evo Car of the Year 2020 - part 1

The Great Car Selection: A Journey to Scotland

This year's selection process has been one of the most exciting and challenging yet, with an incredible range of cars vying for a spot on the final trip up to Scotland. The journey was long and grueling, but ultimately, eight incredible machines emerged as the favorites to represent our organization in this prestigious event.

One of the standout moments of the selection process came when it was revealed that the Lamborghini Huracan Evo would be joining the lineup, much to everyone's surprise. This sleek and powerful Italian stallion had been a dark horse throughout the journey, but its presence made all the difference, and it quickly won over many hearts with its sheer charisma and performance capabilities.

As the selection process progressed, it became clear that this year's group of cars was one of the best we'd seen in a long time. From the humble beginnings of the Honda Civic Type R to the cutting-edge technology of the McLaren 765LT, every car brought something unique to the table. The Ferrari F8, with its precision engineering and blistering performance, was also a strong contender, while the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0 added an air of sophistication and refinement to the lineup.

Meanwhile, the BMW M2CS had won over many fans with its infectious personality and razor-sharp handling, while the Subaru WRX STI S209 continued to prove itself as one of the most exciting and capable rally cars on the circuit. And then there was the 911 Turbo S, which sparked controversy among some team members before ultimately securing a spot in the final lineup.

As for the Alpine A110, it had struggled to impress with its more conservative approach to car development, but that didn't stop it from becoming a fan favorite among many of our team members. Its impressive performance capabilities and razor-sharp handling made it a compelling choice, even if it didn't quite reach the same level as some of its rivals.

In the end, after much deliberation and discussion, the final lineup was decided, with a Ferrari F8, McLaren 765LT, Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0, Honda Civic Type R, BMW M2CS, Lamborghini Huracan Evo, and Alpine A110 all making the cut. While opinions were divided on some of the choices, everyone agreed that this year's selection had been one of the strongest yet.

As for the judging process itself, it was a tough and closely contested affair, with each car presenting its unique strengths and weaknesses to our panel of judges. The Ferrari F8 was a clear favorite among many team members, with its exceptional performance capabilities and precision engineering making it an absolute standout on both road and track.

The McLaren 765LT, meanwhile, had impressed with its incredible speed and agility, while the Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0 added a touch of sophistication and elegance to the lineup. The Honda Civic Type R was also a strong contender, with its impressive performance capabilities and razor-sharp handling making it an absolute joy to drive.

The BMW M2CS had won over many fans with its infectious personality and razor-sharp handling, while the Subaru WRX STI S209 continued to prove itself as one of the most exciting and capable rally cars on the circuit. And then there was the 911 Turbo S, which had sparked controversy among some team members before ultimately securing a spot in the final lineup.

As for the Lamborghini Huracan Evo, it had been a dark horse throughout the selection process, but its presence made all the difference when it arrived at the final stage. Its sheer charisma and performance capabilities won over many hearts, and it quickly became one of the favorites to represent our organization on this prestigious event.

Finally, there was the Alpine A110, which had struggled to impress with its more conservative approach to car development, but that didn't stop it from becoming a fan favorite among many team members. Its impressive performance capabilities and razor-sharp handling made it a compelling choice, even if it didn't quite reach the same level as some of its rivals.

The cover fighter, featuring our eight finalists, looked stunning in the provided sunset-lit setting. With all three cars perfectly positioned to showcase their unique styles and abilities, this truly was a photo opportunity that would be remembered for years to come. Now, with the final lineup decided, we can't wait to see these incredible machines put through their paces on the roads of Scotland.

The Final Destination: Scotland

As our eight finalists made their way to Scotland, excitement and anticipation reached new heights among our team members. The journey itself would be an adventure, but it was nothing compared to what lay ahead in terms of driving some of the most incredible cars on four wheels.

With breathtaking scenery, unpredictable weather conditions, and challenging roads waiting to be conquered, this was going to be a truly unforgettable experience for all involved. And as we prepared to embark on this epic journey, everyone knew that this year's selection had been one of the strongest yet – with a car for every taste and preference. The stage was set for an unforgettable adventure, and our team members were ready to put their skills to the ultimate test.

