The Impossible

You know that phrase, ‘it’s a racing car for the road’? Rarely has more cobblers been spoken by the alleged motoring journalist who utters it. All you should read into such an assertion is that said hack can never have driven a racing car.

Because there is a simple, single truth that even the slightest scrutiny will reveal: a car designed to last for tens or hundreds of thousands of miles in all conditions over a lifetime of a decade or more can never, ever feel like one designed to drive around in circles for microscopically short periods of time before much skilled and expensive attention is required before it can be considered fit for purpose once more.

And yet. When I drove the Mercedes-AMG One earlier this week at the company’s immense Immendingen test track, for a moment or two I did wonder.

Now – and full disclosure is required – this was a short drive of no more than 20 minutes on a handling circuit I didn’t know. But perhaps the most telling thing I can reveal is that the AMG GT Black Series I had to follow appeared to have all the pace of the Unigate milk float some of our more, er, experienced subscribers will fondly recall.