This is an engine we absolutely love. It sounds a little more muted and makes slightly less power in the 130, but its smooth, unrelenting delivery mates perfectly with the eight-speed ZF gearbox. Lovely Alcantara steering wheel too. Given the weight (over 2.7 tonnes) it doesn’t actually feel that fast, but the 130 V8 corners remarkably flat and still manages all of the Defender’s off-road tricks. GP £117,475 FOR Overall refinement, decent interior AGAINST Strict safety aids, primitive ride, that damn screen FOR Glorious grunt, genuine seating for eight AGAINST Drinks fuel at alarming rate, doesn’t fit in the UK How many cars make it to a ninth generation and sixth decade? At least one. The MkIX Passat is estate only and twinned almost identically with the latest Skoda Superb to maximise profitability. Good news for the VW, though, as it makes this car comfier and roomier, while in-car tech is an improvement on recent missteps. Just a shame the UK is denied punchier 2.0 petrols and diesels, our choices limited to a range of otherwise solid 1.5 hybrids. SD £38,480 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT 1.5 TSI LAND ROVER DEFENDER 130 V8 MG4 XPOWER The MG4 XPower is a salutary lesson in engineering. It’s very fast. Two motors and 429bhp mean 0–62mph in a punishing 3.88secs. Stopping will be no issue either, you think, because you’ve seen the beefy great orange brakes inside the wheels. Just one thing: they’re fake. What you’re looking at is oversized covers concealing undersized calipers. Which are not fit for purpose. MG, there’s more to developing a hot hatch than power alone. OM Ah the Seal, an EV best known for its novelty touchscreen that spins like a clown’s bow tie. This RWD model is no joke though: it loses a motor but gains 30 miles of range over the 523bhp AWD car and its supercar-troubling sprint. Settling for more sedate progress lets the refinement shine more so the RWD is the one to have. It’s no less forgettable to drive, but when you finally lose patience with the tech you’ll have more leccy to twirlify that screen. JH BYD SEAL RWD £45,695 FOR Comfier, quieter and roomier than ever AGAINST Some lost design sparkle in the process £36,495 FOR One of the very fastest hot hatches available today AGAINST And with some of the hottest brakes. This is bad 6 10 5 10 7 10 8 10 The overrun Small but perfectly formed reviews. The best of the rest from this month’s drives T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 051 1.5T 4cyl 148 bhp 51.8 mpg 124 g/km CO2 9.3 secs P 5.0 s/c V8 493 bhp 19.6 mpg 325 g/km CO2 5.7 secs P 354 miles 82.5kWh battery 308 bhp 5.9 secs 111 mph 239 miles 61.8kWh battery 429 bhp 3.9 secs 124 mph
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A F T E R B U R N
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 055 BUGATTI BOLIDE W O R D S J A C K R I X P H O T O G R A P H Y J O H N W Y C H E R L E Y It might be a plaything for billionaires, but Bugatti’s new track-only Bolide is a force of nature. We’re first to experience it in full flight
056 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M Fill the footwell, toddler-style in my own lap, remove and soil my own helmet or attempt to fling open the door and launch a projectile over the sill? These appear to be my puking options as Andy Wallace gives me the thumbs up and delivers another gut pummelling launch. I nod weakly and turn green. I consider my constitution sturdy, but the Bolide is no respecter of reputations, it’s a feral attack on the eyes, ears and organs, and when you’re in the passenger seat with zero idea when the next punch of acceleration or brick wall of braking is coming, it reduces grown men to gibbering, dribbling wrecks. Being simultaneously flooded with happy hormones, but also wanting to BUGATTI BOLIDE
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 057
058 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M “Due to aerodynamics and air density, this is where most of your vomit ended up. Clean it off please”
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 059 BUGATTI BOLIDE leather. Customer deliveries will start in the summer and the first two cars are already in production – one a pre-series car that Bugatti will keep, the other destined for the garage of the new gaffer, Mate Rimac. Normally passenger rides are a hard pass for us, but clearly there are things to learn here – especially as our pilot is chief test driver Andy Wallace, a man who’s helped nurture the Bolide from acorn to oak, has a Le Mans win on the CV and more Bugatti seat time than anyone else on the planet. It’s 6.30am and we’re both romper-suited up and enjoying a rounded Italian breakfast of sweet, strong black coffee while I gawp at the pair of heavily used and abused prototypes in front of us. “This particular car, I think it’s done close to 12,000km, and not going to Tesco and back... it’s been hammered. We have not driven this car with any sympathy whatsoever,” Andy explains. The car’s battle scars corroborate his story – a mess of raw carbon, gaffer tape and wires that disappear as you get further away from it, but are entirely fitting for its purpose: to be ruthlessly quick around a track, not parked up as an ornament in a billionaire’s marble and glass tower. The shape is sensational, hewn by aerodynamic purpose, but beautifully proportioned and small in footprint. A rare case of design and engineering both winning the argument. The shrunken horseshoe grille blending into the front splitter, the roof scoop, the ‘X’ lights, rear fin, wing, voids... it’s pure aggression, but with a refinement most racecars don’t bother with. And then it spins and woofs into life with escape and lie in the foetal position under a bush for a few hours is a new one for me. But then the Bugatti Bolide is a new one for us all. Plenty of track only hypercars have come before – Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Ferrari FXXK, Lamborghini Essenza SCV12 to mention a few of the best – each ferocious in its own way, dismissed as useless toys by most, owned by a handful, driven properly by few... but none is quite as deranged as the Bolide. None takes such a juggernaut of an engine – a 1,578bhp 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 so totally unsuited to racing with its inherent lag, thirst and heft – and builds an entirely bespoke racecar around it. We’ll get to the astonishing facts and stats that orbit the Bolide, burn brightly then crash into your brain like the meteor it’s named after, but know this – it probably shouldn’t exist. If common sense had prevailed this engineering Everest would have died years ago, but it didn’t, which is what makes it so deeply fascinating. It’s the world’s greatest pub question made real. We’re at the Nardò proving ground in the heel of Italy’s boot, the first outside of Bugatti’s inner circle to get close to this unicorn... and experience it in full flight. We’ve been wedged into a live development session, but there’s an air of demob happiness about the engineering team as it’s their last official day on the programme. The Bolide’s hardware and software are frozen, proven robust and reliable, which means it’s basically finished minus the polished carbon and purple “IT WOOFS INTO LIFE WITHA BASS ANDHARD RESONANCE THAT ONLY CUBIC CAPACITY CAN DELIVER” Now go and watch the video on topgear.com