The Road Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

As we ventured into the unknown territories of Scotland, we faced a series of challenges that would push our cars – and our team members – to new limits. From treacherous mountain passes to scenic coastal roads, every twist and turn presented an opportunity for excitement, adventure, and learning.

The weather itself was a major factor to contend with, as unpredictable storms and changing conditions required adaptability and quick thinking from both the drivers and their machines. But that just added to the thrill of the journey, as our team members had to rely on their skills, experience, and teamwork to navigate even the most treacherous terrain.

Meanwhile, the roads themselves presented a unique set of challenges, from steep inclines and precipitous drops to fast-flowing rivers and narrow, winding sections. But it was these very same elements that made Scotland such a popular destination for motorsport events – with its stunning scenery and rich history making it an unforgettable experience for all involved.

The road ahead held many opportunities for excitement, adventure, and personal growth, as our team members faced their fears and pushed themselves to new heights. The journey would be long and grueling at times, but that was part of the fun – as we explored the best that Scotland had to offer, one car at a time.

The Final Destination: A New Chapter

And so, as our eight finalists set foot in Scotland, they were ready to embark on an unforgettable adventure. With breathtaking scenery, unpredictable weather conditions, and challenging roads waiting to be conquered, this was going to be a truly epic journey – for all involved.

As we looked back on the selection process itself, it became clear that this year's lineup had been one of the strongest yet. From the sheer speed and agility of the McLaren 765LT to the infectious personality of the BMW M2CS, every car presented its unique strengths and weaknesses, making for a truly diverse and exciting group.

