You can't see air move. Pity really. It's doing a lot of work around here. Some of it good, some more... alarming. The wind turbine at the top of the Gotlandring's jump churns in the breeze as I watch Wookie hurl the 911 Dakar up the blind ramp. Hitting the lip at 92mph, the raised nose catches the wind and the damn thing pulls the mother of all wheelies.
I gulp. I'm sitting at the bottom in the GT3 RS, knowing I've got to follow him and that this, the wildest, most track focused road-going 911 there's ever been, will be able to take so much more speed up that slope - 106mph, it'll turn out. And yet I can barely get it off the ground. The air that had lifted the Dakar can't find a way under the GT3 RS. Porsche has clearly learned a lot since the days of backflipping GT1s.
The Dakar isn't part of this test, but the contrast between the two Porsches is a perfect illustration of what air can do, how it can be bent to your will or bend you to its. How powerful and dense this invisible force is.
I take the Alpine next, but it doesn't have the necessary power to hit wheel lifting speeds. Probably just as well given it's downforce-lite in this company. The others make full claims of figures and speeds, Alpine will only say "up to 29kg more than an A110S with aero kit"..
The Ariel (110kg of downforce at 70mph) fails to break the bonds of gravity for different reasons. I chicken out. I do the jump twice, the second time to check that the first time had been as squirrelly and unsettling as I'd thought. Less to do with the car I realise as I look at the direction the wind turbine is pointing. Cross wind. Played havoc with the 700kg lightweight.
この記事は BBC TopGear India の October 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は BBC TopGear India の October 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR KARI FT. EUROGRIP
What happens when you do track days in the name of pushing the limits of a tyre
ROOKIE BLUES
Acosta Urged for Patience as KTM Chases Ducati
THE VALUE OF TIME
Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen
DJI Osmo Action 4
Being an automotive journalist, our job entails us to ride motorcycles of all kinds and not to forget, the life behind driving some exotic set of wheels as well.
WAR WORDS WORLDS
Indians might not have played a deciding role in the previous world wars but now, our participation is much more evident
XTREME MACHINE
Maserati's racing history is a patchwork of epic highs and long absences, so can the MCXtrema - a track only version of its latest supercar-bring back the glory days?
WET AND WILD
No doors, no roof, no boot, but at least there's a windscreen... Paul Horrell pulls on his waterproof trousers and takes the Nomad 2 for a spin
STREAM W0RKS
This is an MG. Yes, really. Turns out it's got form in streamliners too...just ask Stirling Moss
A map and a compass.
Dacia got a foothold in the UK with cheapness, now it wants toughness on its CV. Can the new Duster handle Morocco's heat and locate a Dakar team in the desert - no GPS allowed?
A RECKLESS DEVELOPMENT?
Farewell, V10, this is the new Lamborghini Temerario, a 907bhp V8 hybrid. A worthy Huracán successor, or a misstep from the Italian firm?