This week we've driven a trio of hardcore track cars at Cholmondeley Castle, a pair of British classics in Wales and lapped the TT course with an up and coming Superbike star in a ... Fiesta. We also popped to Monaco for a
barmy Renault concept
. Struggling to keep up through the four-day week? Here's the best of the past seven days on PistonHeads in one place.
It's been a fantastic week for British cars on PistonHeads. On the same day Aston Martin revealed the
200mph V12 Vantage S
, Chris Harris was in the
Morgan 3 Wheeler and
Caterham Seven Supersport
on some of Wales' best roads. And that wasn't the end of the Caterham news; not only is the factory preparing an even lighter and
more affordable Seven
, engineer Rich Howlett is offering a
hard-topconversion
, complete with gullwing 'doors'.
Dan also ventured up to Cheshire to drive three of the cars competing for this year's Cholmondeley Pageant of Power record time: the Caterham S.P/300R, the Ariel Atom 3.5 and Radical SR8. Despite some miserable conditions, the indomitable spirit of all three shone through. It only seemed appropriate to dedicatethis week's POTW to the Atom, plumes of spray in its wake in traditional CPoP weather.
freshly-facelifted Vauxhall VXR8 GTS
was notable not just for its 585hp but also its, err, 'distinctive' appearance, festooned as it is with LEDs, grilles and intakes. For those after more a more subtle super saloon, we spied a
Passat R36
for a Spotted on Tuesday, perhaps as inconspicuous as 300hp comes. And if £12,000 is about twelve times your budget, a lowlier
PassatV6 4Motion
also makes an appearance as Shed of the Week.
Though apparently under a thick veil of cloud, the calendars tell us summer is most definitely approaching; this can only mean a feast of motorsport is on the (murky) horizon. This week PH launched a competition with Michelin for
VIP
tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed
, and we also hitched a ride around the
Isle of Man
circuit with TT newbie Josh Brookes
. Even perennial wet weather, however, couldn't discourage Dale from spending a day at the new
Hyundai Nurburgring test centre
The ultimate driving machine
third-generation X5
to the world (and PistonHeads) this week too. Once PH had taken a second look to ensure it was the new X5, the reception wasn't exactly warm. Follow the 180-comment (and counting!) thread
here
. And if a diesel SUV isn't your flavour of BMW, how about a
lightly-fettled 135i coupe
? It offers more than 300hp, some BMW Performance brakes and a set of stunning Alcantara bucket seats, all for £15,000. BMW also chose this week to showcase the
Gran Lusso coupe
, a stunning collaborative effort with Pininfarina.
Team PH speaks
Monkey has sold his Ferrari 599 GTB. He's keeping quiet on its replacement, but did drop some hints earlier in 2013... Still, whatever joins his fleet next, at least Chris will have enjoyable hours finding another car with the new and improved PistonHeads mobilesite!
- More mid-engined Renaults
- 10 years of the BMW M3 CSL celebrated in style
- Chris Harris drives a PH-worthy (honest) 1.0-litre eco car
- And much more!