Now, with the final destination in sight, our team members were ready to put their skills to the ultimate test – as they explored the best that Scotland had to offer, one car at a time. The road ahead was long and challenging, but we knew that it would be an unforgettable experience for all involved.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis year is one of the best selections of cars we've had in a long time it's it's been a phenomenal year for performance cars which we knew it was going to be an suv on evocardia i think many of us never thought we'd see the day welcome to a sunny angle seat for evo's 2020 car of the year we have 16 of the greatest drivers cars to come out this year and our job this week is to whittle that down to eight finalists that will go through to scotland and our road driving next week this year is one of the best selections of cars we've had in a in a long time it's such a diverse group right from hot hatches up to supercars and then a wild card like the aerial nomad or maybe the dbx so it's i think you have a few cars in in the back of your mind that you know is going to do well it's been a phenomenal year for performance cars which we knew it was going to be and everything from totor's new yaris gr to mclaren lt new ferrari is always special 911 turbo s that's always going to be right up there i think an suv on evo car of the year i think many of us never thought we'd see the day but there have always been surprises i remember being a diesel on evocar of the year in the past but i think it's nice in a way because it speaks to what evo's all about which is the thrill of driving there's cayman gts which i think is going to be a strong contender it carries over much of the mechanical stuff from last year's winner the gt4 and then there's a yaris that i think we're all really keen to drive that car because it's that type of car is very close to evo's heart we've got no medal which is uh from aerial which is um probably a bit of a long shot but a great fun car all about thread of driving in that um morgan's new plus four another sort of contrast from some of the bigger stuff new golf gti is always a contender it's nice that there's such a mix and there's there's some quite good rivalries between say the ferrari and the huracan and the audi r8 that's that's quite a nice three three car sort of mid-engined triple header the nice thing about having all these cars together it always throws up surprises and things you thought you knew sometimes don't turn out to be the case so yeah that's the nice thing always surprising i have to call the winner now you ask me on thursday um oh um if you were going for the bookies favorite you would probably have to go for if you if you're doing a tick list you go for cayman gtx simply because it's got naturally aspirated six-cylinder engine there's gonna win hearts straight away and the manual gearbox as well so it's always that's something to be treasured i suppose particularly these days that's a really tough one this year um i think the yaris is in with a shout if they've got that right um they've spent a lot of time developing that and and getting it just right and building it for the right reasons um communication road cars always do really well yeah i think m2cs as well is going to be up there 765lt maybe maybe the yaris we don't know sixteen cars trying to whittle it down to eight to go to leg two in scotland it's going to be really hard so angle c is a regular circuit for for evo magazine has been for many years actually since the original circuit was here before they did all the redevelopment in terms of a test of a car although the lap isn't very long it's about a mile and a half a coastal configuration but there's something for everything really there's a long enough straight for a for a powerful car like some of the supercars we've got here to really stretch their legs i think the m2cs is one of our one of our favorite cars of the year obviously because it's in this test it's easy to see why because it's such a compact car with such a lot of performance so i've just been driving the 765 long tail um and it's it's the first car actually that i've driven properly here this morning um and it just completely blew me away i wasn't really even ready for that i had to get my brain in gear really quickly because it just feels absolutely wild i can't over exaggerate that it's 754 brake horsepower and it just makes angus so so smooth once you get your head around that i think it's i think it's fantastic because it's just it's raw in the sense of you you just feel everything and it you know kind of tingles and you feel so connected to the car i've just done a couple laps in the ferrari um having done a couple of laps in the lamborghini before that so it's surprising the difference between the two actually the the ferrari is a much more precise car the front end of the car is more responsive and seems to have more grip another of the fundamental differences is the engine between this twin turbo v8 and the naturally aspirated v10 so there's a lot more torque early on it certainly feels like in the ferrari so you have to be much more measured with your throttle input and your steering correction whereas the lamborghini is much more of an exuberant car but it doesn't quite generate the corner speed i don't think so it's at the moment it's quite an interesting comparison between these two the lamborghini huracan certainly one of the highlights of the group so far so this is your basic yaris you know pop to the shops one liter it knows it's not it's not at all this is born out of the world rally championship and um tommy mackinnon's experience with lots of alvin evans and tanak and it is unlike any other yaris so we've got all-wheel drive a chunky little gearbox in there feels it's got all the nice yaris size about it but it's much much more aggressive as soon as you go for first gear and you've got a really really meaty gear shift in there and the obvious agility built into the chassis again something born clearly from motorsport and people that want that agility in a car suvs aren't normal kind of standard ecote fare really but i think in in in this case maybe we've had one or two in the past but very very rarely yeah i think the interesting thing with uh with the dbx is obviously it's lasted