BBC Top Gear Magazine September 2024

@jack_rix @rixjack jack.rix@bbctopgearmagazine.com Where do you stand on the Red Bull RB17? Since its Goodwood debut there appears to be two distinct camps forming: those who start vibrating at the mere mention of it, and those who shrug their shoulders and couldn’t care less. “Yeah, but making a track only hypercar is easy,” they’ll say. Clearly, if you’re a big F1 fan and Newey disciple, it’s a wonderfully tantalising prospect – the greatest F1 engineer ever channelling his mind into something totally new, ostensibly a billionaire’s track toy, but also an engineering exercise in not just raw speed, but entertainment. Newey talks about the generous two-seater cabin that compromises the aero package a bit, but is important so you can share the terror fun with a friend or your other…

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“My wife and I wanted to race at Le Mans. But looking at all the cars in period, we could never afford a historic Aston or Jaguar racecar. My other half found out that Cadillac raced in 1950, and I’ve always liked American cars. So I decided I wanted to build the Le Monstre.” And the rest is handbuilt, fire breathing history. Derek Drinkwater (and his boss/wife Pat) wasn’t going to settle for being priced out of the elitist world of classic motorsport. So he built his own. And not over the course of years either. Derek set himself the challenge of using authentic tools and techniques to recreate Cadillac’s bizarre streamliner in the space of just five months. And the self-taught mechanic succeeded, using a projector to beam a…

CLEARLY AN ARIEL NOMAD, BUT CLEARLY different. The furrowed brow, the broader bonnet, the beadlock wheels: say hello to Nomad 2. Same recipe as the original, but created from all-new ingredients. The only components carried over from the 2015 original are the steering wheel, pedal box and fuel cap. The chassis is 65 per cent stiffer, the suspension has 50 per cent more travel. Aerodynamic elements have been integrated. And most surprisingly, this one isn’t powered by Honda. After over 20 years of being powered by Honda motors, Nomad 2 doesn’t use the Civic Type R’s 2.0 turbo, but Ford’s 2.3-litre turbo as fitted to the Focus ST. In the standard version that will develop 260bhp and 270lb ft. An uprated version will have three separate maps, the top one…

OLLIE MARRIAGE TG’S HEAD OF CAR TESTING IS A FAN OF ANYTHING BONKERS I know what’s going to happen. Jack’s going to claim the Nomad has got too grown up, that it will have lost its mad mojo. That thought had crossed my mind too. Then I remembered I’d expected the same when Atom 3 became Atom 4. What we got was undiluted thrills but better composure and control. The sweaty palm factor was reduced. I thought the original Nomad was essentially unimprovable, the motoring equivalent to strapping a GoPro to the back of a Labrador, but now I think back to it, it could be a bit disobedient. If this one is a dash more house trained and knows to avoid rolling in fox poo, I wouldn’t complain. “If…

1. USA Chevy delivers Corvette with odd seats We get it. Mistakes sometimes happen. But there are some mistakes that beggar belief. Like this one. Rick Conti, Corvette enthusiast, salesperson and YouTuber posted this scarcely believable mixup, showing off a customer’s C8 that had been delivered with a Jet Black driver’s seat… and mismatching Sky Cool Gray passenger’s seat. Just how? 2. Greece Koenigsegg tells all Jesko owners not to drive after fire Koenigsegg Jesko owners were recently left in limbo after one of the hypercars burst into flames during a rally in Greece. The Swedish firm emailed all 28 Jesko owners asking them not to drive while it was investigated, with the issue traced to a hydraulic fluid leak. Poor souls, having to take the Ferrari to work instead……