BUGATTI BOLIDE “THE BOLIDE APPLIES PURE VIOLENCE TO EVERY SENSE AND CELL IN YOUR BODY” Seats are pads stuck to the monocoque, pedals and (removable) wheel are adjustable and no components are shared with Chiron. The wheel looks like a very complicated bow tie with all the functions in front of you, triple-screen instrument cluster is pure motorsport. Those pipes that look like exhausts? That’s the aircon that runs off a 48V system so you can stay cool even when working hard in 40°C ambient heat a bass and hard resonance that only cubic capacity can deliver... now fully uncorked with the Chiron’s particulate filters and catalytic converters torn out. It’s at this point I realise conversing casually with Andy as he demonstrates the Bolide’s dynamic attributes is unlikely... plus the intercom’s not working. Sign language it is. Fluids warmed through, Andy and I are ushered over. I grab the nearest helmet, which happens to be a homage to the gaffer taped exterior, and we hunker down in our seats. I say seats – these are pads stuck directly to the bespoke carbon monocoque, cocooning and tilted back with your heels somewhere in line with your bum. You can remove the wheel, but Andy doesn’t bother, skipping into his custom seat like a whippet. We roll out towards the evocatively named Dynamic Platform A – a mammoth square of tarmac, with two long straights peeling off at right angles – receive a new pair of slicks fresh out the tyre oven, and have at it. Conversation is doable at idle, but drowned out once any throttle gets involved – it’s noisy, but not pneumatic drill harsh like a Valkyrie or AMG One. Andy asks what I fancy – a standing launch or a rolling one that holds you on the pitlane limiter before releasing the beans? “Both?” I say, naive to the pinball machine I’m about to go through. The moment of launch itself isn’t the full fireworks – there’s the briefest of pauses as the four turbos inhale and the engine crests 4,000rpm (no sequential turbocharging here like the Chiron, to save weight), then a mildly uncomfortable shove in the back, some wheelspin from all four tyres and finally the full hook up as you’re tossed down the runway... jaw clenched, knuckles white, blood pooled in the rearmost few centimetres of your torso. Yes, a Tesla Model S Plaid can deliver similar forces off the line, but that’s administered in a silky, silent shock. The Bolide applies pure violence to every sense and cell in your body, and at the point when the Tesla would be running out of puff, at say 100mph, the Bolide kicks again, doubling down on its accelerative efforts, reminding you it’s barely breaking sweat. Neither is the driver. “It’s still a Bugatti. It’s still easy to drive and it’s comfortable and it’s got air conditioning, but it’s far, far away from a Chiron,” Andy explains. “There’s no auto setting for the seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, you’re in manual the whole time, but it will upshift for you at maximum rpm. If you had to stare at the tacho or the shift lights to see when to shift, that would actually take away from the driving pleasure I think, because it’s all happening so fast.” In a nutshell, your granny could launch the Bolide, whether she’d survive the g force is another matter entirely. No track to circulate then, but that doesn’t stop Andy continuing his cruel assault on my internal gyrometer with some fast cornering on the skidpan. Needless to say, no skids are achieved, just limpitlike grip and worryingly high lateral g. At no point do I feel we’re remotely close to breaching the limits of adhesion, and the numbers explain why. The Bolide – with its Michelin slicks, nearly 3,000kg of downforce at its 236mph top speed, dry weight of 1,450kg (around 1,600kg with fluids) and claimed maximum lateral 2.5g (a Chiron is capable of around 1.2g) – will still be clinging on at the point your puny musculoskeletal system gives up. And the most shocking bit is to come. Note to self: tighten your harness before being teleported about in a carbon-fibre missile,
“Keep your arms, legs and lunch inside the vehicle at all times, please” Bugatti briefly considered sustainability, decided to go for the zero waist approach This is how you make a long stretch of tarmac disappear in an instant – it’s like magic T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 061
062 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M Come to a stop, squeeze the brake with your left foot and press the ‘LC’ button on the wheel. Mash the throttle, wait about two second for the boost to build... and hold on for dear life LAUNCH INTERNAL BOLIDE-ING Entirely new carbon monocoque, built to LMH and LMDh FIA safety requirements – not because it’ll go racing, but because they’re reassuringly difficult to meet. In testing, a 7.5-tonne force is applied to the A-pillar and only 50mm deflection is allowed... it passed easily without cracking. Engine and transmission have stiffer mounts than the Chiron and are actually embedded deep into the monocoque – not just bolted to the back of it CARBON TUB Pushrod style with horizontal dampers – and the 3D printed titanium pushrods weigh only 100g, but can take up to 3.5 tonnes of load due to an internal structure that’s beyond our understanding Carbon-carbon Brembos are pure race tech and designed to operate without fade, lap after punishing lap, but not when you’re trundling around at slow speeds, so beware. Brembo’s biggest ever eight-piston calipers grab the 390mm discs at the front and there’s a five stage ABS system built in Each owner will get pointers from Andy on how to use their Bolide properly, plus access to two track days a year – the first is at Paul Ricard in October. Own your own track? Want to drive it when you want without full race support? That’s fine, says Bugatti, you can push the start button and go – just get some heat into those tyres and brakes before giving the full send BRAKES SUSPENSION TRAINING
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 BUGATTI BOLIDE An 8.0-litre, quad-turbo W16 producing 1,578bhp (same as the Chiron Super Sport) and 1,180lb ft of torque (a Rimac Nevera produces 1,741lb ft but weighs 550kg more). Rev limit now “a few hundred rpm higher” than the Chiron’s 7,100rpm, but the sequential turbo system has been ditched to save weight, so max torque arrives at 4,000rpm, not 2,000rpm. You’ll cope ENGINE Uses the same seven-speed dual-clutch as the Chiron, except without the auto mode. So the only way to change gear is with the paddles fixed to the back of the yoke steering wheel... or by keeping your foot in and letting it auto upshift at the limiter – handy for full-bore launches GEARBOX Dry weight of 1,450kg, around 1,600kg with fluids. The powertrain weighs around 600kg, making it 38 per cent of the total mass At top speed the Bolide produces almost three tonnes of downforce – 1,000kg at the front, 2,000kg at the rear. “We could have got more” says Andy Wallace. “But then it would have been pitch sensitive.” Here it’s totally benign. No active aero, other than the faster you go the lower you’re squashed to the ground No particulate filters or catalytic converters so this is the W16 in its rawest, loudest form. At this point, may I direct you to the YouTube video so you can hear it for yourself... Wheels are BBS 18-inch cast aluminium, so they fit off the shelf Michelin Pilot Sport slicks on the front. The 340mm section rear slicks are LMDh tyres and need to be ordered specially through Bugatti Top speed is 236mph in the low downforce setting, or 227mph in the high downforce mode. No 0–62mph time is quoted, but considering it weighs 500kg less than a Chiron Super Sport and that does it in 2.4secs... less than that WEIGHT DOWNFORCE 1 PERFORMANCE WHEELS SOUND
BUGATTI BOLIDE 064 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 065 “THE BOLIDE IS A DIFFERENT EXPRESSION OF BUGATTI’S VALUES, AND JUSTHAPPENS TO LOOK KNEE TREMBLINGLY GOOD”
066 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M CITROEN 2CV (425CC) GOLF GTI MKI 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 3,000 ALPINE A110S P O W E R - T O - W E I G H T ( B H P / T O N N E ) HOW BALLISTIC IS THE BOLIDE? CATERHAM 620R RIMAC NEVERA BUGATTI BOLIDE 2024 F1 CAR TOP FUEL DRAGSTER DUCATI PANIGALE V4 R
