The problem

What a delicious sense of irony Stuart Gallagher has. In his Ed Speak piece (evo 307) he tells us that, in all probability, the only new cars we will see road tested in the future will be models we can’t afford or that have already sold out. I’m ignoring electric cars and SUVS, obvs.

Then we get to the first two Driven articles.

First up is a £90,000 special edition that Dickie Meaden informs us came about because of the fervent following the marque has built up. (I’ve only ever seen one of its cars in the metal.) It is a car I might buy, with the usual Lottery/ Ernie-winning caveats. The fabulous engineering has enabled extreme light weight but unfortunately only a meagre 278bhp per ton. The good Mr Meaden suggests that those with the wherewithal to procure the car might get bored on a circuit’s longer straights.

I find it hard to imagine needing at least 500bhp to enjoy the experience, but having only been to trackdays where you chase wellprepared and driven ancient Hondas and Golf GTIS, who am I to judge?

Next up we have a £160,000 GT car that, again apparently, has had a tremendous amount of design and engineering time devoted to getting its weight down – to 1800 kilos. This has resulted in a vehicle with a mind-boggling 307bhp per ton – a full 29bhp per ton better than the Alpine. The extreme performance of this car has needed a large amount of David Vivian’s not-inconsiderable vocabulary to describe, not to mention a long hunt for a suitable piece of tarmac to unleash it over.

However, I can imagine that unless a track’s straight was very long indeed, the exit speed and braking capability of the first car, the Alpine A110 R, would ensure it did not take a great deal longer than the second, the Maserati Granturismo Trofeo, to get between any two apexes.

I know it’s become blindingly obvious, but the pursuit of power with the accompanying need for four-wheel drive, massive tyres and huge brakes to contain it has never been more futile.

It would be the Alpine over the Maser every time for me, although I might need another Lottery/ernie win before I contemplated taking those carbon wheels onto my B-roads of choice.