I HAILED THE NEW BLACK CAB AT GOODWOOD
At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, I became one of the first people to travel in the back of the new London black cab — under conditions that were most un-cab-like.
My driver was Katie Milner, promising Ginetta GT5 Challenge racer and the youngest driver at Goodwood.
Despite the distractions of going up the Goodwood hill, the ability of the LEVC TX was well and truly proven. We glided powerfully off the line and were doing 60mph-plus by the time we reached the first double-apex right-hander. It felt a bit funny, sitting in a typical taxi passenger position at speed on what, for four days of the year, is a hillclimb.
Side support isn’t the TX’S strongest suit but, as I clung on, it was easy enough to perceive the car’s impressive balance and the innate smoothness and quietness of the powertrain.
We even overhauled a trio of cocky blokes in a Mini Cooper who can’t have expected to be caught by a blonde girl and a fat bloke in a black cab, but the TX’S electric poke and Katie’s impressive skill brought them into plainer and plainer sight until we were more or less on their bumper.