Kudos: 370Z gets 'supercar parking' access
Storm White as a car colour takes some getting used to. Before winning PH's 370Z competition, I'd just not considered myself a white car kind of guy. I'd not driven any Z-Car before either, but this 370Z was specced with the GT Pack, which includes gorgeous 19-inch alloys, so I was eager to go out in it - be it white or anything other colour. It would certainly make an interesting comparison with my rather saggy 911 996 daily driver.
When you get in the 370Z, the driving position and dashboard impress. The Zed's interior is well laid out and built: switches and dials click reassuringly, the DAB radio and sat-nav do what they're told via the touchscreen, and everything except the stability control button is in easy reach.
996 is Ben's everyday drive
The drive to Silverstone (tickets to the first UK round of the new FIA GT1 World Championship were the other part of the prize) made for a balanced test: the A429 Roman road through the Cotswolds, then a leisurely meander eastwards, leading to a very un-leisurely 10-mile blat of dual carriageway. The Zed was specced with 7-speed auto and paddle shift, so I experimented with how to overtake with the best performance-to-noise ratio. The 3.7-litre V6 is unacceptably quiet during steady driving, so I found that two flicks down made the sort of noise I was happier with.
On arrival at Silverstone, and before we could make it to the press centre, a wild-eyed lunatic on a moped thrust a supercar pass through the window and demanded we follow him. No identification asked for; he just clocked the white Zed as something he must lead to the heart of the circuit, where we were park amidst crowds at the back of the pits. Some snapped the sharp-looking 370Z, but most were looking for bigger fish like GT-Rs and the elusive Aston Martin One-77.
GTRs win after Astons are disqualified
The new FIA GT1 World Championship itself is best summed up as a stonkingly exciting series of races that deserves mainstream TV coverage.
Race-spec Nissan GT-Rs fight alongside supercars from your most-wanted list: Aston DB9s, Maserati MC12s, Murcielagos, Corvettes and Ford GTs.
SumoPower's GT-Rs, easily identified by their Union Flag roof, started in fourth and fifth but worked hard to fight off the turquoise MC12s of German team Vitaphone. The GT-Rs were lapping just slightly behind the DB9s and were unable to catch them, but were awarded the win after technical infringements by both the Astons.
Watching the GT1 cars on the longer Silverstone circuit made me question why I've been bothering with Formula One this season. Do I aspire to drive GT1 cars or F1 cars? That's a no-brainer: I love the GT1 cars, each one with its own character and inherent performance differences, and unhampered by tyre and fuel silliness.
Sunday at Silverstone proved that the new GT1 leads to overtaking and excitement, not the attrition of Formula One. I like Monaco and the newer F1 circuits as much as the next man, but Argentina's San Luis circuit (the venue for the season finale) loops a volcanic lake and has me much more excited.
GT1 goes out on Bloomberg TV, but as I've only got Freeview I guess I'll have to watch the rest of the season online.
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