The Cars.

The ‘Star of the Show’ was undoubtedly, in my view, the sublime Porsche Cayman GT4. I nicknamed this one ‘Bumblebee’ due to its colour scheme. It reminds me of the ‘Bumblebee’ character in the Transformers movie though it is a far, far superior car to the one in the movie, which was a Chevrolet Camaro. Fast in straight line, incredible in the corners and with the best balance of any car here. Indeed it is supposed to be one of the best balanced cars in the world. It is also ‘over-braked’ as it has the awesome braking system of the much bigger GT3 and I could not shake it off in the twisty bits. I could only lose it at high speed..

Simply an astonishing car.

Porsche Cayman GT4.
Engine:
3800cc 24v flat-six, 380bhp @ 7400rpm, 310lb ft @ 4750-6000rpm
Transmission:
Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive with mechanical LSD
Performance:
4.4sec 0-62mph, 183mph, 27.4mpg, 238g/km CO2

Porsche 991.1 GT3. 
Engine:
3799cc 24v flat-six, 475bhp @ 8250rpm, 325lb ft @ 6250rpm
Transmission:
Seven-speed dual-clutch PDK, rear-wheel drive
Performance:
3.5sec 0-62mph, 196mph, 22.8mpg, 289g/km CO2

Porsche 991.2 GTS (Cabriolet).
Engine:
2981cc, 24-valve turbocharged flat-six, 444bhp@6500rpm, 406lb ft@2150-5000rpm
Transmission:
seven-speed PDK, torque vectoring, rear-wheel drive
Performance:
4.2sec 0-60mph, 193mph, 25.0mpg (combined), 214g/km

Mercedes AMG GT (Roadster).
Engine:
3982cc 32v V8 biturbo, 456bhp @ 6000rpm, 442lb ft @ 1600-5000rpm
Transmission:
Seven-speed auto, rear-wheel drive with LSD
Performance:
4.2sec 0-62mph, 186mph, 30.4mpg, 216g/km CO2

Porsche 997.2 Carrera S (Cabriolet).
Engine:
3.8L/385-hp/310 lb-ft DOHC 24-valve 6-cyl flat-6
Transmission:
7-speed auto-clutch manual
Performance:
4.8sec 0-60mph, 187mph, 25.0mpg (combined), 214g/km

Ferrari California T.
Engine:
3855cc 32v V8 turbo
Transmission:
Seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, rwd
Performance:
3.6sec 0-62mph, 196mph, 26.9mpg, 250g/km

Mercedes E400 AMG Sport Plus Coupe.
Engine:
2996cc 24v V6, twin-turbo, 329bhp @ 5500rpm, 354lb ft @ 1400-4000rpm
Transmission:
Seven-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Performance:
0-62mph 5.2sec, 155mph, 35.8mpg, 185g/km

Sunday. To Calais.

Sunday morning marked the beginning of the end of another epic road trip. The day got off to an inauspicious start as we lost the GTS driver 500 meters from the hotel!  We did not see him again till we were approaching Calais.

I personally thought the 5 days and near-2000 miles had flown by and I had thoroughly enjoyed myself. We did everything, we had high-speed motorway blasts, we watched Formula 1, (The Lewis Hamilton fan club were not too pleased about the race results) we generally had a good time in each other’s company and the cherry on the cake for all of us was the fantastic 30 miles of the most challenging and rewarding driving roads most of us have done in a long time.

Some fell in love with their cars all over again, others found the limits of their cars, while others began to explore and bond with their cars in a way that would not have been possible in the speed-camera-infested-namby-pamby-thou-shalt-not-speed-nor-enjoy-driving UK.

We drove nearly 2,000 fun miles across 4 countries in 5 days, with no mishaps, only one fine and three kerbed wheels.

What’s not to like?

Till the next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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