because when Andy stands on the brakes I’m flung forward like a ragdoll, neck and limbs trying to escape through the exhaust-size air vents, body momentarily free from the forces of gravity. You can enjoy this visual feast on repeat thanks to the onboard GoPros, but the cause is clear – the Bolide’s carbon-carbon brakes have the largest eight-piston front calipers Brembo has ever developed for a track car. And the 390mm discs themselves (limited in size to fit behind the 18-inch wheels) are a microcosm of the entire car – designed to operate stupendously well within a very tight operating window. In other words, they basically don’t work at low speeds, but brake from vmax to 0mph and they’ll reach 1,000°C and haul off the mph like there’s a parachute flapping about behind you. They also run a five-stage ABS system, which is pretty unheard of in a purpose-built racecar like this. Christian Willman, the Bolide’s technical project leader, explains the benefits. “When you have a high downforce car at high speed, you can push the brakes very hard, but as the car slows, the downforce reduces and you need to release the brake pedal step by step. At turn in, you must be off the brakes. Here you can push the brake fully until the point you turn in and even trail brake into the corner.” For billionaires with more money than talent, this means faster lap times and less chance of ending up in a £3.5m pile of carbon and Alcantara. Truth is, for all my complaining about feeling queasy and getting battered about, that’s just a symptom of the Bolide’s brilliance. There’s a robustness to everything it does, a repeatability of otherworldly feats, a democratisation of miracles that’s become a Bugatti hallmark. Where would it be versus an F1 car around a lap? “A few seconds behind,” Andy says, humouring my question. “But it would be going a hell of a lot faster at the end of the straight.” No mean feat when you consider the Bolide was originally conceived as a 300+mph top speed car to steal the Chiron Super Sport’s crown, before the focus shifted to downforce and ultimate track performance. Could a road legal Bolide ever exist, I ask Christian, fully expecting a clip around the ear. “I would never say no, but it’s a lot of effort. The brakes would need to be completely different, the body panels have to have a thicker radius, the exhaust would need a silencer... it would be a completely different car.” And for what? Want the ultimate, no holds barred road car? The Chiron already exists and a V16 hybrid successor is waiting in the wings. The Bolide is a different expression of Bugatti’s values, something raw and unfiltered, arguably the world’s greatest hypercar powertrain strapped to a true racing car chassis, that just happens to look knee tremblingly good. Sure, they’re only building 40 of them, they cost £3.5m each and you can only drive them on a track, but that brings a purity too. The Bolide is built for driving, not posing. For experiencing, not polishing. I ask Christian if customers will take their cars home, or leave them at the factory. “Oh they have them at home, I would imagine half of the customers have it as a collector’s car and only bring it out a few times a year. We make so much effort, if the car doesn’t run it would be a shame.” Just imagine having all that money, one of these masterpieces in the garage and not using it in anger. It’s enough to make you sick. T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 067 “ I’M FLUNG FORWARD LIKE A RAGDOLL... BODY MOMENTARILYFREE FROM THE FORCES OF GRAVITY”
W O R D S R O W A N H O R N C A S T L E CATESBY TUNNEL 068 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M SO U N D Stig’s secret subterranean lair is the perfect place to make a lot of noise.
P H O T O G R A P H Y M A R K R I C C I O N I T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 069 O F T H E And that’s exactly what we’ve done. Welcome to TopGear Tunnel Run
Sheffield to the heart of London. But it was abandoned in 1966, falling silent for over half a century, until recently, when it got a multimillion-pound makeover. What kind of makeover? Well, you’re probably familiar with the concept of wind tunnels. They have become vital tools for the development of both racecars and road cars – either to make cars more slippery or sticky through air management. Traditionally, they work by air being sucked or blown over a static car (or even a scale model on an artificial rolling road) so people in oversized lab coats can scratch their oversized foreheads and take measurements about aero efficiency. Unsurprisingly, wind tunnels are hugely expensive to both build and operate. But there’s a simpler solution: flipping that whole idea on its head. That’s what the CFD and aero guru TotalSim (the force behind Catesby’s transformation and the majority stakeholder) has done. Inspired by Chip Ganassi Racing (the US race team that competes in IndyCar and NASCAR) that converted Laurel Hill tunnel in Pennsylvania for aerodynamic testing back in 2004, the team at TotalSim thought it would do the same in the UK. So it bought Catesby, cleared mountains of aged pigeon poo, drained the flood water, strip lit one side (which is easier on drivers’ peripheral vision at high speeds), lined the roof (to help reduce drips from the damp brickwork and 70 years of soot), and poured two miles of tarmac in one continuous flow, with no joins, using the same people who just resurfaced Silverstone to make the perfect road. One that’s completely flat, with no bump bigger than half a millimetre. Thanks to TotalSim, Catesby tunnel is now the ultimate wind tunnel... because it’s not a wind tunnel. It’s just a sealed off hole with a turntable at each end so cars can run constantly and confidentially. There’s no wind, no rain, no weather... at all. Just a constant 10°C, day or night. Perfect conditions for 24/7 testing as things are a lot more consistent, accurate and reliable. It’s already It’s an acronym: not in my back yard. Five letters that combine to create a controversial label for a person who openly opposes infrastructure developments in their area. But if it wasn’t for a bit of Victorian Nimbyism, we wouldn’t have an epic new YouTube series: TopGear Tunnel Run. It’s a seven part celebration of the old school sounds of combustion, presented by Becky Evans, and coming to a screen near you soon. But if it wasn’t for some bloke called Henry Attenborough being a Nimby, The Stig wouldn’t have been able to be let loose in the world’s loudest, lairiest machines for you and your ears’ benefit. Which means you wouldn’t know what a Group B Rally car, screaming V12 track-only hypercar, twin-supercharged vintage Formula One car, a NASCAR racer and many other mad, multicylindered machines sound like at flat chat through an incredibly confined space. And – trust me – that’s worth a watch. And possibly a new pair of headphones. But it was all made possible because of one mind-blowing location: a really, really long (we’re talking nearly two miles), really, really dark and frightfully eerie railway tunnel buried deep in the heart of Northamptonshire. And at this point, we need to rewind back to old Henry Attenborough, and a time when people used to ride penny farthings and put children up chimneys. See, back in the 19th century, Henry was the owner of the Catesby estate. And when these newfangled things called ‘trains’ came along, he objected to the “unsightly” chuffing steam machines as they spoiled the view from his stately home. So, he decided to bury them. Taking the old adage of “out of sight, out of mind” to a whole new level, in 1895, Henry demanded that 230,000m3 of hillside was bored out of his land, so 30 million blue-hued bricks could be laid – by hand – in order to construct a perfectly straight 2,700m long tunnel. Catesby tunnel. For nearly 70 years, trains ran through Catesby tunnel, connecting the industrial powerhouses of Manchester and 070 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M STAT I O N G RE AT CE N TR A L R A I LWAY
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 071 James Bond never showed you this, but vast subterranean lairs need maintenance too No one keeps the BBC’s health and safety department busy like TopGear does... Looks like the secret venue of an underground rave. Sssh, don’t tell anyone CATESBY TUNNEL
