Spyder-Man

Porsche launched its new Spyder to the press at the end of 2013 at an event held on and around a race track near Valencia. In the usual run of things, as the then chief car tester for the Sunday Times, it would have been me marvelling at how well it deployed its immense power and what its all-wheel drive, hybrid-assisted powertrain foretold about the future.

But my editor thought it would be a better idea to put a real writer in the car rather than a common-or-garden vastly experienced motoring journalist like me, regardless of his abilities to command such a device in such an environment or, indeed, his qualifications for passing meaningful judgement upon it. Honestly, knowing how hard Porsche likes you to push its cars on track at such events, I’d have been far more surprised if he hadn’t binned it. But he did, in quite a big way, and was brave enough to own up to it in print which is why I don’t feel squeamish mentioning it now.

What he didn’t say was that, Porsche not exactly having a fleet of spare near million quid hypercars around the corner to make up the shortfall, everyone was required thereafter to drive at much reduced pace, spoiling the experience for one and all. For this no one blamed Porsche, let alone the driver who is a very likeable chap and a fine writer who could not have known what he was letting himself in for. The person who put him in that position however…