leyytm
‘Despite having to generate enough pennies to pay the mortgage and service an increasingly gluttonous appetite I have been busy with some motoring enterprise. It was the last race of the season at Donnington, there was an evening with David Piper, and a couple of significant cars. I was pleased to discover that the Americans had failed to rob Donnington of any of the character that it is blessed with. Since the circuit was built on the Shields country estate in the 1930’s it has had mixed fortunes. Grand Prix racing featuring the wonderful w125 Mercedes Benz would have been an awesome sight before the war (there are a couple of great autobiographies of German drivers including Lang that mention Donnington). It then went backwards before an astute builder by the name of Tom Wheatcroft resurrected the place. Few will forget Senna’s drive in 1994 at the European Grand Prix. Ecclestones’ ill thought out feud with the BRDC threatened to drive Donnington to the fore again in this decade but the funding was never really there. The long and the short of it is that it’s back to its best again as a premier club circuit. I’m just glad that Doctor Palmer stepped in to take care of most of the other club circuits in the UK. I’d be lucky to be blessed with one tenth of his talent and brains. As I left Nottingham after work the Tuesday after the race I was veritably knackered. I had slipped out of work half an hour early to make Porsche Silverstone’s evening entertainment. If I’m honest I was jolly tempted to turn around and curl up in front of Sky Sports. That I didn’t is a blessing. What a great evening. Porsche had supplied Richard Atwood and David Piper to talk to Porsche owners around the country and imbue them with some knowledge of the brand they had bought into. While it was great to hear Atwoods thoughts he was the bow to Pipers fiddle. I will not regale his stories here as I will not do them justice. But they include tales of the filming of Le Mans, his leg falling off in Monaco’s casino square and many others. Any man that can retort “i have owned 5” and then shrug nonchanatly to the question “I bet you wish you hadn’t sold your 250 GTO?” has to be interesting! I am glad I spent half an hour chatting with him later in the night and it made my evening. It is just an indightment of Porsche owners that no-one else seemed bothered and just supped on Peroni before cruising home in their Cayenne. I also had a go in a car I maligned a few weeks ago. The Mini Countryman, it’s not a bad car by all accounts. Not as fun to drive as a the little one but very competent and quite visually appealing sitting on the fuel station forecourt. I suspect my sister could own one quite happily and it would be a great car for her. I suspect the one to go for will be a normal Cooper petrol or diesel and you’d be getting a good little car if you put your money into one over winter. The Jaguar was a more interesting proposition. I wanted to like it. It took some time for the pessimist in me to come round to Ian Callum’s design language but a weekend in a Jaguar XF S-V8 convinced me that Jaguar was back. What a lovely fluid chassis and so much better than the 580bhp sledgehammer from Audi that was being tested for the same feature. I had read much praise for the new XJ so I was hoping for a straight to the top of the class verdict. Sadly not. The ride was surprisingly poor on the ludicrous 20” alloy wheels. The steering was overly light and lacking in any type of genuine or artificial feel and street lights looked crazed through the obtrusive heating elements in the windscreen. Worst of all in my book is the antiquated touch screen navigation system. Sitting in the driver’s seat I am unable to reach the screen without leaning forward. This means at 60mph on the country ‘A’ roads around my house I cannot change the radio without leaning forward and out of my comfort zone. I am not going to comment on the complexities of the system but this seems like a fatal flaw to me in this day and age. So much so that I don’t think it rises to the top of the class but indeed languishes in third behind BMW’s 7 series and the venerable Mercedes S class. Sorry Jaguar. I think that is enough for now but I’m looking forward to driving an Audi RS5 (is it going to be as disappointing as the S5, as brilliant as the r8 or something in the middle – I suspect the latter). I’ll also have a final bash at justifying my hideous boredom with Double clutch gearboxes and an increasing hatred of the word ‘sport’.‘
‘Gearboxes: This is a favorite subject of mine. One can’t fail to be excited by the advances in gearbox technology in the last ten years. We have seen entirely new concepts and refreshing takes on existing concepts. DSG and dry clutch automatic gearboxes spring to mind. They can improve fuel economy, ease of driving and even the driving experience for many, and that’s got to be progress. So why is it that I am going to be such a stick in the mud? The answer comes in the form of two very different but very fast cars. The first is Lamborghini’s new LP670 SV which I have had the pleasure of pedaling recently. The long and the short of it is that I really liked it, the car was not difficult to drive but demanded respect, you knew that because despite the paddle gearbox you had to think about every gear change, modulate