CATESBY TUNNEL 072 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M Stig refuses to use reverse, so turntables at both ends were a godsend For context, 132dB is roughly equal to a really loud car in a long, small tunnel Becky Evans – your presenter for TG Tunnel Run – dangerously low Vitamin D levels, but still smiling
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 073 So much more to NASCAR than just driving in circles, they go in a straight line too
CATESBY TUNNEL I L L U S T R A T I O N R I C A R D O S A N T O S TUNNEL VISION Become an instant Catesby expert... CATESBY TUNNEL 074 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M forged a reputation as a world class, state of the art, subterranean test centre, used by carmakers and racing teams from around the world to develop everything from aero to acoustics. However there are significant differences between Chip Ganassi’s Laurel Hill tunnel and Catesby. First, at 2,740m Catesby is twice as long. To give you a sense of scale, a car can travel at 100mph for 40 seconds through it. And while Lauren Hill is a private test facility, anyone can book Catesby. This got us thinking... how fast can you go down it? How much noise can you make? And has anyone seen the corporate credit card? “Anything is possible as long as there’s a suitable risk assessment in place,” the email from the people at Catesby read. That’s when our minds really started frothing as there’s no better feeling than cracking a window, dropping a few gears and blasting through a tunnel. But being buried some nine metres below the surface and with no speed cameras, Catesby is the ultimate extension of that idea because you can make as much noise and go as fast as you like. With this info, we hit the phones to gather a band of rockstar cars that go all the way up to 11. Because as sensible, silent EVs take over, the future of cars might be AC/DC... but it’s hardly rock and roll. Whereas an Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR PRO, Lambo Huracán STO, Audi Group B S1 E2, NASCAR Dodge, Merc S600 (that sounds like a V12 F1 car), Caterham 620R and BRM V16 are noisy. Really noisy. They’re also rather fast and quite a handful. Especially in the dark. But getting a driver for the new YouTube series was the simplest part of many complicated logistics. That’s because The Stig isn’t affected by low light, isn’t fazed by speed and has no eardrums to perforate. To clear smelly exhaust fumes, both ends of the tunnel can be opened and massive fans run to purge the harmful gases As tunnels go, Catesby is a big one: 8.2 metres wide, 7.8 metres high and 2,740 metres long. It’s England’s 14th longest ‘classic’ railway tunnel THANKS TO: CATESBY PROJECTS LTD
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 075 Best of all, we wanted to put you in the passenger seat, so we got some fancy tech to create the most engaging video experience possible. And that’s thanks to Mike, the anthropomorphous binaural mic. Inside Mike’s ears are two receivers, which record sound just like our human ears... in 3D. And he’s shaped like a head to mimic how sound travels into and around our heads. So, when you play it back, you hear what Mike hears. As if you’re actually there, listening with your very own lugholes. It isn’t just surround sound, it’s sonic sorcery. Now imagine what it sounds like when we put Mike in the passenger seat, to bring that tunnel run magic straight into your ears. Well, that’s what we’ve done. It’s the sound of the underground. And it’s going to get loud. So clean your ears out, subscribe to the TG YouTube channel and keep an eye out for TopGear Tunnel Run, coming soon. Catesby is a constant 10°C, day or night. Perfect conditions for 24/7 testing as things are a lot more consistent, accurate and reliable How did Victorians and steam trains breathe? Well, ventilation is provided by five shafts. Four of these are 3 metres in diameter but the northernmost – 1,140 metres from the entrance – is 4.5 metres wide to provide greater air flow Turntables are fitted at each end of the tunnel to avoid Austin Powers-style 80-point turns. Press a button and cars can quickly rotate and drive back in the reverse direction to speed up testing and make more noise To see in the dark, 2,700 metres of cabling for lighting was laid. An internal GPS antenna system (signals can’t get through the ground above) and fans to allow the effect of sidewinds to be studied are also coming soon Located in the Northamptonshire countryside, Catesby tunnel is situated at the heart of ‘Motorsport Valley’, perfect for F1 cars and OEMs to come and test in secret Catesby’s tarmac was laid in two shifts. Pavers worked from 7am to 7pm laying 1,340 tonnes of asphalt, with a seamless changeover allowing non-stop work
076 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M Meet the star cars that took on our Tunnel Run challenge S T A R T YO U R E N G I N ES. . . Catchthewholeseriessoon onYouTube.com/TopGearor TopGear.com.Ifyou’renota YouTubesubscriberalready,we’re deeplydisappointed...butallcanbe rectifiedinasingleclick.Doitnow, anddon’tmissanepisode! ASTON MARTIN VALKYRIE AMR PRO N amed after a mythical Norse maiden... made in Gaydon. Aston’s extreme, track-only version of the Valkyrie road car is as wild as track day toys get. With a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 co-designed with Cosworth, it revs to over 11,000rpm and screams like an old school F1 car. Engine: 6.5-litre n/aV12 Power: 1,150bhp Price: £3.5 million Top speed: 250mph Noise: 101dB CATERHAM 620R L aunched in 2013, the 620R is still the quickest Caterham you can buy, and the most powerful Caterham ever built. It does 0–62 in just 2.7 seconds... in first gear. But the exhaust pokes out right under the driver, sounds like a supersonic hornet and sometimes it spits fire. Engine: 2.0-litre s/c 4cyl Power: 310bhp Price: £58,000 Top speed: 149mph Noise: 100.7dB BRM P15 T his is the BRM P15, and under that buckled-down bonnet are SIXTEEN CYLINDERS of supercharged madness. It’s one of the most complicated engines ever made, and also one of the most terrifying. Revving to 12,000rpm, this post-war monster sounds like a flame-gargling Godzilla. Engine: 1.5-litre s/c V16 Power: 600bhp Price: POA Top speed: N/A Noise: Broke the meter
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 077 CATESBY TUNNEL LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN STO T his is the most hardcore Huracán you can buy. Think of it as a cross between Lambo’s Super Trofeo racer and a regular, roadgoing Huracán. Lamborghini’s big boss describes this car as a celebration of the combustion engine. And when Stig lets rip, you’ll know exactly why. Engine: 5.2-litre n/a V10 Power: 631bhp Price: £297,000 Top speed: 193mph Noise: 95.2dB AUDI SPORT QUATTRO S1 E2 T his isn’t just rallying royalty, it’s the king of the Quattros. Made in 1985, the E2 was the last of Audi’s Group B rally cars, and also the most ferocious. With fruity fuelling, a bucket-sized turbo and five cylinders, it also makes an orchestra’s worth of glorious, loud noises. Engine: 2.1-litre 5cylturbo Power: 550bhp Price: Priceless Top speed: N/A Noise: 126.6dB MERCEDES S600 Like any S-Class, the W140 was famously quiet. It even had double-glazed windows, so you could hear a pin drop in the cabin. But it also has the same V12 that powered the original Pagani Zonda. And thanks to a trick exhaust, this one sounds like an old Formula One car. Engine: 6.0-litre n/a V12 Power: 439bhp Price: £60,000 Top speed: 155mph Noise: 95.2dB DODGE CHARGER NASCAR Afull-fat, no-nonsense NASCAR racer that raced in the Cup Series – that’s NASCAR’s top tier – driven by former champ Kurt Busch. With 900bhp from a 5.9-litre V8 in a car weighing about the same as a Ford Focus, it’s the real deal. Beware: its angry, bassy V8 vacuums the air from your lungs at full revs. Engine: 5.9-litre V8 Power: 900bhp Price: £100,000 Top speed: 200+mph Noise: 132.4dB
