EVO ARCHIVE
Don’t stop me now
weonlyusedtowearhelmetsforthephotos–
whenwewereactuallytestingitwaseasierto
hear the numbers being called if you weren’t
wearing an Arai. And if you’re wondering
why a passenger shouted the speed, it was
so that the driver could keep his eyes on the
amountofmileleftbutalsodidn’tirritatingly
wimpoutat169.5mph.NowIthinkaboutit,
I should have called the numbers in a bingo
style:‘LiketheR,130.’
Anyway, for the 2006 Fast Club story in
issue091Iwassittinginthesillyseat,running
the timing gear and calling the numbers that
day,andIremembertwocarsinparticularfor
totallydifferentreasons.Thelaunchtechnique
fortheB7RS4hasalwaysstayedwithmefor
itssheerbrutality.JohnBarkerfoundthatthe
waytothebesttimewassimplytodialinthe
full8250rpmandthensidesteptheclutch.No
finesse,incrediblesound,staggeringtraction,
astonishingmechanicalrobustness.
The other car I remembervividly is the
BMW M6. Jethro Bovingdonwas the man
extractingtheperformancefromitsnaturally
aspiratedV10anditwastrickynottovaporise
Millbrook’s two-way straightwas dauntingatthe bestoftimes. Throwina bit ofbrake failure,and...
byHENRY CATCHPOLEtherearrubberofftheline.However,itwasn’t
the accelerationbut rather the deceleration
that really quickened the pulse. Heading
down the two-way mile straight I remember
Jethro hitting the brakes for a full-on, tap-
the-dashboard emergency stop, only to see
a bank of warning lights illuminate like a
cheap fairground ride. At the worst possible
momenttheM6hadeffectivelythrownupits
hands and said, ‘You’re on your own,’ while
promptly locking its rear wheels as the ABS,
EBDandESPallstoodidlyby.
Thankfully Jethro applied an impressively
swift and accurate amount of opposite lock
to keep the car on our side of the protective
whitelineandtherewasenoughroomtoease
off the brakes and slow down more sedately.
I think we laughed nervously as we rolled to
astop,bothwellawarethattheresultoffull
brakefailureinthedirectionwewereheading
was to be launched up some banking,out of
theprovinggroundandontoarailwayline.
Ofcourse,havingswitchedthecaroffand
backonagaintoresetit,weturnedroundand
diditallagaintheotherway.
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were changed it seemed utterly bonkers that
we thought the old way was in any sense
acceptable. The mile straight at Millbrook
Proving Ground is a perfectly flat, perfectly
straightpieceoftarmacstretchingforjustover
amile(Iknow,tradedescriptionsshouldhave
beenalloverthem).Todayitisonlyeverused
in one direction, but back in 2006 you could
run both ways. Just to be clear, that meant
youcouldhavetwocarsheadingtowardseach
other flat-out, like some latter-day jousting
match with wing mirrors. You’re probably
imaginingthat there was a sturdy barrier
separatingthe two lanes. But, no. Keeping
the cars safely apart as they hurtled towards
eachotherwithaclosingspeedofsomewhere
around300mphwas...apaintedwhiteline.
Mostofthetimethisterrifyingscenariowas
avoided by only needing to test one car, but
whenwedidourFastClubfeaturestherewas
alotoffiguringtobedoneinaday.AsIsay,at
thetimewereallydidn’tthinktoomuchabout
the danger and, as far as I recall, we didn’t
wear Nomex. What’s more, I’m pretty sure