he cattle-grid rattles
under the car. Not for
the first time it occurs
to you that as a way of
heralding the arrival of
a great experience, there’s none more
understated than the humble cattle-
grid. But there they are, at the start
and finish of many of the country’s
greatest roads.
You know this car and you know
this road. It’s why you’ve brought it
here. You know the drill, too: a kick
of the clutch and a blip of the throttle.
You’ve already decided how many
gears you’re going to drop. Then
down goes the foot. Let it build. You
feel the engine respond and hear it,
too: the induction noise hardening,
the exhaust note sharpening. The
revs rise, but slowly at first. There’s
no e x t e r n a l a s si s t a nc e f r om t u rb o s
here, but you’re happy to wait.
A t 4 0 0 0 r pm it s t a r t s t o bu i ld , at
5 0 0 0 r pm it ’s b e g i n n i n g t o f l y. S o
you let it go, growling and howling
its way past 6000, 7000 and onto
8000rpm before you deftly dip the
c lut c h onc e mor e , a me r e f r a c t ion of a
second before the limiter cuts in.
Okay, so the car happens to be
a new Porsche Cayman GT4, but
in essence, and saving details like
where the red line on any given car
m i g ht b e , w h at I ’ v e out l i ne d i s a n
experience enjoyed in one form or
another by millions of enthusiastic
drivers not just for years or even
decades, but for more than a century.
G o o d c a r, go o d r oa d. G o o d f u n. T h atreally is all there is to it.
Let’s do it all over again, except
we’re a few years into the future and
the car is not a 414bhp Porsche but
an electric hypercar with around
2 0 0 0bhp. I f y ou t h i n k t h at s ou nd s
T
It’s the driver doing
this, not the car – but
for how much longer?
`
It’s an experience enjoyed by
millions of enthusiastic drivers
a