A courteous, Mike Hawthornesque approach to sportsmanlike conduct is keenly encouraged
awful) Vantage GT8, Aston’s slower, more expensive but arguably more special GT3 RS rival, oozes endurance racer chic. And in stark contrast there’s Bob Searles and his brutal, thuggish DBS V8 racer, a car he used to campaign (Searles has raced plenty of stuff in his time, including Group C cars) and has pulled from the mothballs today for a bit of fun. Shatteringly loud (Bob’s having to lift for some of Goodwood’s noise meters) and gut-churningly quick, it is – Bob maintains – a pussycat to drive. Rather him than me. ⊲
Tim purrs back into the pits, all gummy rubber, hot brakes and bug-smeared bodywork. As he kills the Continental’s engine, the words come out like a fire hose.
‘This place is super fast, with some properly tricky corners… No wonder the racing’s always so good at the Revival. The 15-minute sessions are about right, I’d say. You’re just starting to work things out and build your speed when it’s time to come in – probably a good thing. And there’s something magical about being on the same circuit that you normally come here to spectate at. I mean, you can watch the cricket at Lord’s or the football at Anfield easily enough but you can’t so easily play on those grounds.’
And how’s the Bentley?
‘It’s impressive how such a big car can be tautened up on track. It doesn’t feel out of its depth, though the car’s weight is always there. It’s nowhere near as playful as your DB11. The steering in particular is much more inert, lacking the AMR’s agility and pointiness.’
After a brief session in Tim’s Bentley (an armchair after the Aston, though the all-wheel drive traction and mighty torque mean you get back on the power virtually at the apex, so you quickly reach some enormous speeds), I drop back into the AMR and, like the pathetic 21st century creature I am, prod the air-con up a notch.
Our group quickly spreads out, leaving me and the Aston free of distractions. On a warm, dry circuit, and with a fresh pair of tyres on the rear axle, the DB11 is transformed. Back in the spring, on cold, wet roads, the engine constantly overwhelmed the available grip. And then, as the weather improved, the worn rear rubber meant rear-axle grip didn’t follow suit in any meaningful way.
But today, both on the drive down and now, on the impossibly quick and graceful Goodwood circuit, the AMR is mesmerising. With the dampers cycled through to Sport+, roll is well controlled, leaving just enough body movement to act as another line of communication between me and the car. (The AMR, despite its track-derived aesthetic, still runs a pretty soft road-biased chassis set-up.)
Feed that bonnet into corners with the neat, accurate steering, lean on the generous lateral grip mid-corner, then bring the power in quickly and cleanly. Thankfully, the back-and-forth ebb and flow of grip as you work the V12 against the rear tyres is communicated with real clarity. Then slingshot out onto the next straight, the engine finally revelling in having the space it needs.
Day to day the V12 feels excessive, gluttonous, pointless. Here, today, it’s magnificent – a machine in its element. Something mid-engined, from Germany or Italy (or Norfolk) may well be more agile but, being British, front-engined, V12-powered and beautiful, like some kind of land-locked Spitfire, the Aston feels like the perfect car for Goodwood.
And the Bentley? The perfect car for the drive home. Swap, Tim?
Day-to-day a V12 feels excessive, gluttonous, pointless. Here, today, it is magnificent, and in its element
Stop o at local garage to fill up. 450-mile urban range means I haven’t been here in a while. £1.20 per litre price up from lockdown low but still cheaper than motorway.
Volvo V60 Cross Country Month 6
The story so far
Volvo’s V60 XC is the antipasto to a Ferrari meat-feast + Easy motorway cruiser Doesn’t stand out in a crowd(ed car park)
Logbook
£40,785 (£48,290 as tested) 1969cc turbodiesel four-cylinder, 187bhp, 8.2sec 0-62mph, 130mph 47.8mpg (o cial), 34.1mpg (tested), 135g/km CO2 per mile
E ciency
17.6p 1015
over an hour to get 100 miles of range. We did manage a one-stop strategy coming home, thanks to the 125kW Instavolt chargers at the Route 303 diner near Honiton. One hour, £19.63 and 150 miles banked: yes!
4. i-Bloomin’ lovely to drive Regular readers will know we love the i-Pace dynamically. This trip felt no different: thrilling launches past dawdling cars on Salisbury Plain, that monumental steering scything through A303 roundabouts, unrelenting front-end grip. The calm motorway refinement and cushy, air-suspended ride was a boon too.
5. The numbers add up Holidaying by EV presents some challenges, none insurmountable. And there’s another benefit to consider: doing those miles in the most economical F-Pace diesel would cost a minimum of 12.3p a mile; in the i-Pace it was 7.3p for this trip. So when you’ve got the sand out of your shoes and the tan has faded, you can reflect on a few quid saved, and zero tailpipe emissions.