Now that I’ve buried my head into an edit of the video I recorded while driving the Gunther Werks-modified 993 Porsche 911, I note there’s a detail I daftly left out of last week’s written review.
Despite the huge amounts of mechanical grip offered by the 911’s more balanced weight and super-wide tyres (especially the 295-section fronts), plus the 435bhp and 7800rpm of its engine, at one point I look at the speedo as I accelerate between corners and realise I’m doing 50-60mph.
That’s a notably modest speed at which to be enjoying – and I mean really enjoying – a car of that performance potential. I didn’t think I was backing away from it or trying not to extract performance. I was just driving to the visibility and engaging with the mechanicals.
There’s a real skill in car set-up, making handling engaging at all speeds, and some car makers do it better than others.
The early-1990s Toyota Supra was the first car about which I remember reading that the driver was left numb from the process unless they were going at a tremendous lick. The recent Toyota GR Yaris is a car I love at all speeds but, as I’ve written, gets better the faster you go – and it can go very fast. And I don’t take a huge amount from, say, a modern Lamborghini, except on a race track.
It’s nice, then, to drive a car of tremendous potential that delivers it at a pace at which you can enjoy it. I think it’s an undervalued asset.
Scooting around
There’s a full review of the Niu MQi GT Evo – a long name for a compact machine – over on the website of our new sibling title, Move Electric. It’s a battery-electric scooter with pace pretty much equivalent to a 125cc petrol, which reminds me again that battery-electric power really suits smaller machines.
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The launch of new electric Hummer may well lead to the new scout being flanked by the Thing and even bigger CXT truck to justify high price.