martin and it's the first time they've done this kind of car but to have it in the company of these much more focused cars it puts it into context and i think it recognises it's the achievement that the car is i have just literally got out of the nomad and it's as you'd expect it's the wildest possible thing it's just totally overwhelming in every respect it's super quick and super loud and it's but it's surprisingly soft because it's not really designed to work on a track it can kind of go anywhere it's very very soft on the under braking and under the acceleration but once you get your head around that it's just like you know one of those tamiya radio control buggies it's exactly like that but you're sat in it it's brilliant fun evo car of the year definitely uh the most exciting gig of the year we get all of the journos together so we all have a great laugh um lots of cool cars obviously the cover shot is the the main bank and shot this week we've got to get all the cars before they get broken up and selected and move on to the second stage i think we've got was it 16 or 17 cars that we had to get into the cover this year so a huge amount of shapes and sizes of selections so at the end of day one now and we've been angle c all day aston's just uh teeing up the final shots for the cover for the magazine yeah 16 very different cars no real surprises yet it's too early to say um but i'm sure tonight there'd be some deliberations some arguments um and uh a couple of reruns of spins that a few people have had on track um but yeah it's been a very good day weather's held um got another two days here can't wait the conditions on track today are a little bit different to how they were yesterday so uh yesterday it was um sun cream weather and today it's bobble hats and big jackets yeah the cayman was the gearing's so long um a lot of the cars even on the short loop around here you'll change your gear a couple of times the um it was just all in second gear just about hits the limiter through the longest sweep so yeah it's it's it's a great car it feels really planted really connected and you feel comfortable in the car you know whatever it's doing yeah it's a it's a great car but it would be more exploitable if you had shorter gearing so you could rev the engine more more entertaining it's wednesday afternoon now and it's just i think inconceivable this is the same day as it was this morning because you saw the conditions earlier now we've got bright sunshine and we're in uh short sleeves and so um but that's anglesey for you i think we're really getting to the end of what we need to to get certainly from a photographic perspective so um it's gonna it's gonna come down to judging time soon i think everybody's pretty much driven everything they need to drive now um and i think it kind of rests on probably one space one of the cars that's unlikely to go through is this one the rs7 we've been running it for for nine months on the fleet and it's while it's hugely competent um you know for a two-ton 600 horsepower super saloon it just just lacks that that polish and involvement that we're looking for in a car for for evo car the years sort of bit traditional healthy they're just pushing on if you're too heavy-handed with it it just doesn't like it it just lacks a little bit of passion and soul to to really engage you and hook you into the driving experience evo car of the year has quite a history with porsche 911s doing very very well generally from the gt department but this year it's the 911 turbo s which is certainly not lacking in performance 641 brake horsepower 590 pounds foot of torque and it goes to all four wheels this has to be one of the fastest cars in a sprint from north to 60 miles an hour as well 2.6 seconds and yet it's got some rear seats back there this really is the everyday supercar what a silly card and it's so smooth it just seems to make its pace so sort of effortlessly this would easily i think keep up with the ferrari and the mclaren probably certainly in the wet and yet it feels really pretty calm doing the golf i think that's probably right on the cusp of making it up to scotland it's really good but we've got a couple of other hot hatches that really probably are just a bit more exciting a bit more engaging the golf is sort of instead of a bit like this in a way in terms of just it's brilliant everyday usability but then that does come at a cost a bit like this as well will this make it through to scotland so it seems hard to believe it won't but i think it's it's on the edge i'll have to see oh the morgan yeah did drive did drive the morgan which um and it really does it sounds like a classic car and it uh drives like a classic car as well the the the disconnect between what's going on at the front and what's going on the back is quite uh quite challenging at times you either get just a little slip at the back or you're almost spinning it seems there seems to be no middle ground to occupy with that car but yeah again that's another car that on the road i'm sure is lovely i think the ferrari was a bit of a surprise i was kind of had in my head what i thought it might be but i've not driven an f8 this year but it was exceeded that i just thought it was absolutely exquisite it's it's so playful you know it has a huge amount of grip in the dryer you can set blistering lap times with it obviously in a straight line it's fantastically fast but then you get to the corners and you can still you can still adjust it you can still play with the lines sort of you know under the limited grip over the limited grip the engine response is just like nothing else how they managed to do that with a with a turbocharged engine i don't know but it's it's a really clever special bit of kit so i think the ferrari is looking really really good for scotland so i'm in the alpine and um it's very distinct from all the other cars here it's so much lighter you can feel the first corner you come to you turn it in there's just no inertia there so it's not the most powerful car but because it's so light it gets a real pace on really nicely and the handling is really tidy it feels better tied down than the standard version and it's probably better suited to the circuit it's always nice to get back in alpine it just shows that you don't have to have an enormous amount of power to