When one of them is half as good as it’s tipped to be and another is twice as impressive, they most certainly do.

There’s performance and burbling charisma in abundant supply here

whichever car you plump for – but the biggest slice of both comes not from either small-block Chevy engine with the blue-blooded V8 lineage, but from Jaguar’s rambunctious 5.0-litre supercharged lump.

The F-type R’s snarl isn’t just loud; it’s angry with it – predatory, even. To listen to, you’d think it produced at least 50 per cent more accelerative force than either of the American V8s. In fact, the Vauxhallnée-Holden’s 577bhp and 546lb ft

give it ultimate bragging rights.

Take into account kerb weight, though, and it’s the Jaguar that tops the order, 328bhp per tonne for the Brit playing 315bhp per tonne for the Aussie and just 299bhp per tonne for the American.

Lap times aren’t always so illuminating, but look at how those power-to-weight ratios translate into circuit clockings and you’ll begin to understand where the true dynamic achievement is to be found

SECOND OPINION

Matt Prior on the Chevrolet Corvette

A state of perma-surprise was going around that “it’s quite good really”. And it is. Makes a great noise and its handling is adjustable, although with quite a lot of body movement. And by gum it’s quick.

But it’s too wide for the road, where the steering is too sharp off centre.

here. Because despite it being the least brawny under the bonnet, the Corvette tied the Jaguar’s lap time to the tenth. The Vauxhall, meanwhile, came in 0.6sec after both of its rivals – although it still had enough speed to go quicker than both a BMW M4 and a Porsche Cayman GTS. Getting a fast lap time out of the Jaguar was no straightforward task over the bumps and around the flat, testing corners of Castle Combe. Everyone who drove the F-type came back to the pits with the same wide-eyed expression – one inspired by a car with a great deal

Corvette and VXR8 use the same engine, one supercharged more poke than it can use most of the time and a notable penchant for the dramatic.

“Significantly underdamped; consequently a rather wild ride” was how one judge described the experience. “Rapid, ferocious – but only if you commit to turning off the driver aids,” wrote another. Road test editor Matt Prior summed the car up best: “It lets go everywhere – including in fourth gear, in a straight line, at 100mph. That’s less entertaining than it sounds. This is what I imagine racing a historic saloon is like.” By which, we can

assume, he meant very evocative and very sideways, but not always where you’d like it to be.

The F-type felt a little on tiptoes around Castle Combe, its power to accelerate and willingness to turn in not quite matched by the ability of its rear axle to stay in line and hunker down. Simply put, it lacked ultimate high-speed stability and composure.

On the road, it hit greater heights, the intuitive suaveness of its powertrain and steering and its chassis balance coming to the fore.

But the road impressions couldn’t redeem the car. Two judges placed it

dead last in the overall rankings and no one had it higher than eighth.

That the VXR8 ranked better can be celebrated Down Under and vindicates the praise we heaped on it earlier this year. Nothing – not even 577bhp – can adequately disguise its size and weight in this company.

Relative to every other car on the day, the VXR8 felt short on stopping power, short on body control, restricted on outright grip and soft of directional response. Relative to normal benchmarks – the more relevant ones of other super-saloons, even – it would have fared much ◊

VAUXHALL VXR8 GTS Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine

Power Torque Gearbox

JAGUAR F-TYPE R COUPE Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine

Power Torque Gearbox

£85,000 4.2sec 186mph 1650kg V8, 5000cc, supercharged, petrol 542bhp at 6500rpm 502lb ft at 3500rpm 8-spd automatic

[[1L]] AUTOCAR.CO.UK 26 SEPTEMBER 2012

£54,499 4.2sec 155mph (limited) 1834kg V8, 6162cc, supercharged, petrol 577bhp at 6150rpm 546lb ft at 3850rpm 6-spd manual

CHEVROLET CORVETTE STINGRAY Price 0-62mph Top speed Kerb weight Engine Power Torque Gearbox

£61,520 4.2sec 180mph 1539kg V8, 6162cc, petrol 460bhp at 6000rpm 465lb ft at 4600rpm 7-spd manual

26 SEPTEMBER 2012 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[2R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

THE VXR8 IS FRIENDLY, TRUSTWORTHY, KEEN TO PLEASE — LIKE THE WORLD’S FASTEST LABRADOR how far off the pace some of this car’s predecessors once languished. The atmospheric V8 is broad-chested and flexible. The chassis and steering respond cleanly and with plenty of feedback. There’s assured grip and directional bite at the front wheels, lots of lean-on stability from the rear… almost everything you need to derive confidence from a sports car. The electronic aids are also good enough not to dilute your outright pace yet deftly prevent you from overstepping the bounds of grip.

You’ll be glad of the latter, because beyond that limit, the Stingray is not quite so tame and obliging. As a road car, meanwhile, its appeal is a touch limited by left-hand drive, considerable vehicle width and questionable cruising refinement.