W O R D S J A S O N B A R L O W & O L L I E K E W
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 079 AYRTON SENNA
PREVIOUS PAGE: Senna lined up on pole position for the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix ahead of Michael Schumacher – Rubens Barrichello was hospitalised in a crash on the Friday, Austrian driver Ratzenberger died during qualifying. F1 doctor Sid Watkins tried to persuade Senna not to race, but he wouldn’t have it It’s been 30 years since the fateful weekend that took the lives of F1 drivers Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger and shook the world. Senna defined his generation and stands as one of the all-time greats. Think you’ve read everything about him? Here are 30 things you might not know about Brazil’s driving legend... AYRTON SENNA
AFTER WIPING OUT of the 1984 Dallas GP, a distraught Senna insisted to Toleman technical boss Pat Symonds that the wall at the offending corner had ‘moved’. Amused, Symonds went to check it out, and found concrete scrape marks on the ground. A car ahead had tapped the concrete blocks forming the track boundary. Senna was driving to such tight tolerances that shifting this block a few mm lap-to-lap was enough to cause him to clip the edge and retire. SENNA TESTED FOR Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman during 1983. On one run in the McLarenFord MP4/1 he kept the throttle pinned even as the engine lunched itself behind him. Team principal Ron Dennis (below) was not very impressed but he let him have another go. Senna duly set the fastest time of the day and signed for Toleman, the lowliest of the four teams, but he figured it would give him time and space to learn. SENNA WAS A VAUNTED Monaco master, but why was he so quick in a turbo F1 car around the principality? The answer comes in detailed study of his throttle use. Through corner entry and apex, Senna would blip the revs to keep the turbo in the boost sweet spot, while slipping the clutch to maintain control. By precisely judging when the biting point re-engaged he could keep his car on the boil and shave huge chunks of time from his laps. Team members were astonished at his delicacy, managing to maintain boost pressure without wearing out the clutch, lunching the engine, missing a gearshift, or losing control of the car around the notoriously unforgiving twisting road track. AYRTON SENNA announced his talent to the world at the 1984 Race of Champions, a 12-lap novelty event featuring nine F1 world champions and various other greats at the newly opened Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit. Fangio declined to race citing his age, Jackie Stewart had vowed never to race again and Nelson Piquet simply refused, so the 24-year-old Brazilian took his place. And won, beating 19 pedigree drivers in identical Mercedes 190E 2.3-16s. T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 081 HE WAS QUITE A SICKLY CHILD, diagnosed with poor motor function and limb coordination in his youth. Early in his F1 career he had Bell’s palsy, suffering temporary facial paralysis. SENNA WAS NOT IMMUNE TO the lure of Ferrari. “He wanted to come to Ferrari and I wanted him in the team,” revealed ex-Ferrari president Luca Montezemolo in 2014. SENNA WAS HUGELY THOUGHTFUL and mindful of the media as his career took off. But he gave great quotes, including: “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.” HE HELPED SAVE ÉRIK COMAS’S life after a practice crash at the 1992 Belgian GP. Senna stopped and ran to his Ligier, cut the stillrevving engine and stabilised Comas’s head until help arrived. AYRTON’S ACTUAL SURNAME WAS da Silva, but as that was Brazil’s most common second name, he instead chose to adopt his maternal family name of ‘Senna’ for his career.
082 Senna qualified on pole seven times in his second F1 season in 1985, his debut with the Lotus team. He outqualified teammate Elio de Angelis seven to one. In fact, he scored more poles that year than any other driver, including future nemesis Alain Prost.
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 083 AYRTON SENNA AFTER SENNA’S FATAL CRASH AT the 1994 San Marino GP, a furled Austrian flag was found in the cockpit of his stricken Williams. The Brazilian had planned to fly it in tribute at the end of the race. A LOT OF THE SENNA MYTH comes from his trance-like state while driving. In Monaco ’88 he was 2.0secs faster than Prost in quali: “I realised I was no longer driving the car consciously.” SENNA’S WIN IN THE MCLAREN MP4/6 in the 1991 Australian GP was the last to be scored in an F1 car fitted with a conventional manual gearbox. It was also the only V12- engined car to win a world title. AMONG THE MASS OF STATS now skewed by the ballooning race calendar and longer driver careers, Senna has the most consecutive top 10 qualifying positions, managing it 137 times. SENNA’S ICONIC HELMET design wasn’t just a bright scheme to make him stand out. The colours came from Brazil’s flag, the stripes symbolising focus and determination. ONE OF F1’S MOST INFAMOUS TITLE DECIDING moments was the Prost/Senna first corner collision at Suzuka in 1990, a year after the two had come to grief when both at McLaren, leading to Senna’s disqualification and Prost taking the drivers’ title. The following year Senna took pole, which was on the dirty side of the track, and after his protest to have pole swapped to the other side of the grid was denied, Prost predictably took the lead before Senna dived up the inside, collected the Frenchman’s Ferrari and took them both out of the race, guaranteeing Senna a second title. McLaren later analysed the car’s telemetry and discovered that not only did Senna fail to brake for the first corner, he didn’t even lift as he closed in on the Ferrari, proving the crash was entirely deliberate on Senna’s part. IN 1986, SENNA AGREED TO test drive a variety of rally cars in the Welsh forests for a mag story set up by his friend, the late great automotive journalist, Russell Bulgin. “Before the corner you have to commit,” Senna noted, after a tricky immersion in a Sierra Cosworth. “Now I understand why you have to use opposite lock and use the traction a bit – to keep the car really biting on the ground. If you try to just go round, you don’t go round. You just go straight on...” LOTS OF CAR BORES WILL LAZILY TELL YOU that Ayrton Senna helped to develop the Honda NSX. Next time you hear that, you can scoff loudly and correct them. Yes, Honda supplied engines for Senna’s F1 car during NSX development, so there was PR value in getting him into the car, but he was by no means an integral part of the car’s early gestation. There were two known occasions when he tested pre-production prototypes (at the Nürburgring and Suzuka), commenting at first that the car felt “a little fragile” – which prompted Honda to stiffen the chassis. His feedback also led to revisions of the suspension settings. So the NSX had Senna’s blessing (he ended up owning three) but it wasn’t exactly the out-of-hours side project some would have you believe. SENNA’S LATTER McLAREN TEAMMATE GERHARD Berger found his opposite number’s seriousness amusing, and played multiple pranks on him during the early Nineties to try to get him to relax. One was changing Senna’s passport picture to a photo of male genitals, causing him to be detained at border control on his way into Argentina. Senna returned fire by stealing all of the Austrian F1 driver’s credit cards and supergluing them together. Another Berger escapade involved him throwing Senna’s brand new ‘indestructible’ carbon fibre briefcase out of the side of a helicopter. The cheeky trickster also released 12 frogs into Senna’s hotel room at the Australian Grand Prix. When furiously confronted by his angry teammate, he coolly asked Ayrton, “Did you find the snake?”
