Second gear, third gear, it doesn't really matter.
Sometimes I'm wringing every last rev out of the Toyota GR86 on the way out of Anglesey Circuit's imaginatively named The Hairpin. Other times I'm dispensing with the time-consuming and chassis-unsettling third-to-second-to-third gearshifts on the way in and out of the 180deg right-hander to see if that makes a difference.
It doesn't. The result is the same: ahead of me, my colleague Richard Lane in the Ford Focus ST with Track Pack (hence the race track we're at) comes out of things further along the track than when we went in. Some of that is the inevitable result of a specific time gap between two objects being a larger distance when they're travelling faster, as gives the concertina effect when you're watching racing cars enter and exit corners. But mostly he's just extending the gap.
This is a circuit (and road, see p33) meeting of two cars that do similar things at a specific price point, something car mags have been doing since way before I started reading them.
But even the obvious tests, and I'm not sure this is one, keep bringing up little surprises to me even now. The thing that keeps tweaking my eyebrow upwards these days, but really shouldn't be by now, is that this is, effectively if not officially, a £40,000 twin test.
The Focus ST Track Pack is actually a £40,000 car, with its near-£37,000 base price for this 276bhp 2.3-litre family-sized five-door hatchback bolstered by another £3000 for the new Track Pack.
This story is from the April 19, 2023 edition of Autocar UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 19, 2023 edition of Autocar UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MG 4
An EV changes your driving style - but not to the detriment of pleasure
PEUGEOT E-208
Time with our French hatch is up. Is it good riddance or au revoir?
In the hot seat
Is the best automotive job in the world actually in miniature scale? Hot Wheels' design boss assures STEPHEN DOBIE it is
Correcting the record
Autocar invented the road test back in 1928 - or did we? KEITH JONES trawls the past to find the true starting point
Road test rebooted
As the Autocar road test forges into its second century, its brief is expanding and it's returning to a familiar place. MATT SAUNDERS explains
Cyber attack
MG is back on the international stage and now trying to return to its sports car roots. MATT SAUNDERS sees if the Cyberster EV can match up to a rival from the present and a relation from the past
KIA PICANTO
As rivals fall by the wayside, Kia's popular city car gets a makeover
MASERATI GRANTURISMO
Latest coupé in a long line of Maserati GT cars hits the UK with V6 power
PORSCHE CAYENNE GTS COUPE
New V8 model gets all the goodies
TOYOTA PRIUS
Back by popular demand with a cool new look and greater driver appeal