Still, one judge was heard to say that, of everything assembled, the Corvette was the car he’d most like to go racing in – a towering compliment in the presence of a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Ferrari 458 Speciale. “Box office” was how another described the American’s showing. Take a bow, the ace in the pack.

MATT SAUNDERS

Corvette inspires driver confidence; tyres can take a hammering at Handling Day

F-type is dramatic, but not always in a way that makes you feel entirely comfortable

LAP TIMES

∆ better. But then ‘normal’ never has been what this event is all about.

Those limited reserves didn’t make the Vauxhall half as demanding to drive as the Jaguar, though – which explains the judges’ warmer recommendation. To a man, they all praised it for excellent dynamic consistency, honesty and coherence.

If the Jaguar was full of surprises (some nice, some nasty), the Vauxhall was a picture of predictability.

“It’s friendly, trustworthy, keen to please – like the world’s fastest Labrador,” wrote Andrew Frankel.

Quite a Labrador that can tie with an M-badged German shepherd for ninth place.

In the end, it was for only one of these cars to get in among the true thoroughbreds and score a top-half ranking – and no one would have guessed that it would be the Corvette.

Finishing sixth in the overall order also underplays the esteem in which the American two-seater was held in some quarters, with one judge scoring it as high as second.

‘The basics’ are what the Stingray covers – quite emphatically well.

That’s remarkable when you consider

1min 14.3sec

1min 14.3sec

1min 14.9sec

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[1R]]

Britain’s Best Driver’s Car

THE VERDICT W

e feared for the Alfa Romeo 4C when we planned this feature, but not all of our testers had driven one and there was a chance, we’d heard, that the geometry had been knocked out on the last one we drove. So it got another chance but didn’t take it.

We thought that Jaguar’s F-type R coupé would fare rather better. But Castle Combe is a testing circuit, to which the Jaguar’s front wheels were better tethered than its rears. We like an oversteering car, but when that’s inadvertently in a straight line at 100mph, it’s less amusing.

Also less amusing than it could be is BMW’s M4, whose trick of going as sideways, and only on demand, is combined with too few other abilities to lift it clear of Vauxhall’s VXR8.

That its daytime job is being a large saloon means equal ninth is more dignified for it than it is for the BMW. [[1L]] AUTOCAR.CO.UK 15 OCTOBER 2014

BMW’s i8 is not a sports car and its handling changes dependent on the state of its batteries. It’s also quite charming, hence a respectable eighthplace finish, just behind the Renault Mégane 275, which we all liked a lot, and the Corvette Stingray, which some of us loved more than others. A better road performance would have placed the ’Vette higher still.

The top five were much harder to separate. McLaren has extracted so much from the 650S’s mechanical layout that it’s difficult to imagine it being better, so engaging is it.

It finished a whisker behind the Porsche Cayman GTS, which would have fared better still, we suspect, were this a road-only contest.

Which leaves the top three. Last year’s winner, Porsche’s 911 GT3, occupies the bottom step on the podium. On the road, it feels utterly focused. On a circuit, it feels like motorsport. But even it couldn’t

match the Ariel Atom 3.5R, which was unlike anything else on the track but whose unforgiving road nature prevented a few of our testers from placing it high enough to snatch first.

Which leaves the Ferrari 458 Speciale, which, by dint of three judges placing it first and no judge lower than third, takes a very narrow victory. Come the final reckoning, none of us felt it was undeserved. L

Alfa’s 4C fared as badly as we’d feared and Jaguar’s F-type not as well as we’d hoped

THE FINAL SCORES RANK CAR

NIC CACKETT

ANDREW FRANKEL

STEVE SUTCLIFFE

MARK TISSHAW

RICHARD BREMNER

LEWIS MATT KINGSTON SAUNDERS

MATT PRIOR

TOTAL

1

Ferrari 458 Speciale

3

2

3

3

1

1

1

2

16

2

Ariel Atom 3.5R

2

1

1

1

2

6

3

3

19

3

Porsche 911 GT3

1

3

4

4

5

7

2

1

27

4

Porsche Cayman GTS

5

6

5

2

4

2

4

5

33

5

McLaren 650S

4

4

6

5

8

3

5

4

39

6

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

7

5

2

6

3

4

9

7

43

7

Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy

6

8

9

7

6

5

7

6

54

8

BMW i8

8

7

8

8

7

9

6

11

64

9=

BMW M4

10

11

7

11

10

11

10

8

78

9=

Vauxhall VXR8 GTS

11

9

11

10

9

8

11

9

78

11

Jaguar F-type R coupé

9

10

12

9

12

10

8

10

80

12

Alfa Romeo 4C

12

12

10

12

11

12

12

12

93

15 OCTOBER 2014 AUTOCAR.CO.UK [[2R]]