WITH FORD REPLACING HONDA in 1993, Senna thought that year’s McLaren was unlikely to be a front runner. He was expert at ratcheting up the negotiating pressure, so there may have been an ulterior motive in December 1992 when he arrived at Firebird Raceway with Marlboro sponsorship legend John Hogan to test Penske’s PC22 IndyCar. Also present was double F1 champion and fellow Brazilian, Emerson Fittipaldi, racing for Penske at the time. “You’d be foolish not to put Senna in your book right away if he was available,” Roger Penske admitted. “We would have probably tried to figure something out.” In the morning Fittipaldi set a time of 49.7secs. Senna drove 14 laps of the short (1.1- mile) course, before asking for the car to be softened off. By all accounts he enjoyed being able to slide it around, and in a second stint of 10 laps on the same tyres he set a time of 49.09secs. THE 1984 MONACO GP was halted after 31 laps with a desperate Senna hunting down Alain Prost for the win. He would have won if it had gone the distance is the common take on the eventful race, but that might not have been the case. Having clattered a high kerb hard early in the race, he’d cracked a cast aluminium suspension upright, which Toleman engineers suspected may not have lasted the full distance. FROM MONACO ’84 to Donington ’93, Senna was a famed wet weather master. But he wasn’t born with stellar skills for the wet conditions. After spinning three times in his first wet kart race, the young Brazillian used to sit and wait for the heavens to open and would then feverishly practice karting in torrential downpours to hone his weakness into a strength. SENNA WON THE chaotic 1991 Brazilian GP, his first home victory, despite serious challenges. Hunted by Nigel Mansell, the Briton’s Ferrari gearbox gave up. “Finally I had some relief, but only for three or four laps,” said Senna. “Then the gearbox went crazy. I decided to leave it in sixth, and drive around the circuit completely differently.” He was so physically broken he struggled to lift the trophy above his head on the podium. IN A 1990 INTERVIEW with Brazilian Playboy, Senna opened up on his religious beliefs. He admitted talking to God while racing, and that the crash in the 1988 Monaco GP wasn’t driver error. “There was such a big fight going on inside of me that it numbed me and made me vulnerable. I was open to God, but also to the devil.” He also claimed Jesus appeared floating in front of him when he scored his first title at the 1988 Japanese GP. 084 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 085 AYRTON SENNA FOUR-YEAR-OLD AYRTON’S FIRST pedal kart was built for him by his father Milton. It was numbered 007 with “licence to win” painted on the body. Diamonds might be forever, but Ayrton quickly outgrew this. KEEP AN EYE OUT IF YOU FIND yourself in Tilehurst, Reading. Ayrton Senna Road is named in his honour after he lived with friends in the area at the start of his singleseater career in the early Eighties. SENNA’S RACING heroes were Jackie Stewart, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda and Emerson Fittipaldi. AYRTON SENNA WAS MULTILINGUAL, and in addition to his Portuguese tongue he could speak English, Italian and Spanish, which further endeared him to his adoring fans, fellow racers and the global media. SENNA COMPETED IN THE 1984 Nürburgring 1000km in a Joest Racing Porsche 956 with four-time Le Mans winner Henri Pescarolo and Stefan Johansson. A broken clutch robbed them of a podium. Netflix series Senna is due in 2024. Delayed two years by the pandemic, the sixpart miniseries will star Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone, charting Senna’s arrival in England in 1981 and rise through the ranks from Formula Ford to the top of F1.
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GRAND DESIGNS W O R D S J A C K R I X P H O T O G R A P H Y G R E G P A J O CEO RJ Scaringe is ready to take Rivian from plucky EV startup to global powerhouse... we meet the man and the new models his master plan relies on T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 087 RIVIAN R2
Either the gentleman next to me needs to lay off the triple-shot soy mocha lattes – or whatever it is they consume by the pint in California – or he’s quite excited to be here. He’s physically vibrating... probably why he’s strapped his iPhone to a gimbal stabiliser and hasn’t stopped filming the back of someone’s head for the past 10 minutes. When Rivian’s CEO and founder RJ Scaringe, eventually strolls on to the stage in a khaki shirt, jeans and pink Velcro Nikes, the guy erupts into a three-minute standing ovation of “Yeah!”, “Let’s go RJ!” and XL fist pumps. To be fair, the entire crowd does. Call me old fashioned, but doesn’t the applause usually come at the end of the show? We’re gathered – the world’s media, enthusiastic Rivian owners and employees, RJ’s kids – in an old theatre in Laguna Beach, recently renovated to become Rivian’s flagship ‘space’. Think dealership with fewer sweaty salesman, more responsibly sourced flat whites. We’re here to see the new R2, the long anticipated next piece of the puzzle that provides a cheaper, smaller entry point to the squeaky clean Rivian brand, and expands sales beyond the US to Europe and other markets. RJ will be praying it’ll send profits and share prices to the moon. 088 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
I sit though the hour-long presentation, watching RJ talking effortlessly in that uniquely American way to a livestream camera rig swooping around the stage. The R2 rolls out first, the crowd goes wild – especially when it’s revealed it has not one, but two gloveboxes. I’m confused, do you even need gloves in California? Squint and it looks virtually identical to its bigger brother – the R1S – albeit hit with a shrink ray, but it’s a handsome, bluff thing that makes a Tesla Model Y look like a piece of Play-Doh left on the radiator. Next it’s RJ’s ‘just one more thing’ Colombo moment as he stuns the crowd by ushering out the R3 – an even smaller hatchback-style SUV that I immediately declare will take Europe by storm. The man next to me is now rocking back and forth and caught somewhere between laughing and crying. When RJ pulls his final joker card, a tri-motor, silly performance R3X and flashes up a video of it drifting about on a gravel road, the gasps are audible and my neighbour has been rendered speechless. Which is a relief. Credit where it’s due, the presentation is riddled with emotive video compilations of family days by the lake, grainy footage of birthday parties and couples conquering mountains... messages that tickle your emotions and spirit in ways other car companies don’t. “It starts with harnessing the very thing every human being is born with: an adventurous spirit. There’s a reason we’re hardwired with curiosity and a capacity to invent better ways of doing things. The part of us that seeks to explore the world is the secret to making sure it remains a world worth exploring. Forever.” That’s an RJ quote on the company website. Cheesy, but see what I mean? We’ll come to Rivian’s financial future in a minute, but the look and feel of the products and the brand are unquestionably strong, while the fever surrounding Rivian already should have the old guard scratching their heads. Let’s talk about cars, R2 first. Based on a brand new mid-sized platform it’s fractionally shorter and narrower, but a little taller, than the Tesla Model Y (although it looks way bigger with its horizontal roof and chopped rear). Prices will start from around $45,000 (a Model Y costs from $36,450 in the US) when deliveries kick off in the first half of 2026. About that – RJ slipped into his speech that initially the R2 would be built at the existing plant in Normal, Illinois, rather than T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 089 RIVIAN R2
