Missed opportunity

I read your review of the Audi R8 RWS [above] ( evo 247) with a heavy heart. Finally, I thought, the good people at Audi Sport had built the rear-wheel-drive driver’s car that everyone has been pining for since the R8’s conception.

A quick sortie of the motorsports parts bin should at the very least have created something to leave Stuttgart’s Messiah, the GT3, quaking in its Michelins. Even if they didn’t want to stick a manual ’box in it, lighter and more focused were very easily achievable, surely. But, alas, you report that the way it drives is little different from the standard, four-wheel-drive version.

I’m not sad, Audi, just disappointed. We know you can make fast cars. Now make some fun ones. Greg Evans Insulted

That’s it, then. Everyone, and that probably includes quite a few evo readers, who thinks that there is too much political correctness is a ‘crashing bore’.

I like your magazine, but I read it to be entertained, not to be insulted. Reading Mr Porter’s column ( evo 247) on the exit of grid girls from Formula One, it seems he has a left-wing chip on his shoulder.

Oh well, if he ever finds himself looking for employment I’m sure he would be welcomed with open arms by Momentum. Roger Wood F1 abandoned

I’m a big fan of Ted Kravitz. There aren’t many people out there today who understand Formula One like he does. However, I feel his recent column regarding the new season ( evo 247) missed the point.

Ted states that despite the current issues with F1, the new season is exciting because we have so many former champions and so much talent on the grid. I would argue that having all that talent in a formula that does not allow for close, exciting, skilful racing makes it the most depressing start to an F1 season I can remember, and I’ve watched every season for 26 years.

Why is it that all the fans of F1 can see that less disruptive aero, less complicated power units and tyres that allow the drivers to drive flat- out would improve the spectacle exponentially, but the people involved in the sport seem to be oblivious?

I’ve now cancelled my Sky Sports subscription. This will be the first year since I was a child that I won’t be watching F1. Given the choice, I’d rather pay to watch Motogp (no disruptive aero, high- revving naturally aspirated engines, tyres that allow riders to go flat- out…).

And don’t get me started on the halo. F1 is open- cockpit racing. If you don’t like it, hand your £20million back and go drive something else! Matt Westby A curious coupe

The Range Rover SV Coupe [above] (Briefing, evo 247) completely confuses me.

If you can afford to spend £240k on a car, the chances are you’ll want to show it off. And if it’s a Range Rover, you’re likely to show it off to equally wealthy

friends over a dinner party or similar social gathering, as opposed to at a trackday.

I find the thought hilarious: well-dressed, well-off folks waiting patiently for the electric seats to chug forwards in order to clamber (presumably) inelegantly into the Coupe’s rear. Then the driver or front-seat passenger must wait until the seat moves back to its original position – at which point the rear-seat passengers may start to question the £240k price tag, regardless of how nice the interior is.

Or will these people continue to do what they already do and get into a four-door Range Rover SV Autobiography or Bentley Bentayga, with a little more grace and without the need to wait for the seats to slowly move? Tim Lane Keep it down

Yet another potential five-star car – the Porsche Cayman GTS [above] – gets marks deducted because it has a ‘lacklustre soundtrack’ ( evo 247). Why are car journalists obsessed with how a car sounds and whether that makes it a better car or not? For 99 per cent of our time behind the wheel the last thing we want to hear is the engine!

Some of the more expensive marques sell their products on how quiet they are on the road. Meanwhile, in any car the first thing you do before driving off is to switch on some alternative sound to listen to – and one of the first things you journos complain about is when there is no USB port or similar in a car.

Back in the day I had a TVR Griffith 5-litre. Now there’s a soundtrack! However, after 15 minutes of driving you would start to develop a headache from the noise it made, while communication with a passenger could only be done by signing. That car definitely needed a star deducting for its soundtrack! Dave Brown Archive offer

My husband, Brian Shaw, a longtime fan of evo, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s last year, aged 67. He has collected every issue of evo from 001.

He has always been an ardent fan of motoring in all forms, building a TVR from a kit when they first came out, but now he has a medical review licence and cannot get insurance as he once did. We have had to sell his 911.

We now have to downsize and can no longer accommodate his magazine ‘archives’. They constitute years of enjoyment for Brian, so he would be very happy if they went to another evo fan. We would therefore like to offer them to a good home via your letters page. Jan Shaw, Alsager, Cheshire If you are interested in Brian’s

evo collection, please contact letters@evo.co.uk and we’ll put you in touch. The lost Espada I can’t help thinking that the Lagonda Vision Concept [above] (Briefing, evo 247) looks more like a Lamborghini than a Lagonda. If only the Italian firm had built this instead of the Urus… Srulie Bertram, New Jersey, USA