Returned from Mira with the Evo team only a short while ago. Very tired, bit agitated and generally feeling glad to be home.
After being rushed to get to Leicester for 11am, my car wasn’t needed till about 2pm, so a wasted rush about in the morning (left at 8.00am).

There were some very nice cars there, those that took part in the test included:

Holden GTS
The noise this car makes is simply stunning, I want one! Possibly the most fantasticaly vocal V8 I have ever heard.

Lotus Elise
New shape elise which drove, suprisingly enough, exactly like the VX220. Looked very nice though in dark blue. Very sexy.

Caterham Superlight R500
Goddamn. I have never been in a faster car in my life. This thing defies belief. By second gear, I had tears streaming down my face (literally! ), by 4th gear I had trouble keeping my helmet down, by 6th gear, my harness straps were flapping away. hit 140 MPH in this thing, best experience of the day (0-60 3.6 secs anyone? 0-100 in 8.5secs!)
Nothing could keep up with it. And the sound!

BMW X5
Suprising how such a tall vehicle with such a long wheelspan can have such agility and outright grip. Fantastic comfort with onboard TV and leather. Extremely regal. Great for driving whilst on holiday, but wouldnt want to spend all my life with one.

Maserati 3200GT
Mad car with sh1tloads of power that was just tearing out the tarmac. I thought it an ugly car though, with great interior.

Lupo GTi
Very cute

Renault Clio Sport
Renault Clio V6 (won’t arrive till Friday)
Porsche 996 Turbo (won’t arrive till Friday)
Ford Puma
and some others that I cant remember.

Basically, they were very hospitable, but not friendly. My car got put through its paces, comparitively (most time was spent doing the photo sessions, very tedious but at no time did they seem enthusiastic about their job, it all seemed so very…monotonous. Almost a myth smashed for me to be honest.

I suppose we shall see with the next issue if it will be worth it (got a free set of toyo’s out of it, which is nice)

Cem
P.s. Scooped the following cars at MIRA:
New Scooby WRC car, looks wierd in the flesh, sounds pretty identical to the last car.
Croix Evo VI TME Group A Rally car (sounded awesome)
Another white Subaru WRC car
New Jaguar small saloon (ugly as hell!)
New Mini (veeeery cool)
New Aston Martin Vanquish (sounded fantastic)