have fun uh but for me um i think the harris has been a real surprise for whatever reason yesterday didn't seem to figure that much and not a lot of people drove it but today it's really coming to its own i mean it's an absolute rocket i think no one can quite believe how fast it is probably one too many cards for scotland and i think that's going to be the debate this evening is which one of those probably three cars that are in the danger zone which one of those doesn't go the alpine's probably a bit of a shock that it's not a shoe-in because we enjoy the original standard car the entry-level car is such a sweet car but a few of us are thinking that the s doesn't bring a huge amount to the party on that car so that's got some work to do tomorrow the lamborghini has proven to be exceptional on track and great fun but there's a question mark over its road performance and the 911 turbo is it's that do everything car it's a bit of a swiss army knife it's we know how good it is on road and it's exceptional on track and it's for me it's the favorite to go through with those three cars it hasn't come to fighting yet but you know there's a there's a few cars on the cusp and a few cars that are definitely going through so it's up to us to decide which of those on the cusp cars gets the knob day three final day sun is back out and this is the this is the really tricky bit so if any of this is really tricky where we've got to decide the final couple of places so lots of cars easy decision but the last few places we've got i think three cars for two places so yeah decision time in terms of the order and what's going through to scotland um there is there has been a bit of interest actually in that because there's a couple of cars which we thought were dead certs and then there's another one which we haven't even made the arrangements to go through to scotland which actually we want now to go through so most of my morning i think is going to be on the phone trying to to make that happen basically one of the cars it isn't going through is the new mark 8 golf gti it's a really good golf gti as big step up and it's got a lovely synchronicity between its damping its ride its steering the gearbox the power delivery it's got really good traction and it's a lovely car and a great car if someone's supposed to say to you that's the only hot hatch you're going to have for a year you'd be more than happy really really impressive car and that's the thing all the cars here deserve to be here it's it's it is an accolade just to have made it this far and golf uti fantastic thing i don't think anybody would not want to run that every day and it has that fantastic breadth of ability it's just that civic type r is a more engaging hot hatch for for what we're looking for this year with the updated civic type r and total yaris it sadly is going to be a car that we leave behind one of the cars that isn't going which might be a surprise to some is the r8 rear wheel drive same wonderful v10 as the lamborghini rear wheel drive it's got quite a lot going for it but it just feels a little a little vanilla not quite as as crisp as you expect it to be as a car you we prefer it as a quattro it feels that that's what it was designed to be as a four wheel drive quattro car um the rear wheel drive doesn't really add anything if anything it takes away some of the crispness and the precision that a an r8 has it just feels short um on what we're expecting so yeah it's not coming to scotland for this another card was the morgan i love the way it looks and we had a morgan six cylinder car last year which was great fun this car i think again it's it's more of the same it's great to have it here and it's a change of pace and a different flavour but i think it would be quite out of its depth in the top eight so that's why it sadly doesn't get through i love that we have such a variety of cars this year so things like the dbx which is really really good and makes a very strong case for itself it's it's taken the suv game on quite a large chunk and then you've got things like the nomad r which is just i mean i have no idea how you categorize that car other than fun i'm a little bit disappointed that a couple of the cars didn't get through that the nomad was just the most intense most exciting craziest thing but i guess it's proved its point by being part of the larger group so i don't know that we would learn any more about the car if we took it up to scotland it's not perfect and it's sort of it's compromised as a road car which is why it's not going through to scotland but boy is it fun three cars are joining us in scotland are the toady yaris bmw's m2 cs porsche's cayman gts three very different cars but three fantastic performance cars that just deliver everything you expect of them the yaris has been a revelation it's everything we hoped it to be and chose has really delivered on its promises there it's going to be be fantastic i think up in scotland the real contender for for at least the podium if not more the cayman gts it's got the gt4s four liter naturally aspirated engine um which you might think dominates and overpowers your decision for that car but everything about it it's so well balanced it's so good on road and track it's so engaging with you and entertaining as well no matter your ability you get something from it it's a really great sports car and the bmw m2 cs has just taken that m2 story up to another level the competition version was really impressive step up for the m2 and this cs is just that final layer of polish that uh that makes a very special bmw m car one of one of the best of recent generations so the big news is the lamborghini is going to scotland because it's really charmed everybody and the 911 turbo and the alpine are fighting it out for the last spot and i couldn't really call that one at the moment i think the turbo s might just take it because i think there's a collective thought that the alpine s doesn't move the the standard car on enough um which i think will be its undoing great car but it's not a big enough step so would we be taking it just because it's a great car turbo s and alpine quite different cars the alpine's not quite the car as i would hope it would you know it was going to be is a lot firmer than the standard car so um the turbo s just pips it i think it