“IT MAKES THE TESLA MODEL Y LOOK LIKE A PIECE OF PLAY-DOH” the new $5bn factory being built outside Atlanta, Georgia. It was confirmed a few days after the event that the Georgia factory build would be put on pause, but definitely not axed altogether – a move that Rivian claims will save $2.25bn (£1.8bn) in “capital spending” and allow the R2 to reach the market quicker. Last year Rivian delivered a little over 50,000 R1T trucks and R1S SUVs (losing money on each one) although the Illinois factory has the capacity to build 215,000 – doesn’t take a maths genius to see where this latest idea came from. Once the Georgia factory is built, it could crank out as many as 400,000 a year. Hello production hell. There will be three R2 versions to choose from – single, dual and tri-motor (two motors on the rear axle, one on the front) with no confirmed power or torque outputs yet, but a claimed 0–60mph of under 3.0 seconds for the ‘tri’. Gone is the R1S’s fancy McLaren-style cross-linked dampers and air suspension, to screw the price down, but the trade off for less off-road ability is better on-road manners, Scaringe insists. Battery details are also tbc, other than they’ll debut a more energy dense chemistry, the pack is a structural element of the car (so the top of the battery pack is also the floorpan you rest your pink Velcro Nikes on) and the range will be over 300 miles, on all versions. A new “Perception Stack” featuring 11 cameras, five radars and more computing power will give it “dramatically enhanced autonomous capabilities”. Nice side-step of the dreaded ‘self-driving’ right there. All windows – including the rear quarters that pop out, and the rear screen that slides down into the boot – can be dropped electrically for a “unique open-air driving experience”. Pretty sure Rivian borrowed that one from the Fisker Ocean, but interesting nonetheless, while new haptic control dials are the most revolutionary bit about the pared back, high quality interior. You have a physical wheel for each thumb that can roll up and down, be pushed from the front or back, or pressed side to side and texturised with variable haptic feedback depending on what menu you’re controlling. Scroll down a list, for example, and you’ll feel a notch at each option, then the wheel will lock out at the end. Whether it’s perfectly natural to use or permanently infuriating we shall see, but a smart way of marrying analogue with digital. The front trunk will fit “a carry on suitcase plus a backpack, or up to six reusable grocery bags”. Sorry plastic bags, you’re not welcome in Rivian’s sustainable future. The boot will fit “two checked suitcases, two carry on suitcases, plus a stroller and several backpacks above the cargo load floor”. It’s a big boot in other words, and both the front and the rear seats fold totally flat for “a true car camping experience fit for two people”. Two people who can’t be bothered to faff about with a tent. Speaking of which, Rivian is all about the adventure and will offer the option of a new, more compact travel kitchen, various bike racks and a ‘Rivian Treehouse’ for R2 and R3. “Our take on a rooftop tent brings the 090 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M Swashbuckling CEO by day, Steve-O impersonator in his spare time? RIVIAN R2
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 091 It’s a lifestyle SUV, but can it cope with the ground up biscuits and spilled yoghurt lifestyle?
“RIVIAN PREYS MERCILESSLY ON THAT PERSON WE ALL WANT TO BE” nostalgia of an epic childhood fort with a heated mattress, integrated lighting system and movie screen, all with incredible views.” Depends on where you park, surely, but sign me up. Despite being able to count the number of times I’ve been camping in the past decade on one hand, I like to think of myself as an outdoorsy type. Deep down we all do, and Rivian preys mercilessly on that person we all want to be. Moving on to the R3 (see panel right), for which the details get a little vaguer. Not surprising, given it’ll arrive after R2 deliveries are underway – think 2027 earliest. Based on the same platform as the R2, the R3 is the baby of the family and will be priced accordingly – around $35k to $40k – more for the triple-motor performance R3X version that’ll smash 0–60mph in “well under 3.0 seconds”. The R3’s trick, apart from looking stupendously good, is a split tailgate so you can open the rear glass in isolation and close it at any angle to wedge in long things like surfboards. So, the new cars are pretty captivating, the ultra-eco minimalist brand image is appealing and distinctive (if a little contradictory when your business is flogging 800+bhp trucks) but the big question mark now is whether Rivian can keep its investors happy and the lights on long enough to fulfil its ambition of selling hundreds of thousands, if not millions of EVs a year. A big part of that is getting these models on sale in Europe, which will happen, although Scaringe doesn’t yet know when. “Both models are designed at their core for both the US and Europe. We haven’t said specifically when they’ll come to Europe, we should and we need to, but we recognise how appealing they are in the European market and especially R3 really fits.” In 15 short years Rivian has come a hell of a long way from ambitious startup to a potential global EV powerhouse, so we ask Scaringe what advice he’d give himself from 15 years ago, now? “Just go for it. I didn’t think it would have been as hard. I didn’t think it would take as long. I didn’t think supply chains were as complex as they are. I didn’t know managing organisations was as hard as this, but I still would’ve just said, go for it – you’re going to figure out a lot and you’re going to learn a tonne.” Now go and watch the video on topgear.com 092 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 093 I t was supposed to be all about the R2... instead it was the R3 and R3X that stole the show. By mashing together hatchback, SUV, retro and futuristic vibes R3 previews a production model that could be just the ticket for exploding Rivian sales beyond the US. Why? Because the R3’s compact proportions and hybrid hatch/crossover styling are right in the slot for Euro tastes. The fact there are echoes of MkI VW Golf, a pinch of Lancia Delta, and some Lada Niva in the silhouette doesn’t hurt either. “It’s like a crossover meets an SUV, meets a hatch, meets a wagon, meets a bunch of things. We say it has the soul of a rally car,” Scaringe explains. In person it plays tricks on your eyes – diddy from a distance, actually a fairly substantial slab of metal up close with back seats for adults, a big boot and a handy split tailgate. Think Hyundai ioniq 5 N size, another large-ish crossover that’s shaped like something smaller. MOOD BOARD It has “the soul of a rally car,” says the CEO, we’re seeing all sorts in the R3’s design
The Audi R8 is no more. TG was there to witness the final build, and we couldn’t help but get involved... W O R D S G R E G P O T T S P H O T O G R A P H Y O L G U N K O R D A L T H E L A S T O F U S 094 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
spin the car for ease of access. Most of the early stations actually involve stripping off body panels that were previously attached, before a maze of wiring is plugged in to the floor, roof and under the bonnet. After three hours – and strangely just after the sun visors have gone in – it’s time for the engine. Each employee on this section of the line took around six months to learn the different stages, and the engine is so tightly packaged they use every available gap to work through. Oh, and because the e-tron is built on the same line, when an EV rather than an R8 passes through their station, the engine fitters get an extra 12 minute cigarette break. They’re understandably disappointed about the R8’s demise. “We are all petrolheads. We are sad,” says section boss Marcus Blau. “It’s different. It’s a super sports car and we are Audi Sport so of course we are proud to build the R8. It’s not like an A1.” It certainly isn’t. At the end of the R8’s life you could spec the standard car in either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive forms. If you went for the former you’d ‘only’ get 562bhp. Obviously, that wouldn’t do for the last of the line, so it’s getting Audi’s quattro AWD system and 612bhp. It was 2009 when a production-spec R8 was given a V10 for the first time, and ever since then Audi’s sensible supercar has been dominated by its engine. While it may not have had the steering feel and delicacy of contemporary Porsche 911s or entry level McLarens, its naturally aspirated heart revved to 8,700rpm and made a noise that echoed all the way to Audi’s HQ in Ingolstadt, over 100 miles away. After just over an hour on the engine line everything is plumbed in and the final R8 moves closer to completion. At one point it looks as though a bar fight could break out as four engineers hold driveshafts and drills as they wait for the car to drop from the ceiling, but it’s all supremely efficient despite the hand built nature. Each employee is trusted to get on with every necessary job at their station, and after 12 minutes