FIFTEEN CARS SQUEEZED INTO CADWELL PARK'S tree-shaded assembly area: hatchbacks, saloons, roadsters, sports cars with and without roofs (and doors), rare exotica and down-to-earth affordable heroes. All of the cars in this line-up are purposely very different to reflect just how broad the world of performance cars is, but each of them would be right at home at an evo trackday. The winner will not be the fastest car around the lap, but the one that feels the most enjoyable, exploitable and genuinely thrilling.
If the performance car world is a broad church, then the world of track driving is, ostensibly, a narrower one. But it's a fascinating one nonetheless. You can learn things about a car on a track that you simply can't on the road, and to experience a car in the no-limits environment of a circuit is a very particular, distilled expression of The Thrill of Driving.
There's also a certain fascination in discovering what a car can ultimately do on a circuit.
Although this isn't a test of which is quickest, we will set lap times in every car. Apart from being interesting to know exactly where they all stand, pushing a car to set a time may reveal further facets of its character that driving at seven or eight tenths would not. Nonetheless, this test is more about tactility, involvement, balance, feedback at the limit, and above all-fun, than outright pace.
Our reigning eCoty champ is back for TCoty. We already know that the Porsche 911 GT3 RS is phenomenal on track from our time at its Silverstone launch (and unexpectedly brilliant on the road from its evo Car of the Year win last year).
So it's back as a known quantity: we'll lap it first to function as a benchmark for the other cars of all shapes and sizes. It'll be interesting, too, to see how this big-downforce car translates to Cadwell Park's narrow confines.
Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Evo UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 2024-utgaven av Evo UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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.
TYRE 2024 TEST
Want to fit the very best tyres to your performance car? The annual evo Tyre Test identifies the cream of the current crop
HONDA ACCORD TYPE R
A liberal sprinkling of Honda Type R fairy dust on the late-'90s Accord produced an unlikely evo icon and a genuine performance bargain
TOY STORY
Where best to store some of Toyota’s most prized and valuable racing superstars? Under the wind tunnel at its Cologne HO, of course...
POWER PLAY
It develops 819bhp. It has no turbochargers, no hybrid assistance. Ferrari describes it as the most complete GT it's ever made. And it’s so proud of its mighty V12 engine it’s named the whole car after it. This is the 12 Cilindri
THE FIRST SAMURAIS
Japan has been responsible for many of our favourite driver's cars of recent decades, but their ancestors are often much less well known. We take a look at where the big manufacturers began their performance car journeys
DEFINITELY. NO MAYBE
Three Japanese performance icons - Lexus LFA, Subaru Impreza 22B and Nissan GT-R. Over three days on some of our favourite roads we explore what makes each uniquely thrilling, but also the car culture that unites them
1V3.0
F1, P1... and now W1. The next chapter in McLaren's Ultimate Series is the British firm's challenger to the forthcoming new Ferrari hypercar and a £2million, 1257bhp, hybrid-powered, technical tour de force
Thornley Kelham European RS
One man’s dream to build the perfect Porsche 911 has resulted inthis aaticMously restored and enhanced classic. We delve into the details and take it for a drive
Bentley Continental GT Speed
The new Continental GT is the most powerful Bentley ever, and the beginning of anew plug-in hybrid era for Crewe. But is it still a benchmark grand tourer?