just has more more going for it so yeah that would be my decision but you know that's my vote the other guys will have to get you know have their their peace as well so but yeah for me alpine just beats he's just beaten by the turbo s i know which one i want i think john and a couple of the other guys have decided as well so it looks as though we're going in the direction of the porsche just because it's it's a bigger achievement i think compared to the previous model whereas the alpine the s doesn't really move things on significantly so that's a good one to get nailed because i think that shapes up our final final eight there's been some really really cool cars actually and i think this year it's going to be one of the better years we've had in a long time because we go from everything from a yaris and a civic type r right up to a 765lt mclaren so and everything in between pretty much so i think it's going to be a fantastic trip up to scotland quite difficult to decide between them but we've got a good few days to do that so yeah really looking forward to the next element i think it's a pretty fair judgment uh i think we're all pretty much aligned as as to what other really good cars and it is a really really top quality set of cars going forward i have no idea what's going to win at the moment um if i was a betting man ferrari yeah we'll keep that one in the back pocket until later everything that we needed only one tire was killed in the making of this production and we've got our finalists we've got our eight cars it's been a real eye-opener for quite a few of us the selection of cars we've had their abilities and their breadth of talents on road and track and it's been really hard to whittle it down to the eight so we have our eight cars we have the ferrari f8 which i think has charmed everyone with its its precision obviously its performance just the way it goes about everything it's really an incredible machine i think that's a real favorite for next week we have the mclaren 765 lt which is just a complete animal it's a force of nature that hat to go through we have porsche cayman gts 4 litre which again has done really really well perhaps not so much other track car but it's it's still impressed everyone and i think we know that's going to be great on the roads up there with the new yaris that's been possibly the biggest excitement of the of the whole week i think everything that we hoped it would be so far can't wait to drive that on the road oh we have the honda civic type r civic is just an immense machine so well engineered it just feels so at home on the track we know it's going to be good on the road really really pleased to see that there we have the 911 turbo s a little bit more controversy around that wasn't sure whether it was going through or not but it's made it we have the bmw m2cs which i think has been a real favorite this year and we always knew i think that one was going to go through it's a great character real big character of a car and finally we've got the lamborghini huracan evo rear wheel drive which some of us thought might not make it but i think when the big green beast turned up and made that noise yeah i think it really won people over as the week progressed so eight incredible cars can't wait to see how they get on in scotland the cover fighter looked lovely i mean we were so blessed with the sunset and as i said the the cars are great colors great shapes so to have all of that together in one place you can wish for more next week in scotland it's going to be even better you know opening up to the scenery all the different elements of weather yeah so it's gonna be great youthis year is one of the best selections of cars we've had in a long time it's it's been a phenomenal year for performance cars which we knew it was going to be an suv on evocardia i think many of us never thought we'd see the day welcome to a sunny angle seat for evo's 2020 car of the year we have 16 of the greatest drivers cars to come out this year and our job this week is to whittle that down to eight finalists that will go through to scotland and our road driving next week this year is one of the best selections of cars we've had in a in a long time it's such a diverse group right from hot hatches up to supercars and then a wild card like the aerial nomad or maybe the dbx so it's i think you have a few cars in in the back of your mind that you know is going to do well it's been a phenomenal year for performance cars which we knew it was going to be and everything from totor's new yaris gr to mclaren lt new ferrari is always special 911 turbo s that's always going to be right up there i think an suv on evo car of the year i think many of us never thought we'd see the day but there have always been surprises i remember being a diesel on evocar of the year in the past but i think it's nice in a way because it speaks to what evo's all about which is the thrill of driving there's cayman gts which i think is going to be a strong contender it carries over much of the mechanical stuff from last year's winner the gt4 and then there's a yaris that i think we're all really keen to drive that car because it's that type of car is very close to evo's heart we've got no medal which is uh from aerial which is um probably a bit of a long shot but a great fun car all about thread of driving in that um morgan's new plus four another sort of contrast from some of the bigger stuff new golf gti is always a contender it's nice that there's such a mix and there's there's some quite good rivalries between say the ferrari and the huracan and the audi r8 that's that's quite a nice three three car sort of mid-engined triple header the nice thing about having all these cars together it always throws up surprises and things you thought you knew sometimes don't turn out to be the case so yeah that's the nice thing always surprising i have to call the winner now you ask me on thursday um oh um if you were going for the bookies favorite you would probably have to go for if you if you're doing a tick list you go for cayman gtx simply because it's got naturally aspirated six-cylinder engine there's gonna win hearts straight away and the manual gearbox as well so it's always that's something to be treasured i suppose particularly these days that's a really tough one this year um i