Features

Back to Library >
ti icon

Features

Rum, rogues and turbos

3 years ago

not bookmarked

Writer:

Dan Prosser | Ti co-founder

Date:

28 May 2021

Rulebooks are being torn up: hypercars with electric motors and no pistons, the GT3 RS forgoing a stick in favour of paddles, the M3 with an automatic gearbox and no manual option (in the UK, at least), Astons using turbos and AMG’s C63 soon to be a four-cylinder hybrid. Is nothing scared anymore?

It seems funny now to reflect on the arrival a decade ago of the BMW 1 Series M Coupé. So many of us wrestled with the idea of a turbocharged BMW M-car, endlessly turning that notion over in our minds like a sock in a tumble dryer. All that moaning, all that pontificating… Naturally aspirated engines in M-cars should sacrosanct, we wailed. What a colossal waste of energy. And I hold my hands aloft.

Start your 30-day free trial to continue reading this article.

Begin free trial

Already subscribed? Click here to log in.

ti icon

Library

McLaren 750S review

It looks like a gently facelifted 720S but, as Andrew Frankel discovers on road and track, there’s rather more to it than that

not bookmarked

Making EVs fun to drive: Part one

Back in 2009, I was leading the team developing the Renault Zoe. The only people crazy enough to dabble in electric vehicles back then were Tesla and the Nissan-Renault Alliance...

not bookmarked

My friend, Jim Clark

Jim Clark, two-time Formula 1 World Champion, is still considered to be one of the greatest racing drivers ever. Erick Dymock paints a portrait of a very complex character

not bookmarked

The world’s scariest circuit

It only held five F1 Grands Prix, but it was enough to sear itself into the memories of some of the greatest drivers who ever lived. By Andrew Frankel

not bookmarked

I Witnessed: The fastest ever Nürburgring lap

Just how fast could a car built without a rulebook be driven around the Nürburgring Nordschleife? Porsche wanted to find out, and invited Andrew Frankel to watch it happen

not bookmarked

Nervous tension

Do I join the group of people doing yoga warm up exercises or should I go somewhere private to get the temperatures and pressures up? I can’t decide because my nerves are all over the place...

not bookmarked