they confirm that everything has been done and the line rolls on. The logistics task to deliver exactly the right parts at exactly the right time has been perfected too, despite two completely different cars being put together at the same time on the same line. Later on, I’m distracted by one of the logistic department’s excellent transport scooters, and it’s only then I realise that I haven’t actually seen any natural light all day. The bright white lights of the factory are clearly getting to me. Heck, we’ve already been here for two of the day’s three shifts. But the car is coming together with the centre console plugged in, the electrically adjustable seats connected up, the doors attached and the glass lifted in by hand. All of the plastic panels are whacked into place too and fit straight off the bat with little clips holding them in place, and there t’s 5am on an industrial estate just outside the city of Heilbronn in southern Germany. Never let it be said that this job isn’t glamourous. And yet, despite the smokestack location, the day is set to be filled with fanfare. It begins with a proper Stars in their Eyes moment, as the painted bodyshell of a Vegas Yellow Audi R8 rises up from the basement below and is then rapidly revealed by an overdramatic garage door. Just missing the smoke machines. Of course, I wouldn’t be out of bed at this time to watch any old R8 get pieced together, but this is the last ever car. Yep, after two generations and 18 years of production, it’s the end of the road for Audi’s internal combustion-engined supercar. Over 45,000 examples have been built since its introduction in 2006, and while the name could possibly appear on a future flagship EV, the R8 as we know it is soon to be dead. The factory is Audi’s small Böllinger Höfe plant. Although we say small there are still 41,000 square metres of production space and around 1,500 employees. The R8 has been built here since the place opened in 2014, but in 2020 the e-tron GT muscled itself onto the same line and ensured that the dominant sound in these halls is of tyre squeal on polished floors rather than the echo of V10s. Speaking of engines, I’d assumed that the Lambo-developed 5.2-litre V10 would come straight from Audi’s plant in Hungary ready to be plugged in to the middle of the R8’s carbon and aluminium spaceframe, but stumbling across the engine room it’s clear that isn’t the case. In fact, over 100 extra bits need to be fitted to each engine before it’s ready to meet its chassis. Sensing an opportunity to pencil TG (very lightly) into the history books, I ask whether there’s any of the build I can ‘help’ with. I’m shown the final power unit and a heat shield that needs to be secured before the exhaust manifold can be attached. Two bolts go in perfectly, the last gets stuck some way short of where it needs to be. Oops. Hoping that someone will fix my shoddy craftsmanship, it’s back to watching the brilliantly bright body making its way through the different stations on the shop floor. I’d expected the process to be mostly automated with robots gluing each piece together in a balletic construction dance, but it turns out the R8 is still mostly built by hand and relies on a quite incredible number of screws. There’s also more than one sighting of a hammer. This is excellent news. Instead, inanimate involvement is mainly limited to the transportation of the car as it passes between each station. It starts off on an autonomous robotic platform known as a Fahrerloses Transportsystem and then moves onto the Gehänge – a rollercoaster-style overhead crane system that can THE LAST AUDI R8 T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 095
Takes a braver man than most to stand there, Greg. One wrong button... 096 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
THE LAST AUDI R8 T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 097
“IF WEGET THIS WRONG THE WHOLE THING GOES IN THE BIN” aren’t even that many robots checking the puny humans’ work. Audi still uses little keyring swatches to check the panel gaps. As the headlights come on for the very first time I ceremonially hand over the four rings. It’s not that Audi doesn’t trust TG... in fact, it is made quite clear that it doesn’t trust us with this particular job. “If we get this wrong the whole thing goes in the bin,” says TT and R8 spokesperson Liza Kellner. Probably for the best, you should see the last shelf I put up. With just two stations to go the plastic protective covers are whipped off the wings and the scratch-saving tape is stripped off. It’s so nearly the R8’s end. As I spot the bronzed 20-inch wheels I’m questioning whether they’ll go with the yellow paint, the red calipers and the exterior carbon pack. Not to worry – it looks fantastic and will certainly stand out in the Audi Tradition collection. As tyres meet terra firma for the very first time I jump in to witness the final checks. Everything that’s electrically operated inside the cabin is tested, before it’s time to push the big red button on the steering wheel. The V10 barks into life (thank God) and there’s a round of applause from the gathered engineers and suppliers. It feels like a real moment in history and I’m proud to have been involved, but pushing the starter button with a small audience watching on does slightly make me feel like a Z-list celeb at a provincial Christmas lights switch on. Still, this car will now go on for final visual checks before it’s subjected to a leak test in a rain chamber and a shakedown on the Autobahn outside. Every single one of the 45,000+ R8s built before this one had the same treatment before being wrapped up and sent off to customers, so it’s a bit of a shame that this one is destined for a museum. Although given TG’s involvement in the build, that might just be for the best. THE LAST AUDI R8 2003 Audi Le Mans Concept previews the R8 2006 Production R8 premiere at the Paris show 2007 Goes on sale in UK in July with 420bhp V8 manual 2008 V10 engine arrives with 525bhp 2008 R8 V12 TDI shown 2009 R8 Spyder roadster arrives 2010 R8 GT launched. V10 only, 560bhp, 100kg lighter 2012 Facelift, R-tronic sequential replaced by S Tronic twin clutch gearbox 2015 Au s di R8 e-tron concept hown with 455bhp and 280-mile range 2015 Second gen R8 unveiled, now V10 only 2016 R8 Spyder revealed 2017 Rear-drive R8 RWS introduced 2018 A 3 facelift. Sharper lines, 0bhp power bump 2020 RWS becomes RWD, no longer limited edition 2023 R8 GT final model. Just 333 produced AUDI R8 THIS IS YOUR L IFE 098 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M
ABT XGT T O P G E A R . C O M › M A Y 2 0 2 4 099
100 M A Y 2 0 2 4 › T O P G E A R . C O M For starters it’s a surname, not an acronym, an independent race team and purveyor of tuning parts for VW and Audi. As Audi’s DTM partner, it’s won multiple championships and enjoys semi-official status. The XGT project is all its own work – although the timing of it doesn’t look coincidental as we’ll come on to discuss. ABT takes one of those £400,000 LMS GT2 cars and does so much work converting it back to road use that the Twice. And put it through drive-by noise tests and full WLTP emissions and fuel economy checks (473g/km CO2 and 13.6mpg, if you’re wondering). Hard to believe that rear wing, the dive planes, those swollen carbon flanks and the As I walk up to it, I can’t see the compromise. Open the door, take in the slot windows, the yoke steering wheel and built-in roll cage. Still no hint it’s road legal. But, ah, aren’t those the road car’s aircon controls? And don’t the DTM race seats usually have head supports that extend further forward? They do, it turns out. Here they’ve been cut back to improve side visibility. So in I hop and out I go on to the roads of Mallorca. The engine is the racecar’s anyway, but the engine is never the issue in racecars – that honour goes to the gearbox. A sequential straight cut paddleshift is light and fast, but it’s not refined or docile, it won’t do traffic and it’ll drill into your ears. Switching it for a seven-speed twin clutch was the biggest mechanical change ABT made, but the result is a drivetrain that trickles happily around at low speed. There are two other major changes that make the XGT a perfectly viable road car: the engine is no longer rigid mounted to the back of the chassis tub, and bushing replaces rose joints in the suspension. The former means much less cavitation and vibration in the cabin, the latter means you can drive on NOW, WHO THE HELL IS ABT YOU MIGHT BE THINKING. ABT XGT