think the yaris is in with a shout if they've got that right um they've spent a lot of time developing that and and getting it just right and building it for the right reasons um communication road cars always do really well yeah i think m2cs as well is going to be up there 765lt maybe maybe the yaris we don't know sixteen cars trying to whittle it down to eight to go to leg two in scotland it's going to be really hard so angle c is a regular circuit for for evo magazine has been for many years actually since the original circuit was here before they did all the redevelopment in terms of a test of a car although the lap isn't very long it's about a mile and a half a coastal configuration but there's something for everything really there's a long enough straight for a for a powerful car like some of the supercars we've got here to really stretch their legs i think the m2cs is one of our one of our favorite cars of the year obviously because it's in this test it's easy to see why because it's such a compact car with such a lot of performance so i've just been driving the 765 long tail um and it's it's the first car actually that i've driven properly here this morning um and it just completely blew me away i wasn't really even ready for that i had to get my brain in gear really quickly because it just feels absolutely wild i can't over exaggerate that it's 754 brake horsepower and it just makes angus so so smooth once you get your head around that i think it's i think it's fantastic because it's just it's raw in the sense of you you just feel everything and it you know kind of tingles and you feel so connected to the car i've just done a couple laps in the ferrari um having done a couple of laps in the lamborghini before that so it's surprising the difference between the two actually the the ferrari is a much more precise car the front end of the car is more responsive and seems to have more grip another of the fundamental differences is the engine between this twin turbo v8 and the naturally aspirated v10 so there's a lot more torque early on it certainly feels like in the ferrari so you have to be much more measured with your throttle input and your steering correction whereas the lamborghini is much more of an exuberant car but it doesn't quite generate the corner speed i don't think so it's at the moment it's quite an interesting comparison between these two the lamborghini huracan certainly one of the highlights of the group so far so this is your basic yaris you know pop to the shops one liter it knows it's not it's not at all this is born out of the world rally championship and um tommy mackinnon's experience with lots of alvin evans and tanak and it is unlike any other yaris so we've got all-wheel drive a chunky little gearbox in there feels it's got all the nice yaris size about it but it's much much more aggressive as soon as you go for first gear and you've got a really really meaty gear shift in there and the obvious agility built into the chassis again something born clearly from motorsport and people that want that agility in a car suvs aren't normal kind of standard ecote fare really but i think in in in this case maybe we've had one or two in the past but very very rarely yeah i think the interesting thing with uh with the dbx is obviously it's lasted martin and it's the first time they've done this kind of car but to have it in the company of these much more focused cars it puts it into context and i think it recognises it's the achievement that the car is i have just literally got out of the nomad and it's as you'd expect it's the wildest possible thing it's just totally overwhelming in every respect it's super quick and super loud and it's but it's surprisingly soft because it's not really designed to work on a track it can kind of go anywhere it's very very soft on the under braking and under the acceleration but once you get your head around that it's just like you know one of those tamiya radio control buggies it's exactly like that but you're sat in it it's brilliant fun evo car of the year definitely uh the most exciting gig of the year we get all of the journos together so we all have a great laugh um lots of cool cars obviously the cover shot is the the main bank and shot this week we've got to get all the cars before they get broken up and selected and move on to the second stage i think we've got was it 16 or 17 cars that we had to get into the cover this year so a huge amount of shapes and sizes of selections so at the end of day one now and we've been angle c all day aston's just uh teeing up the final shots for the cover for the magazine yeah 16 very different cars no real surprises yet it's too early to say um but i'm sure tonight there'd be some deliberations some arguments um and uh a couple of reruns of spins that a few people have had on track um but yeah it's been a very good day weather's held um got another two days here can't wait the conditions on track today are a little bit different to how they were yesterday so uh yesterday it was um sun cream weather and today it's bobble hats and big jackets yeah the cayman was the gearing's so long um a lot of the cars even on the short loop around here you'll change your gear a couple of times the um it was just all in second gear just about hits the limiter through the longest sweep so yeah it's it's it's a great car it feels really planted really connected and you feel comfortable in the car you know whatever it's doing yeah it's a it's a great car but it would be more exploitable if you had shorter gearing so you could rev the engine more more entertaining it's wednesday afternoon now and it's just i think inconceivable this is the same day as it was this morning because you saw the conditions earlier now we've got bright sunshine and we're in uh short sleeves and so um but that's anglesey for you i think we're really getting to the end of what we need to to get certainly from a photographic perspective so um it's gonna it's gonna come down to judging time soon i think everybody's pretty much driven everything they need to drive now um and i think it kind of rests on probably one space one of the cars that's unlikely to go through is this one the rs7 we've been running it for for nine months on the fleet and it's while it's hugely competent um you know for a two-ton 600 horsepower