A bit of a catch-up from the moving aspect of the Moving Motor Show yesterday; having successfully not crashed the PH BMW M4 on my run up the hill I then took a run in the Fiesta Black Edition I was supposed to have driven on Wednesday. And, OK, of all the cars one could drive up the Goodwood hill it might not sound too rock'n'roll but it was actually more enjoyable than some white knuckle ride in a priceless race car. Honest.
Meanwhile, over at the Goodwood circuit...
read our test
on the Fiesta already; if you haven't you should take notice of the fact the 1.0-litre Ecoboost is now available in 140hp tune. Yes, maths fans, that's 140hp per litre, the Ford man who presented the car to us pointing out that the old DFV race engine only managed 138hp per litre. Yes, a 'warm' hatch with a greater specific output than one of the all-time great F1 engines. Not a bad claim to fame.
Thrummy but keen, the 140hp Ecoboost expands the appeal of an already impressive little engine and the 'junior ST' looks like an appealing little runabout. And with that my hillclimbs were done. To the track...
Here the PH winners from our M4 competition had a further chance to enjoy some wheeltime, this time on the Goodwood circuit and a variety of cars including both the M3 and M4, M5, M235i and Alpina D3 BiTurbo. As official PH chaperone it was obviously vital I also took part... Tempting as the M cars were after one session with the M235i I was sold.
Straight out of the box the M235i is huge fun
What a little ripper of a car that is, seemingly a bit rortier and more aggressive than the M135i I also drove and relentlessly rapid wherever you are in the rev range. Rules dictated we weren't even allowed to use MDM mode on the stability control, which was frustrating at points where you could sense throttle could be used to neutralise understeer. But with the optional diff like the one
Harris had fitted
you get the impression rotating it on the throttle would be child's play. Ratchet that excitement for
the M2
up another couple of notches...
And the Alpina? A silent assassin I managed to scalp an M4 with mid-way round one lap. Not that I'm competitive or anything. Massively quick, only the narrow diesel rev range was a challenge on Goodwood's long corners, requiring entry a gear up from what you'd expect before riding out the massive torque. A Touring version would do me nicely, ta.
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