EVER HEARD OF THE SHEPARD TONE? THE AURAL illusion of a note that never stops rising - a sort of audio equivalent of a barber shop's spinning pole - it overlaps ascending scales on top of one another in such a way as to be impossible to tell when one is fading in and another fading out. The resultant ever-rising glissando has been used by everyone from The Beatles to Taylor Swift and forms the sonic bedrock to the 2017 film Dunkirk, building intensity throughout the movie.
That nugget of trivia crosses my mind behind the Ariel Hipercar prototype's wheel because the chorus of its four electric motors seems never to stop rising or gaining intensity. It sounds a bit like a London Underground train, only much higher pitched, more frenzied - and at a frequency that just keeps going up and up. As, indeed, does the sense of acceleration. The speed readout on the race carstyle digital display behind the wheel changes digits almost faster than my eyes can follow, if they weren't already focused far down the road. I don't know at what speed that ascending tone finally levels out-self preservation kicks in before road runs out, and I back off.
The thing about the acceleration,' says engineer Tom McLaren, 'is that in a combustion-engined car it eventually tails off. In this it just keeps going...' I see what he means.
This is one of the first times anyone outside of the Ariel Motor Company has driven the all-electric Hipercar on the road. It's very much a prototype - the completed production car will arrive in late 2024 or perhaps the first half of 2025. But as it stands it's already a fascinating piece of kit. Another reason all that Shepard Tone stuff is randomly on my mind is that the science behind the Ariel Hipercar is both interesting and quite a lot to take in.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
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