throttle inputs and time each contraction of the fingers accurately in order to keep nearly 700 horses contained. This was intoxicating and despite the huge speed and power still fun at reasonable speeds on UK roads due to the driver input that it demanded. The second car is Porsche’s new 911 Turbo PDK (Gen 2 paddle car), fabulous is an accurate description of its talents, but that does not explain why it wasn’t much fun. It was just as quick, perhaps quicker on our roads but failed to be involving in any way. It was simply too easy to go to fast, all the way to the scene of the accident. This is probably ok in a 911 Turbo as ultimate involvement is not necessarily the point of the car. Where it does worry me is the new Ferrari 458 which will be available only with a double clutch gearbox. I am the first to accept that my own view is not gospel. However, it is worth noting that despite this being the decade of the twin clutched gearbox there are some of us who still want an alternative. I increasingly read that twin clutch gearbox’s are not only the optimum choice of gearbox but also enhances the driving experience; I would not disagree, I would just ask you to make up your own mind. Mine will be a manual or F1 ‘box, yours may well be an MDCT or DSG, just think about it first. Personally I hope that choice isn’t removed. ‘
‘Apart from an engineering excercise I cant understand the point of the Supersport. The value of this car is a cross european high speed tourer, that you can get 4 people and your skis in. I did think perhaps it would be a foundation for a GT1 car or at least had hoped!‘
‘Bentley Supersports So, you currently own a 600bhp Bentley Continental GT Speed. What is the last thing that is likely to go through your mind? The answer is MORE speed. Power in the Supersports is upped to 624bhp and the car is lightened considerably to increase the agility of the big Bentley. If I am brutally honest I have struggled with this concept since I first heard about it, but I was also intrigued and ready to be proved wrong. What I really wanted to know was in what situation this car excelled, more to the point in which situation this car was better than the other weapons that I could lay my hands on for this kind of money. The good bits: I was fortunate enough to pick the car up on a wet and windy winter’s morning, which as it turned out were the perfect conditions to display its talents. I had been wondering what to compare this car to, was it going to be raw like a GT3 or a Scuderia or softer and more Bentley like? The truth is in most cases it provides a great balance for road driving. The kind of road driving I put it to was indeed the perfect showcase, where normally one would be nervous putting 624bhp on the road, the Bentley was the perfect tool to take advantage of gaps in traffic and make haste. The car never feels like it is going to bite and provides an immense amount of grip. In short, it works with you, even if it doesn’t provide the ultimately satisfying sparring partner that a GT3 would. The alcantara trimmed wheel feels tactile; it isn’t too thick and gives a modicum of ‘feel’ despite the power being put through all four wheels. This is especially good as the car will even steer on the throttle up to a point. I have written in my notes that the car is ‘quite quick’ and I suspect this is a bit of an understatement, it does feel usefully quicker than a normal GT Speed. When it comes to performance it is also worth mentioning the Ceramic Brakes which I am increasingly coming to like. Not only are they fade resistant but they now are easily modulated from cold and as easy to use as their more conventional counterparts. Bad Bits: So, it can’t all be perfect can it? The first problem is a pretty big one for me at least. I like to sit in a car rather than ‘on it’ and the seat is set far too high and with no adjustment vertically. Its not the end of the word but it sets one off on the wrong foot from the start. The seats pose another problem, the ride at low speed is poor, (although it settles down with speed) and the seats amplify this, they are just too hard core for a Bentley, even a Supersports in my view. If there was an element of ‘seat comfort’ it would go a long way to nullifying the low speed jolts. The gearbox it a controversial issue, I suspect I am in a minority to dislike the artificial ‘pop’ that you now get with an aggressive up-shift on current generation double clutch and sporting automatics. second to third in the Supersports I found to be particularly annoying. It is worth pointing out that this is a very good gearbox, I would just like to see a change in the software. Overall: I came away from the car thinking that it was pretty good. It is true to say that it was not as quick to change direction as other lightweight supercars, but then it is silly to consider this in their mould. The biggest issue for me is the seating, I was not comfortable for the hours that I spent in the car, never mind if I wanted to take it touring. And that is the point, this is still a GT car, which you can now take on the track, not vice versa and that is why it should still cosset. ‘
‘add me‘
‘not driven a v12 vantage, but in a Bentley Supersports today and tomorrow so i'm working out my thoughts on that. I wasn't a big fan of the throttle response so i dont know whether that would be any better on the Vantage.‘
‘http://mymotor.com/jamescook/photos/2120 Its a shame about the front vents on the bonnet!‘
‘I think the v12 Vantage is the solution - you driven one yet?‘
‘ahh, that cut and paste from word didn't work very well‘
‘Aston Martin DBS manual Introduction The words Aston Martin bring about a plethora of images for most of us. Unfortunately for me, despite the best work of Daniel Craig I think of tow trucks and slightly disappointing dynamics. Therefore, when this Tungsten DBS arrived on the drive it faced an uphill task to convince me of its place among the highest echelons of GT car aristocracy. I have thus far been slightly harsh, and I do not want to suggest that Aston Martin do not produce some excellent machines. I particularly like the latest 4.7 V8 Vantage, but this is a car that is trying to command significantly more cash. The good news is that despite the car clearly borrowing the same styling cues as the inherently ‘right’ DB9 it does look like a step up in the food chain. The (slightly cringe worthy) Emotion Control Unit, or key to the rest of us, has some serious heft to it and is more of a bespoke unit that Crewe’s competitor although when firing up the car I couldn’t help but be slightly confused. Looking through the door mirrors the cars haunches are pronounced and it does hark back to the last hairy chested Aston Martin, the Vanquish. We know what the car looks like though, and collectively we can make our own minds up about it. What I was really interested in was how it drove, what was this car going to do that others couldn’t do, or didn’t aim to do? The Good Bits Firstly, we shall look at the aspects of the car that felt inherently right. In Britain we have developed a knack in recent years of producing cars with excellent suspension set ups. In short it is not too hard, which for me is a real boon in a car of this nature. Over our country ‘B’ roads the car feels composed, well damped and comfortable. One immediately feels like the car is working with you, the rear end stepping out only when provoked and never in a malicious way that would catch out the unwary. The gearbox itself is of great credit to the car and works well, with a nice clutch action and it is easy to be smooth from the off. This is particularly of interest for those of us who love a good manual gearbox and the challenge of a good heal and toe gear change. So, the gear box is good, and so is the engine, it pulls strongly to the red line and has a relaxed nature that is unlike the highly strung V12 in the 599. If one were to set off to the South of France, this would surely be high on the list of cars that would eat up the miles with consummate ease. The Not So Good Bits However, there are some niggles. This is not a mass produced German, but a low volume Brit which does not have the same parts bin to draw back upon or the budget to engineer round minor problems. The first thing that proves to be an annoyance is something as simple as the position of the gear lever, on more than one occasion my hand crashed into the dash board and the smooth arc that one’s hand usually moves to the gear lever was not replicated here. A minor niggle, perhaps, but in a manual car how many times do you change gear each journey? The other annoyance for me was the throttle response which was nowhere near good enough. I particularly found it to be a challenge at low maneuvering speeds and while heal and toeing. It not only had a massively long throw, but nothing seemed to happen with an initial prod, before a large dump of revs screw up any chance of a smooth change or getting off the line without sounding like an uncoordinated pillock. Next we must comment upon the headlights, so used are we to exceptional xenon lights which sweep round corners that we really miss them when it’s not the case in our exclusive GT car. Not good enough is the only conclusion, but then those on a 599 are even worse. Last week I was inspecting Horatio Pagani’s new Zonda, and among others I commented upon the challenge presented in reading the crystal dials, the same is true of this car, and when this is coupled with the difficulty in operating the prehistoric satellite navigation the only conclusion that can be drawn is that some substance has given way to style. Conclusion So, this is a good car. However, the throttle response and the positioning of the gear lever linked with the minor niggles stop it from being peerless. I was left wondering why this car moved the game on so far from a good 550 Maranello, which I don’t think it does. Having said that, this is not the best version and by ticking the automatic box I think the car would present a more convincing option for the classy trans-continental traveler. NEXT WEEK: 530d GT ‘
About
Currently at nottingham University doing History but like messing around with cars. I have grown up around interesting cars so thats where the fascination comes from. I also work for Sytner Group, specifically for Bentley and Lamborghini and also for Ferrari, BMW and various other franchises in a smaller part.
Interested in
Auto Shows, Classic Cars, Track Days, Motor Sports (competing), Motor Sports (spectating)
Favourite Motoring Moment
Going up the Goodwood Hill at the festival with my father in a Ferrari250 California Spider SWB.
Location
Long Clawson
