I'd roughly equate it to flying in your dreams. Not the whole deeper meaning, running away from your problems bit - or whatever psychologists with large foreheads claim they mean - I'm talking about the feeling when your toe leaves the ground and you take to the air. Personally, I tend to adopt a swimming stroke approach to gain altitude - front crawl for speed, breaststroke for control - before gliding about in weightless euphoria. Frictionless, total freedom, zero sense of danger, no thinking just doing.
Admittedly, the process of driving the new Huracán Sterrato on dirt is a fair bit noisier and more violent than floating about in the clouds sucking my thumb, but it's similarly stress free. Normally, on an asphalt track, I'm constantly grading myself. Did I hit the correct line? Did I nail my braking point? Did I feed the throttle in just so? Here, that evaporates leaving infinite options at all times. Turn in whenever you fancy, play with the throttle, enjoy some angles then soar out the other side with all four fully lit, body in perfect control, mind serene and without a stopwatch in sight. It's effortless, flattering and like the odd Rix Airways flight, I never want it to end.
I realise this sounds overblown and ridiculous, but it's the truth. It's aggressive driving without the spikes and there's purity to the experience because the goal isn't precision, or measured performance... it's fun. And that, in a nutshell, is why the Sterrato (and its German cousin the Porsche 911 Dakar) exist. Should we be surprised that two off-road supercars have arrived pretty much on top of each other? Not really. Manufacturers are aware they can't keep fuelling excitement levels by adding more power and speed, both of which breeched sensible levels a long time ago, so they need to find new avenues to amusement.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von BBC Top Gear UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von BBC Top Gear UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself