May the force be with the new Honda NSX

STAR WARS fans have had it easy – they’ve only had to wait ten years for a follow-up. If you want to see real patience then spare a thought for anyone saving up for a new Honda NSX.

The chaps at Honda are insistent that their new mid-engined supercar will be landing in the showrooms sometime in the spring of 2016, meaning it’s been more than 11 years since the last original NSX rolled out of the showroom. It’s been even longer since Honda actually launched a supercar; Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister when that happened.

It’s weirder to think the new NSX’s predecessor arrived at a time when most of us were still driving Ford Sierras, which makes you realise just how far ahead of the game it was. I was lucky enough to drive one the other day, and it just didn’t compute in my petrolhead grey matter that a 1992 car developed in the late Eighties felt slicker and more modern than the 15-reg Astra I’d been piloting half an hour earlier. So I can understand why this automotive iPad would’ve made its Windows 3.1 rivals, the Ferrari 348 and the Lotus Esprit, feel a bit prehistoric.

The NSX moved performance motoring on so much that Gordon Murray used it as his benchmark when he was developing the McLaren F1 – which is why the new one has an even bigger weight of expectation than The Force Awakens did. Ferrari and Porsche upped their game after the original NSX came out and made its party trick of being exciting and easy to use their own, which is why any of you could step out of a Ford Focus and into a 488GTB without feeling too frightened. Both it and the new 911 are hugely talented acts, so unless the NSX is astonishingly good it risks floundering onto their patch looking like the car world’s Jar Jar Binks.

Thankfully the omens are good. Honda’s raided its big cupboard of motoring tech for the new NSX, which is why it’s got four-wheel-drive and a dual clutch transmission with not five, not six, but NINE gears. Oh, and a 3.7-litre V6 that’s given a helping hand by two turbochargers and three electric motors.

I’ve no idea whether that’s enough to tempt rich Champion readers out of their 911s but I’m very much looking forward to my own test. If in 23 years’ time it feels more modern than a new Astra then I can go home knowing it’s done its job.

Shortly after which I’ll probably write a Life On Cars column comparing it to the 19th Star Wars film – see you there!

Spectre - great film, shame about the cars

I’M THINKING of opening a sanctuary – perhaps on some remote Scottish island – for fellow film fanatics in the run-up to James Bond’s next outing.

I can’t be the only film fanatic determined to avoid anything that might have prematurely ruined Spectre, but it was nigh on impossible to avoid finding out the plot details unless you spent the last six months in a cave or with your head planted firmly in the sand – something the film’s creators didn't exactly help by dripping trailer after trailer onto my Facebook feed every other night.

In the end it turned out to be a belter of a film. Don't worry - I’m not going to reveal which femme fatale he beds or what facial disfigurement the villain has if you haven't seen it, but you’ll have to allow me one spoiler alert. Why was Daniel Craig – the best ‘real world’ Bond since Timothy Dalton leapt into a swimming pool in Licence to Kill – getting involved with cars you and I can’t actually buy?

Everyone knows great cars – whether they’ve been approved by Q or not - and Bond films go together. Sean Connery being told his Bentley’s ‘had its day’ and then being introduced to a silver car with a few optional extras is one of cinema’s greatest moments, and Roger Moore winding down the window of his aquatic Lotus and casually throwing out a fish one of its funniest. Then there’s the moment Timothy Dalton fights his way through the roof of a swerving army Land Rover in the opening moments of The Living Daylights, and that glorious moment when Daniel Craig flicks on the lights to reveal a gleaming DB5 in Skyfall.

All of these vehicles have one glorious thing in common – you can, even if you might need to be a millionaire in some cases, buy all these cars in real life. Yet you can’t with Spectre’s automotive stars.

For starters there’s Bond’s car – an Aston Martin of course, but unlike the DBS or DB5 the DB10 Daniel Craig uses is not actually a production model. The closest you’ll be able to get is next year’s DB11. Close, but not exactly the MI6-spec the Bond fantasists who propel Aston’s fortunes will be wishing for this Christmas.

It’s the same story with the baddies’ choice bit of kit – a Jaguar C-X75, which was mooted as an XJ220 successor at the Paris motor show five years ago. It wasn’t a production car then and it still isn’t now – and I reckon using one in Spectre is giving today’s kids false hope.

It's a top-notch 007 outing – but I just thought the cars (except the one at the very end) were a bit of a letdown.

Why I want a Ferrari F355 for Christmas

THE NATION’S best pub, I’ve long maintained, is hidden in a hamlet in a remote Cumbrian valley.

It’s 15 miles from the nearest train station and the bus service is next to non-existent, so the only way you can realistically reach it is by bringing a designated driver who’ll happily ferry you home afterwards. The ales on offer are also a bit limited – there are six of them, and they’re all brewed in the building next door.

As a practical proposition it’s pretty much useless, but the tipple is so tasty the pub counts Prince Charles and Sir Chris Bonington among its fans. The location alone means it’ll only ever be an occasional indulgence, which makes the few occasions I do manage to enjoy it that little bit more special.

In other words, it’s a bit like the first Ferrari I’ve been fortunate to get a go in. Even for someone who writes about and drives all sorts of cars, taking the helm of Maranello’s finest is something I’ve spent years longing to do. So far I’ve managed to bag the keys to a Lotus, a Jaguar, an Aston Martin and a Rolls-Royce, but until now people have always been too sensible to allow me access to a Ferrari.
 

Better still, it wasn’t some tired old Mondial that’s overdue its next service or a 400 that’s missed a decade’s worth of TLC; the Ferrari in question was the F355, which the motoring mags in period always praised as being as being the company’s return to form after the dud that was the old 348. A 1997 F355 GTS which had been meticulously maintained 360 days of the year, just those five days when it’s deemed sensible to take it out for a blast.

The weird thing was that, even as a hugely expensive mid-engined supercar, it was no harder to drive in the real world than the Nissan Note I’d been piloting a few hours earlier. I didn’t know whether to be delighted or dismayed; on the one hand, you really can take a Ferrari F355 to Tesco, but on the other it’ll feel strangely anodyne when you do. The steering’s too over-assisted and the V8, at real world speeds, is barely awake.

Nope, the only way to treat a F355 is the way Ferrari intended. Plonk your right foot into the carpet on the wrong day (which in Cameron’s Britain, is pretty much every day) and you’ll either end up heading backwards into the nearest hedge at high speed or looking at your shoes in the nearest police station.

But on the right day, with great weather and a road where you can safely exploit it, the Ferrari sings. The perfectly-weighted steering, the howling 3.5 litre V8 and the electronic dampers join forces, doing magical things you previously didn’t think were possible in a car.

It is, like my favourite pub, something best enjoyed on a handful of occasions. To answer all those questions your inner eight-year-old is asking – yes, the Ferrari F355 really is as good as everyone says it is.

You just have to choose your moment carefully.

The Volkswagen XL1 is more important than you might think

I CAN only conclude David Cameron’s vow to get tough on all those City bankers is finally having an effect.

Why else would Volkswagen launch a car which – as far as I can tell – is designed specifically with them in mind? The rising stars of RBS, HBOS and Lloyds have long had a fascination with flashy German metal, as evidenced by all those Porsche 944 Turbos the Gordon Gekko generation drove in the 1980s and all the Audi R8s which have been lining London’s shinier streets these last few years.

However, all those efforts to get tough on bankers’ bonuses must be having an effect because the latest bit of German exotica to hit Britain’s roads uses a combination of an 800cc diesel engine and an electric motor rather than a whopping great V10. It’s also considerably smaller than a Ford Fiesta, won’t do 100mph and will be comprehensively outdragged at the lights by a diesel Skoda Fabia.

Yet the Volkswagen XL1 costs £98,515, making it more expensive than the BMW M5, the Porsche 911, the Maserati Granturismo and the Jaguar F-type. In essence, it’s a small city car you’d need to be on a Fred Goodwin-esque salary to even contemplate affording – and I still love it.

The XL1, aside from having a wonderfully sci-fi moniker which renders it cool in an instant, is significant because it opens up a whole new front in the long-running war of the supercars. Put simply, it does for MPG what the McLaren F1 and the Bugatti Veyron did for MPH. I’m aware of the irony of blowing the best part of a hundred grand on a car which takes saving money at the pumps to the extreme, but it somehow ekes 282 miles out a gallon. Try doing that in your Ecoboost Focus.


Doing 282mpg would – at the current going rate for diesel - get you from The Champion’s front door to Land’s End for a little over £8, and in a mad miniature two-seater which looks a bit like a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing crossed with something out of The Jetsons. Somehow, I think pursuing the edges of what’s possible with fuel economy has got to be more relevant than the battle to be the first out with a production car that does more than 300mph. In the same way the Jaguar XK120 eventually gave us everyday hatchbacks that could crack 120mph, maybe one day we’ll all be driving cars that do upwards of 200 to a gallon.

The first time I see some City stockbroker type driving an XL1 won’t be a moment of utter contempt. It’ll be quiet respect for someone test-piloting the future.

BAC Mono: The supercar with a scouse accent

THE makers of a single-seater supercar have decided to relocate to Liverpool after being swamped with orders from speed-seeking buyers.

BAC, who until now have been based in Cheshire, said that following the success of their Mono model they have decided to move to a larger factory on Merseyside, and will set up shop at a site in Speke next year. Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, said: "This is great news for Liverpool. BAC is an ambitious, visionary company, and its desire to relocate to our city speaks volumes for our business offer. The support we have provided will help create new jobs and apprenticeships and further build our reputation as a city of automotive excellence.

"The Jaguar Land Rover plant in Halewood has been a real success story for our city in creating jobs in commercial car production – I’m confident that this deal with BAC will prove to be another success, in creating opportunities at the specialist end of the market. BAC Mono is a prestigious brand, and it’s fantastic that motoring and racing enthusiasts alike will know that a car which is turning heads wherever it goes – whether on the road or track – is made in Liverpool."

The company’s Mono model is one of the fastest British cars currently in production, and recently posted the second fastest ever lap of the Top Gear track, beaten only by the Pagani Huayra.

Liverpool has a longstanding association with car manufacture, particularly with the former Ford plant at Halewood, which is now used by Jaguar Land Rover to produce the Land Rover Freelander and Range Rover Evoque.

The Lamborghini Gallardo has cost me dearly in the pub bragging stakes

“WHAT’S the most powerful car you’ve ever driven?”

There is, in the days when top speed is considered a bit un-PC, still a certain validity about asking what’s the highest amount of bhp you’ve ever handled from one engine. Well, at least there is if you’re two petrolheads and it comes down to pub bragging rights! If you’ve ever wondered what those strange three letters – bhp – stand for, then wonder no more.

The standard way we Brits measure power goes back way beyond the dawn of motoring itself, and hails from the days when James Watt needed to show the world how brilliant his steam engine was. One horsepower – which was always measured at the steam engine’s brake, hence the b in bhp – was equivalent to the work one pit pony could do. It’s a measure which migrated from steam to petrol and, as a result, has obsessed Top Gear presenters ever since.

Naturally, I’ve got my most powerful car to date clearly jotted down in my mental notebook – the Jaguar XKR-S Convertible, which I drove last year. Its 5.0 litre, supercharged V8 churns out no less than 542bhp. Which, in pony terms, means it's enough to keep a discount supermarket supplier in business for several months.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been enough to stop me getting outhorsepowered by my mate. He was treated to one of those ‘try a supercar for a day’ presents for his birthday and, as a result, got given a Lamborghini Gallardo to play with for a morning. I’ve been outgunned – by eight piffling brake horse power – and he hasn’t let me live it down since.

There are, of course, less childish ways to express a car’s oomph. If you want to be intelligent about it there’s the issue of power-to-weight ratio, which is why said mate is hard at work cramming no less than 170bhp into an old Rover Metro, which in theory, should give it the same sort of punch – if not cornering prowess – as a Porsche Boxster. Then there’s the mysterious world of torque, which would take the next three weeks of motoring columns to explain properly but is why so many not-that-powerful turbodiesel cars are so good at overtaking.

Raw power, however, has a certain mine’s-got-more-than-yours childish appeal which still appeals to petrolheads (and probably explains why I like TVRs so much). The best thing about horsepower, however, is that you don’t need to be a motoring journalist to outgun Yours Truly.

All you need to do is get given a certain birthday present, turn up at your nearest racing circuit, and have a blast!

New Porsche 911 Turbo ups the supercar ante

If you’ve won the lottery lately and fancy showing up your neighbours with a shiny new supercar, then the latest in a long line of turbocharged Porsche 911s might just fit the bill.

The new Porsche 911 Turbo, based on the current ‘991’ generation of the evergreen German sports car, packs both a rear-mounted 520bhp flat six engine and four wheel drive into its £118,349 price tag, while the Turbo S version ups the stakes, offering up 560bhp for a cool £140,852.

Porsche GB said of the new arrival: “In the forty years since the first prototype appeared, the place of the Porsche 911 Turbo at the technological summit and peak of dynamic performance has never been in doubt. “Now, with the unveiling of the new ‘Type 991’ generation 911 Turbo and Turbo S, the car’s reputation as a technology showcase combining the virtues of a circuit race car with those of an everyday road car reaches new heights.”

If you can afford it, the first right-hand-drive 911 Turbo and Turbo S models arrive in Britain in September.

The real world stars of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show

YOU'D be forgiven for thinking the Geneva Motor Show has been packed with millionaire motors, given the amount of shiny new supercars that have been grabbing the headlines.

The Swiss show is one of the biggest dates in the car calendar for new models and announcements, and while the Alan Sugars and Kanye Wests of this world can gorge themselves on a smorgasboard of new Ferraris, McLarens, Porsches and Astons, there's also scores of stunning new arrivals which are aimed firmly at real world motorists.

Take, for instance, the new estate - sorry, Tourer - version of Honda's Civic, which you'll like because it's reliable, roomy and reasonably priced but I like because I think it looks as good as it does. There's also confirmation there's a new Civic Type R on the way, which is great news for hot hatch fans who aren't taken by the new VW Golf GTi, which was also unveiled at the show.

Renault, meanwhile, are eyeing up a slice of the sales cake currently enjoyed by Nissan's Juke, with the new Captur proving to be a high-rise, smartly-styled spin on the firm's recently reinvented Clio. It'll have tough competition, however, with Peugeot trying a similar trick with its new 2008 model.

Ford are hoping to find their feet at the show with the Ecosport, a small off-roader which uses the company's clever Ecoboost engines and slick styling which the Blue Oval are hoping will help it repeat the success the model has already enjoyed in South America.

There's also a lot of fans of al fresco motoring which has been newly unveiled too, including the convertible version of the Toyota GT86 Life On Cars touched on a few weeks ago, and the Cascada, a full-sized four seater which Vauxhall are hoping will win plenty of fans.

Oh, and there's the new V8 version of Jaguar's F-Type, the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever produced, a replacement for Bentley's Flying Spur, McLaren's successor to the F1, the imaginatively-titled P1, a new Porsche 911 GT3 and the LaFerrari, the fastest, most powerful Ferrari to date.

Not that any of you real world motorists would be interested in any of THOSE, of course...

The tantalising tech of the McLaren P1

LIFE ON CARS doesn't really do press releases normally but one with the McLaren Automotive logo on it can't help but brighten up your Wednesday morning.

Yes, it's some technical details of the company's new P1 supercar - spiritual successor to the legendary F1, don'tcha know - for you to gawp at. Thanks to its starring turn at the Paris Motor Show last October we all know what it looks like but it's only now Euromillions winners, city bankers and Chris Evans have got a chance to find out what sort of hardware it's got to back up that striking shape.

Hardware that includes a "substantially revised" version of the MP4-12C's twin-turbo, 3.8 litre V8, meaning it now kicks out no less than 727bhp, which is almost exactly 100bhp more than the McLaren F1 had at its disposal. Not that it stops there, however, because like the rival Porsche 918 Spyder it also uses batteries to make it even more of a belter, with the electric equivalent of 176bhp on offer through a Formula One-style boost system for when a P1's pilot really wants to press on. All of which means you have a combined total of 903bhp. Count 'em.

Admittedly, that's not as much as the world's fastest production car, the Bugatti Veyron Supersport, but then the McLaren's much lighter and is aiming to be the ultimate driving experience rather than simply the one which can notch up the biggest numbers. Oh, and as you can see from the pic of the prototype above its exhaust spits blue flames at you when you open the throttle, which is very cool.

All I can do is keep my fingers crossed for my numbers coming up this Friday night!

The return of the Corvette Stingray

HISTORY has a habit of repeating itself. Here's proof of that in automotive form; fifty years after the fabulous Corvette Sting Ray emerged, there's now a new one on the way.

Chevrolet reckons its new Corvette Stingray - don't worry grammar pedants, it became a single word back in the late Sixties - is the rightful heir to one of the best known names in the sports car business, although whether or not it'll be a hit with sports car fans on this side of the Pond is another matter. There's no doubt, however, that it shares one crucial trait with the split-window orginal, however; the latest Corvette looks, for want of a better word, stunning.

General Motors North America President Mark Reuss said: "Like the ’63 Sting Ray, the best Corvettes embodied performance leadership, delivering cutting-edge technologies, breathtaking design and awe-inspiring driving experiences.

"The all-new Corvette goes farther than ever, thanks to today’s advancements in design, technology and engineering."

The new 'Vette might still be made out of plastic in a factory in Kentucky and it might still be powered by a General Motors V8 engine but the car's makers say it'll be little bit better than its predecessor in just about every way, promising more performance, sharper handling and - wait for it - better fuel economy. GM have also said they weren't prepared to revive the Corvette Stingray unless they make a car good enough to wear the name with pride, so hopes are high it'll have the substance to match its Baywatch style.

The new Corvette goes on sale later this year in America, and odds are over here not too long after that. If it's as fun-packed and keenly priced as the Camaro Convertible Life On Cars drove last year, the Stingray should be a bit of a hit.

I'll have mine in right-hand-drive, please.

McLaren unveils new successor to F1 supercar

 

IF YOU liked the McLaren MP4-12C then you'll love the stunning new supercar its creators have come up with.

The McLaren P1 - which luckily has a slightly less confusing name than its smaller sister - is being billed as the spiritual successor to the company's F1 supercar of the 1990s, which held the honour of being the world's fastest production car for more than a decade thanks to its 627bhp BMW Motorsport V12 and its slippery, Peter Stevens-shaped body.

Ron Dennis, exectutive chairman of McLaren Automotive, said: "The McLaren P1 will be the result of 50 years of racing and road car heritage.

"Twenty years ago we raised the supercar performance bar with the McLaren F1 and our goal with the McLaren P1 is to redefine it once again."


There's no official word on the car's performance - the old F1 could shoot to sixty in 3.2 seconds, before heading onto a top speed of 241mph - but expect it to be significantly quicker than the smaller MP4-12C, which can already hit 207mph thanks to its 592bhp twin-turbocharged V8 engine.

At the moment the P1 is being presented as a "design study" but the company has already said it expects a production version to be unveiled within the next 12 months.

Chris Evans has a hit with CarFest North

CHRIS Evans pulled up alongside us in a golf cart, prompting a moment of comedy genius. 

Someone in the crowd turned to the Radio 2 DJ, gave him a cheeky glance and shouted “It’s nice to see you’ve brought your car to show, mate”. It was hilarious but I think Chris saw the funny side.

Say what you want about Chris Evans but even if you didn’t like his stint on The Big Breakfast you can’t deny he’s a proper petrolhead, through and through; a car connoisseur rather than someone who just throws their millions at any old Ferrari or Lambo. That’s what made CarFest North far better than I could’ve expected it to be, because Chris wasn’t hiding backstage. He was out there gawping at supercars, just like everyone else.

I turned up at Cholmondeley last Saturday with the same exasperated question as everyone else – sounds great, but it costs HOW much? Even bearing in mind it was a fundraiser for BBC Children In Need, with a third of the price going straight to charity, at £60 for a day ticket it’s nearly as twice as much as Cholmondeley’s other show, the Pageant of Power, which until now has been the priciest automotive outing I’ve enjoyed. On the basis you can actually buy a secondhand supermini for the cost of some of the VIP weekend glamping packages, I was ready to declare it a bit of a rip-off in these pages.

But here’s the rub – I can’t, because even with the price in mind it was a truly enjoyable car show quite unlike any other. There was all the stuff you’d expect to see at a high end car show – supercar sprints, Group B rally cars, classics being auctioned off and so on – but at the point when I’d normally trapse out of the gate, overloaded with freebies for the long drive home, the car show ended and the music,  Chris’ other passion, began.

Life On Cars took these pictures at the event, which continues today (September 9, 2012):

Admittedly, I stayed right to the raggedy end because Texas, one of my favourite bands, were headlining, but it’s amazing to think that I met Chris Evans, sang Say What You Want with 20,000 other people and saw hundreds of shiny supercars, all at the same show. If this the future of charity fundraising, count me in.

I’m already planning on making a weekend of next year’s event, when Chris inevitably confirms it. Time, I think, to dig the tent out...

 

Fire up the... Jaguar XKR-S Convertible

BILL Lyons would have liked this car. Jaguar's late, great founder would, I reckon, have got out of the XKR-S, taken in its lines and given it the thumbs up.

Why? Because Jaguar's sports cars, right from the original XK120, through the Le Mans winning C and D Types and through to the iconic E-Type were all about being as fast and beautiful as anything Aston or Ferrari could knock out, and for a fraction of the price. This roadgoing missile and the old E have a mission statement in common.

The XKR-S, to get it out of the way, is almost unspeakably fast. Thanks to a supercharged five litre V8 and a uprated exhaust system at its disposal it has no less than 542bhp at its disposal, meaning that in terms of big cats only the old XJ220 supercar can outsprint it. More importantly, it offers more grunt than the Ferrari California and the Aston Martin DBS for a lower price. Which is a very Jag thing to do.

It also pulls off that other crucial Jaguar accomplishment - it looks good, although I'd argue not quite as svelte as the cheaper and less powerful XKR the S is based on. The XKR-S, in its bid to look bolder and more aggressive, loses a little of the elegance of its slower siblings. Different strokes and all that, though.

In fact, the biggest bugbear about the absolute gem of an engine that Jaguar's created for the hottest XK ever is a surprisingly simple one; that the company, quite simply, has fitted it to the wrong car.

The XKR-S is a wonderful showcase for what the company, finally freed from the limits of ex-owner Ford's finances and the needs to play second fiddle to Aston Martin, can do, but with two doors, tiny back seats and a £103,000 pricetag it's left looking a little indulgent. Especially next to the likes of the BMW M5, a car that'll offer even more grunt and a similar prestige in a more practical package. This engine belongs under the bonnet of the XJ saloon, and when and if the company get around to it (please, pretty please) they'll create a performance car package to die for. Until then, however, the XK will do just fine.

Don't worry, however, if you reckon a 542bhp Jaguar costing upwards of £100,000 is bordering on irrelevant in today's recession-ridden times, because the company does the real world just as well as the surreal one. Tune in next time to find out why...

Ferrari have got a surprisingly good reason to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee

I WAS a bit confused when Ferrari announced how it'd be celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.

Italy's most iconic car maker are not only sending a cavalcade of their finest creations to Windsor to mark the celebrations, but they're also bringing a division of the mounted Carabinieri (that's Italian for bobbies on horses) with them. All this for a foreign head of state who, while being fabulously rich, has never actually owned a Ferrari. Prince Charles we all know for being a bit of an Aston man, but I don't recall Queen Elizabeth II being on the waiting list for the 458 Italia.

Then it clicked. The bosses of the most obviously petrolhead company on the planet are paying tribute to something you probably didn't know about Her Majesty. Whisper it softly, but the Queen is a car enthusiast! You probably thought Britain's highest profile motoring fan was Jeremy Clarkson, didn't you? There are, even if you exclude the presenters of Top Gear, all sorts of powerful and influential people who have a passion for motoring. Steve Coogan, for instance, or Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay. Chris Evans, meanwhile, is a proper Ferrari ambassador, and has an entire collection of the Prancing Horse's finest. Arguably, though, the Queen is more high profile than any of those. She appears on our banknotes and everything!

Don't believe me? Well, it's a fact that Her Majesty The Queen is a trained mechanic, and while she could have done all sorts of different things to help the British war effort in the 1940s she spent most of the conflict in a boiler suit underneath army trucks, mending things. It's also true that she had a Rover P5B Coupe (a proper, regal old Rover from the days they were fitted with plush carpets and thumping great V8 engines) which she had not as something she could be chauffeured about in, but so that she could actually drive it herself, simply because she enjoyed it. When she eventually got rid of it she got a Jag for exactly the same purpose.

There's something strangely comforting in these austere times about knowing that the ruling monarch, deep down, is a keen driver with a James May-like command of mechanical knowhow and a taste for V8-engined luxury saloons. No wonder Ferrari thought it'd be a good idea to celebrate 60 years of her reign by showing her some F40s and Daytonas.

Deep down, I reckon she'd like ‘em...

Lotus Evora S - better than a 911?

THIS story begins not in Hethel – the spiritual home of all things Lotus, from Elite to Exige – but on the M6, heading north towards Coventry.

The traffic jam, thanks to an accident, has backed up for miles. It is stuffy, confined, and frustratingly slow. There are hundreds of drivers here who have all have one thing in common. Not one of them wants to be here.

If I could choose a car to tackle these congested conditions, it wouldn’t be a mid-engined, supercharged, rear-wheel-drive, look-at-me supercar, and the Lotus Evora S is all of those things. It is a supercar because it goes like a jet aircraft, corners like a go-kart and looks like something styled by a Renaissance artist, but it’s a super car because it does all this with next to none of the drawbacks.

It was – and I don’t say this lightly – no harder to drive in a motorway crawl than a BMW 5-Series.

I know because this time last year, I drove an Elise, the modern classic which to this day can provide any motorist with a master class in how to do ride and handling properly. On the right roads, like any of the mountain passes in the Lake District, it was sublime, but on the motorways it was a noisy companion and once you pull over you’ll do your back in trying to get out.

Naturally, I as tried to figure it out on the train down to Norfolk to visit Lotus’ factory, the Evora would be worse. A big Elise with all the drawbacks, but with a bit of a supercar-style traditional truculence thrown in. But it isn’t.

First, the drawbacks. It’s easier to get into than any other Lotus offering, but it still requires a slightly more agile frame than most. The rear visibility is shocking, the rear seats are hopelessly cramped, and when you first set off, it is very, very wide. Oh, and the supercharged V6 is like me – endlessly reliable, but loves a drink. Own an Evora and petrol stations will become familiar places.

Yet you’ll forgive it everything because it’s two brilliant cars in one; a thirsty executive express with cruise control, leather seats and satnav, and a stunning supercar crafted by hand by Lotus, the company that brought you the Elan and the Esprit. The Evora S has 345bhp and feels like it, belting its way not only down the straights but using its seemingly divine levels of grip to destroy corners too. Oh, and it all comes in what I reckon is one of the best shapes on sale today – the Evora was and still is a truly wonderful aesthetic achievement.

Would I, if I had the £60,000 asking price, go for an Evora S? I suspect I probably would - in fact, every opinion I’ve canvassed since getting it is one of going for the Lotus rather than a 911. Luckily for me, I’ve still got a few days left to find out for definite.

I’ll keep you posted...

Prepare to fire up the... Honda NSX

A SUCCESSOR to one of the most influential - and overlooked - supercars of all time is being considered by the company which first created it more than 20 years ago.

Few companies back in the early Nineties could boast that their fastest offering had been developed by the late Formula One ace Ayrton Senna or boast then-revolutionary construction and engine technology, so it's incredible to think the Honda NSX wasn't more of a hit. However, now that the world is cottoning onto the original's classic-in-waiting status prices for the original are soaring, and Honda itself is keen to cash in on the car's cult following by launching a long-awaited successor.

Yet that's exactly what Honda will be showing off at next month's Geneva Motorshow and if - or, more likely when - it generates enough interest the Japanese automotive giant is likely to get cracking on a production version, which is likely to show off the hybrid technology it's already used to good effect in the Insight and CR-Z among others.

Honda president Takanobu Ito said when he unveiled an Acura-badged version to American enthusiasts last month:

"Like the first NSX, we will again express high performance through engineering efficiency.

"In this new era, even as we focus on the fun to drive spirit of the NSX, I think a supercar must respond positively to environmental responsibilities."

Like the original, the new NSX will have its rear wheels powered by a mid-mounted V6 engine, but it'll use not just hybrid technology but also direct injection to make the most of every drop of fuel. It'll also use a dual clutch transmission with built-in electric motor, to create supercar acceleration while offering outstanding efficiency.

In fact, the biggest problem will be overcoming the brand snobbery which dogged the original, because the NSX will up against the prestige offered by the likes of Porsche, Lotus and even Ferrari.

Can lightning strike twice? With all the technology on offer with the new NSX, you'd hope not for Honda's sake.

Bella Maserati!

AS PROMISED, some pictures of a gathering of old Maseratis I managed to gatecrash on my trip to Germany last week.


Proof that - away from the inevitable old Porsches, Mercedes and Volkswagens - there are clearly some Italian GT connoisseurs living just outside Cologne.



In a pub car park just outside the picturesque Schloss Burg castle, near to the city of Solingen, German supercar lovers could clock everything from the gorgeous Ghibli, the mid-engined Merak, the angular Biturbo and a modern Maserarti in the shape of the latest Quattroporte saloon.


I'll take a Ghibl and a Merak SS, please...

The troubled history of Jaguar's supercars

THE car-loving chaps at Jaguar, if history's anything to go by, are about to get themselves into a world of trouble.

You'll probably already know I'm a big fan of the Big Cat - and judging by the accolades the XF, XK and XK keep attracting, so are lots of you - but what you might not be aware of is that it's just announced it's going to go to the trouble of making another supercar. That's trouble as in lots of it, because Jaguar seem to be the unluckiest supercar creators in history.

It all started so well when they fitted a windscreen, some doors and an extra-seat to the iconic D-Type which had done sterling work for them at Le Mans in the Fifties. The raw, race-bred XKSS was the GT3 RS of its day, thanks largely to its streamlined shape and a meatier version of the company's XK straighr six which mustered no less than a mighty 250bhp. Or rather it would have been had the factory not caught fire in 1957. They made 16.

Its Sixties successor, the mid-engined XK13, would have been a better-looking GT40 baiter had it ever made the step from racing prototype to actual road-racer, but sadly that never happened because the rules for GT racing changed, making it obsolete before it could tear a track up in anger. They made just the one of those, and that ended up shedding a wheel at 140mph a couple of years later on the banking at the MIRA test track. Rumours that the number 13 is somehow unlucky remain unfounded.

In fact, the only Jaguar supercar you're likely to recall is the XJ220, which was, the company proudly proclaimed at the height of the late Eighties supercar boom when they showed off the concept version would have a V12 and four-wheel-drive. The production version had two-wheel-drive and a V6 - even if it was a rally-bred one with 542bhp - so people tried to pull out of their investments, which got so bad Jaguar ended up taking some of them to court. Still, it was the world's fastest production road car... until Mclaren unveiled the F1. It was beautiful and brutally fast, but it was a CD Walkman in an iPod world.

A couple of years later, even as the last of the XJ220s lingered unloved in the showrooms, they had another bash with the XK180 concept car - a car so beautiful I still have the scale model on my mantlepiece - but Ford, who owned Jaguar by that point, told us motoring enthusiasts that it was a birthday present to celebrate Jaguar's sports car heritage and wasn't for sale. Ever.

That's how the company had left things supercar-wise until this week when it confirmed the C-X75, which wowed crowds at the world's motorshows last year, will go into production (minus the fantastic gas turbine engine technology, it's already admitted). It's eco-friendly, it'll get to sixty in less than three seconds, it'll do upwards of 200mph but more importantly just look at it.

So it's a stunning supercar with green credentials and a Jaguar badge, and absolutely everyone will want one. What could possibly go wrong?

You wait ages for a new Lotus and then five come at once

IT'S the Paris Motorshow and every right-minded petrolhead is pondering the same question; why launch one new model when you can launch five?

I always imagined the chaps at Lotus would get quite offended if you called them a conventional car maker, so it's somehow appropriate that just months after returning to the world's racetracks with a semi-official F1 effort they've launched a quintet of new cars.

Not only have the Elise, Esprit, Elite and Elan models been revisted with a selection of sports cars in different shapes and sizes, the Norfolk company's also gunning for the likes of Porsche's Panamera with its four-door Eterne, making it the first Lotus saloon since the slightly loopy Lotus Carlton of the early 1990s.

Is the company's PR coup five times better than just launching a single model, which on its own would have been enough to steal the show, like the Evora managed to at London's motorshow two years ago? I'm not so sure.

The new Esprit is the most immediately exotic and exciting - it's a real Ferrari-chaser, and the first we've had from Lotus since the original Esprit died off several years ago - and the Eterne is a bold venture into uncharted waters, but the others stray from Lotus heartlands a little too quickly.

The £35,000 Elise, for instance, is getting worryingly close to Porsche Boxster territory for what's meant to be a small, lightweight little sports car, but it's the Elan which is almost unrecognisable from its illustrious predecessors. Lotus reckons Elan drivers demand more but the last two were a success because they gave less - as in less weight, which made them a favourite with keen drivers.

And the Elite? As a £115,000 Lotus it makes little sense, but I love it already. Clearly nobody actually needs one, but that's exactly why I'd have one.

I have until 2014 to save up.

Greece needs money more than Bugatti does

MY other half, who's German, is infuriated that her country is having to pay for 53-year-olds in Greece who've just retreated to a retirement of yachts and Ouzo.

The Greek economy is knackered, and there's almost nothing the Berliners, the Frankfurters and the Stuttgarters can do about it, although I do have a suggestion. Borrow some cash from the country's largest car company, because they've obviously got loads of it.

How else do you explain the news that - while you were queuing at the Job Centre - they've reclaimed the title of world's fastest supercar? The Bugatti Veyron Supersport might be built in France and named after a Gallic engineering genius, but the funding that made it happen is all Volkswagen's. It's where the money they made on that Polo you've just bought went.

Building an even faster version of a car that already did 253mph just to reclaim a record just seems a trifle tasteless at a time when entire countries are going bust, but they've gone and done it anyway. Bugatti - or rather Volkswagen - make a loss on every one they sell, so they're throwing money away at 268mph. Money which could have been spent on Mr Papandreou instead.

I'm not one of these road safety bores who argues every car should do 70mph and no more - otherwise we'd all still be driving Ford Anglias - but why not make Bugattis the late Ettore, the company's founder, would have been proud of? Cars with epic engineering, no question, but ones which excel on roads and racetracks rather than one endless straight at the VW test track. It'd cost less than a Veyron or a villa on the Greek coast, that's for sure.

If you're reading this and you're eight years old you might think owning the world's fastest car is a fine idea, but it is't. Even though I've never driven the big Bug and probably never will I'll happily wager that anything even slightly less surreal - even the Lamborghini Gallardo or the Audi R8, which are also VW products - will be much more rewarding on real, tangible roads.

And anyway; Volkswagen now sells a stupendously quick car which even Greek pensioners might be interested in. It's called the Porsche 911.