So says Head of Volkswagen Group Design Walter De Silva, of the car he has designed for “hyper-sophisticated people”. The Egoista represents hedonism taken to the extreme, he tells us. It is a car without compromise. “It’s as if Ferruccio Lamborghini were saying: I’m going to put the engine in the back, I don’t want a passenger. I want it for myself…”
When the the last chequered flag dropped at Brooklands following the outbreak of WWII, few could have anticipated that the occasion would mark the end of serious motorsport in Britain for almost a decade. Even with the conflict over, fuel rationing, lack of cash, lack of cars – and rather more pressing matters such as the rebuilding of a nation – kept racing on the back burner until 1948 when the first post-War meeting was staged at Goodwood, Silverstone was inaugurated as a circuit and things suddenly began to grind back into life.
Preceding these somewhat billowing-bodied convertibles was the famous ‘Spa Special’ – the first Aston Martin produced post-War (using elements of the design from the just pre-War ‘Atom’ prototype) and one that won its first race when driven by St. John Horsfall and Leslie Johnson at the 1948 Spa 24 Hours.
1953 Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupé
Learning to swim
#5 Jeep Cherokee Chief
Now in its sixth iteration, the latest 911 Turbo will see numerous technological advances to ensure it stands proud at the top of the 991-generation tree.
Retaining its customary four-wheel-drive layout, the Turbo benefits from a power increase to 513bhp (552bhp in ‘Turbo S’ form) from the twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre flat six, good for a 0-62mph sprint of 3.2 seconds in Turbo guise (with Sport Chrono Plus Package) and 3.1 for the Turbo S. This is achieved while also managing to improve fuel economy by an average of 16 per cent.
Model Range 930 (1975 – 1989): Porsche Turbo 3.3
Step forward, then, the factory Martini Porsche team which offered the Frenchman the use of a specially adapted, 800bhp 935 and the facilities at Volkswagen’s Ehra-Lessien test track. Rude’s intention was to beat fellow Frenchman José Meiffret who had clocked 204.7km/h (127.2mph) in 1962, when riding in the slipstream of a Mercedes-Benz 300SL on a closed section of Autobahn.
When it was first announced that the all-new Range Rover Sport would be 420kg lighter (that’s equivalent to opening the door and kicking out five or six passengers), we dropped our coffee mugs in shock. Low weight is the new holy grail of the motor industry and this sort of weight saving is beyond belief.
Now, however, we’ve driven a pre-production prototype. And while the lower weight is still astounding, there is much more to the new Range Rover Sport than that.