Sports Car Giant Test 2018: great cars, great circuit, great weather, terrible shorts
FROM SVELTE ALPINE TO BALLISTIC MCLAREN, 2018 IS A VINTAGE YEAR FOR GOING FAST. TIME TO FIND THE BEST AMONG THE MERELY BRILLIANT
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O HOT HATCHES, no super and definitely no SUVs. That’s the mantra for CAR’s 2018 Sports Car Giant Test, because as talented as the Ford Fiesta ST or Lamborghini Urus might be, when faced with a proper performance car their compromises just won’t cut it. Instead, we’ve whittled this year’s most talented newcomers down to just six absolute standouts.
The shortlist starts with a feelgood story, that of the Alpine A110, Renault’s reborn little sports car. A one-time collaboration with Caterham, this £50k French fancy could’ve been a disaster, going the way of the underwhelming Alfa 4C. Instead the lightest, least powerful car here is a joy, with just enough power to test its lithe chassis. It’s a reminder that you don’t need a lot to have a good time.
But if the Alpine is the gateway drug of this test, then the McLaren Senna is DiCaprio’s full-blown coke and Quaalude addict in The Wolf of Wall Street. Aside from the same aversion to surplus kilos, it’s the antithesis of the Alpine, with an extra 550bhp, up to 800kg of downforce and trick suspension that drops the Senna closer to the ground when you’re at a race circuit. When you simply must win, choose the Senna. Between those two fascinating bookends we have what might well be Aston’s finest ever car (helpful just before your first IPO – see page 10), BMW’s new M2 Competition (the one with the M3/M4 engine) and two 700bhp supercars which in any other month would be the headline act: the Ferrari 488 Pista and Porsche 911 GT2 RS. None of them have manual gearboxes, all of them have at least one turbocharger, but the real uniting factor is that they’re the best of the best. Which is why our Sports Car Giant Test is a little tougher this year…
Just as the kids go back to school, we pack passports, and in less time than it takes to fast-charge a Tesla, the Channel Tunnel has us in France. We’re heading for Clermont-Ferrand, home to Michelin and its fearsome Circuit de Charade test track, a former Grand Prix circuit. The antithesis of the anonymous modern proving ground, Charade is known as France’s Nürburgring, yet is perhaps even more intimidating given the barriers are solid concrete, not (relatively) forgiving armco…
We’re not just here for the track though, because Charade nestles on the edge of a volcanic mountain chain that gives us both Volvic water and some rather tasty roads – win-win. It provides a chance to judge the cars on track and on road, giving the likes of the Senna time to shine in the environment for which it was designed, and due prominence to stretches of tarmac winding through the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes countryside where the Alpine might be more at home.
We’ll then argue over steak-frites, pick the two cars that have impressed us most in both disciplines, and head to the deserted Cévennes and Monts d’Ardèche National Parks for further fun… sorry, for further rigorous final assessment of road-going performance before methodically crowning a winner.
And it all starts over the page.4