This month's evo: Issue 105
In this month's magazine, 16 cars contest the Road and Track Car of the Year 2007, we drive the Audi S5, test the Clio 197 F1 against the new Peugeot 207 GTI, and the BMW M5 Touring against the Audi RS4 Avant, and interview James Hunt's son Freddie before his first race. On sale now.
Road and Track Car of the Year 200716 contenders, the greatest circuit in the UK for two full days, and Lincolnshire’s finest roads. It was a gruelling few days but such are the lengths to which we’re prepared to go in order to find our Road and Track Car of the Year.
First John Barker dissects each car’s ability on the rough-and-tumble of Britain’s dilapidated roads, dodging stones and wildlife in the crazy Atom, inhaling pure Super Unleaded in the Hi-Tech GT40 Continuation and praying that his licence will be intact when it’s all over.
Then Richard Meaden straps himself into all the contenders and goes for broke around the tortuous, wonderful and slightly scary Cadwell Park race circuit. What will be quickest? Which of his dozen heavily branded overalls will he model? All will be revealed over 37 pages and 12,000 words. Best put the kettle on…
News from Planet evoBMW reveals its Porsche Panamera rival, powered by that fabulous 5-litre V10 engine. We’ve also got all the secrets of the new M3’s 4-litre V8, full details of the new Impreza WRX (you might want to skip these pages) and pictures of Ruf’s new supercar
DrivenAudi S5, Renaultsport Mégane dCi 175, Honda Civic Type-R-R, Mini Cooper D, Mazda MPS Sports Aero Kit, Skoda Octavia vRS TDi, Vauxhall Astra 1.6i Turbo
Icons reborn? Clio R27 F1 and Peugeot 207 GTIOnce upon a time Peugeot made great cars, and then it all went horribly wrong. Renault took up the baton, but has recently fumbled slightly with the gifted but gutless Clio 197. Can the new 207 GTI capitalise and recapture the magic of the iconic 205 GTI? And has Renaultsport sprinkled its magic dust on the 197 just in time with the new R27 version? Catchpole decides
Freddie Hunt interviewJames Hunt was perhaps the most charismatic world champion ever. Now his son is embarking on a racing career of his own. Mark Forsyth talks to Freddie on the eve of his first race
Super-estates: M5 Touring v RS4 Avant2000 miles, five countries, over 900bhp and an awful lot of boot space: ‘epic’ is the only way to describe this test. Jethro Bovingdon melts his credit card in dozens of European petrol stations. Kenny P relaxes in the passenger seat
Legends: Jaguar XJ13Usually our ‘Legends’ have incredible competition history, or ushered-in a new era in their particular race category. The XJ13 is famous for what might have been – and for being one of the most beautiful cars ever created. John Simister reports
LettersThe agonies and ecstacies of being a Lotus follower, both sides of the 4x4s/global warming debate, and one reader leaps to Gordon Murray’s defence. And after another reader slammed Harry Metcalfe for driving too fast when he was 17, this month Harry’s dad has a go at him not tidying his room. ProbablyLong-term testsPeter Tomalin says ‘toodle-pip’ to the XK, Porter bids farewell to our SEAT Leon and Harry’s Zonda hasn’t broken down! Don’t worry, normal service will be resumed the next time he drives it
The KnowledgeThe Porsche 911 is featured here 29 times, the Caterham 7 appears 10 times. So in terms of Knowledge appearances, Porsche wins again
Birth of an Icon: Lotus 7Quite simply the icon of icons. In 2007 the Lotus 7 celebrates its 50th birthday. We’re just happy some bloke called Colin designed it in the first place. Ian Eveleigh charts the evolution from 40bhp dawdler to 250bhp screamer
