Steve Cropley Revisiting the Range Rover Sport
MONDAY
It’s a couple of years since I’ve driven a Range Rover Sport, so it was a pleasure to grab one as transport for a couple of days in Norfolk. This was a diesel V8, a version I’d never tried, so the engine’s grumble and amazingly low operating revs – plus the effortless grunt and the 31.5mpg average over 500 miles – were all delights. One criticism, though: this Range Rover was on 21in low-profile tyres that ‘felt’ the lumpy roads of Norfolk in a way a set of 19s wouldn’t have done. To some extent I blame the county’s road builders, who undoubtedly have an unbreakable standard of lumps-per-metre for every road they build. But tyre choice was also a large part of the problem. I found myself feeling for the many new car buyers who allow themselves to be tucked into a good-looking car on the wrong wheels/tyres, then spend years regretting it.
WEDNESDAY
The ‘news’ that the UK government plans to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040 isn’t exactly new – in that it was mentioned in the Tory manifesto before the last election. But a hardening of the plan is shocking and half expected, in equal measure.
On the plus side, electric cars work well already and at the current rate of progress batteries will be at least twice as efficient by 2040 as they are now. On the minus side, will I desire the replacements for the Mclaren 570S, Ford Mustang and BMW K1600GT motorbike as much as I desire today’s models?
I’m pretty clear that we have to welcome the future rather than whinging about it. But I do wonder how this and similar moves in other countries will change our assumptions. Presumably electricity costs will rise fast as fuel taxes fall. And are we heading for blackouts as people overcharge their Nissan Leafs? Only one thing looks solid: the prices of classic cars. It’ll grow steadily better to own, or even to have owned, a great car.
THURSDAY
The arrival of new Rolls-royce flagship is a wonderful moment, but the biggest deal in the creation of the mighty Phantom Mk8 for many is the bombshell revelation by chief engineer Philip Koehn that the car has helped Rolls formulate a whole new construction procedure for its cars. The received wisdom about low-volume cars has always been that to make things work you need to be able to take the biggest bits from a volumeproduction source, the way Rolls-royce has so far used BMW 7 Series chassis parts for the Ghost, Wraith and Dawn. However, says Koehn, this is not the way of the future. Better to create a unique but highly flexible spaceframe that can be used by all models for several generations, then order batches of the supporting parts in numbers you’ll need for 15 or 20 years. Read more on page 56.
Are we heading for energy blackouts as people overcharge their Leafs?
SATURDAY
To Silverstone, to watch the 75 entrants in this year’s Formula Student competition face up to two days of final testing. This contest requires entering teams to build a tiny single-seat racer to an exacting formula then face all-knowing scrutineers who assess it.
I find it very moving, watching these young car creators succeed and fail. But one thing’s for certain: the hard work is helping to build great careers. A low-volume car maker I know, who has just hired four young engineers, says he won’t even read an aspirant’s CV unless he or she has had serious involvement with Formula Student.