super saloon it just just lacks that that polish and involvement that we're looking for in a car for for evo car the years sort of bit traditional healthy they're just pushing on if you're too heavy-handed with it it just doesn't like it it just lacks a little bit of passion and soul to to really engage you and hook you into the driving experience evo car of the year has quite a history with porsche 911s doing very very well generally from the gt department but this year it's the 911 turbo s which is certainly not lacking in performance 641 brake horsepower 590 pounds foot of torque and it goes to all four wheels this has to be one of the fastest cars in a sprint from north to 60 miles an hour as well 2.6 seconds and yet it's got some rear seats back there this really is the everyday supercar what a silly card and it's so smooth it just seems to make its pace so sort of effortlessly this would easily i think keep up with the ferrari and the mclaren probably certainly in the wet and yet it feels really pretty calm doing the golf i think that's probably right on the cusp of making it up to scotland it's really good but we've got a couple of other hot hatches that really probably are just a bit more exciting a bit more engaging the golf is sort of instead of a bit like this in a way in terms of just it's brilliant everyday usability but then that does come at a cost a bit like this as well will this make it through to scotland so it seems hard to believe it won't but i think it's it's on the edge i'll have to see oh the morgan yeah did drive did drive the morgan which um and it really does it sounds like a classic car and it uh drives like a classic car as well the the the disconnect between what's going on at the front and what's going on the back is quite uh quite challenging at times you either get just a little slip at the back or you're almost spinning it seems there seems to be no middle ground to occupy with that car but yeah again that's another car that on the road i'm sure is lovely i think the ferrari was a bit of a surprise i was kind of had in my head what i thought it might be but i've not driven an f8 this year but it was exceeded that i just thought it was absolutely exquisite it's it's so playful you know it has a huge amount of grip in the dryer you can set blistering lap times with it obviously in a straight line it's fantastically fast but then you get to the corners and you can still you can still adjust it you can still play with the lines sort of you know under the limited grip over the limited grip the engine response is just like nothing else how they managed to do that with a with a turbocharged engine i don't know but it's it's a really clever special bit of kit so i think the ferrari is looking really really good for scotland so i'm in the alpine and um it's very distinct from all the other cars here it's so much lighter you can feel the first corner you come to you turn it in there's just no inertia there so it's not the most powerful car but because it's so light it gets a real pace on really nicely and the handling is really tidy it feels better tied down than the standard version and it's probably better suited to the circuit it's always nice to get back in alpine it just shows that you don't have to have an enormous amount of power to have fun uh but for me um i think the harris has been a real surprise for whatever reason yesterday didn't seem to figure that much and not a lot of people drove it but today it's really coming to its own i mean it's an absolute rocket i think no one can quite believe how fast it is probably one too many cards for scotland and i think that's going to be the debate this evening is which one of those probably three cars that are in the danger zone which one of those doesn't go the alpine's probably a bit of a shock that it's not a shoe-in because we enjoy the original standard car the entry-level car is such a sweet car but a few of us are thinking that the s doesn't bring a huge amount to the party on that car so that's got some work to do tomorrow the lamborghini has proven to be exceptional on track and great fun but there's a question mark over its road performance and the 911 turbo is it's that do everything car it's a bit of a swiss army knife it's we know how good it is on road and it's exceptional on track and it's for me it's the favorite to go through with those three cars it hasn't come to fighting yet but you know there's a there's a few cars on the cusp and a few cars that are definitely going through so it's up to us to decide which of those on the cusp cars gets the knob day three final day sun is back out and this is the this is the really tricky bit so if any of this is really tricky where we've got to decide the final couple of places so lots of cars easy decision but the last few places we've got i think three cars for two places so yeah decision time in terms of the order and what's going through to scotland um there is there has been a bit of interest actually in that because there's a couple of cars which we thought were dead certs and then there's another one which we haven't even made the arrangements to go through to scotland which actually we want now to go through so most of my morning i think is going to be on the phone trying to to make that happen basically one of the cars it isn't going through is the new mark 8 golf gti it's a really good golf gti as big step up and it's got a lovely synchronicity between its damping its ride its steering the gearbox the power delivery it's got really good traction and it's a lovely car and a great car if someone's supposed to say to you that's the only hot hatch you're going to have for a year you'd be more than happy really really impressive car and that's the thing all the cars here deserve to be here it's it's it is an accolade just to have made it this far and golf uti fantastic thing i don't think anybody would not want to run that every day and it has that fantastic breadth of ability it's just that civic type r is a more engaging hot hatch for for what we're looking for this year with the updated civic type r and total yaris it sadly is going to be a car that we leave behind one of the cars that isn't going which might be a surprise to some is the r8 rear wheel drive same wonderful v10 as the lamborghini rear wheel drive it's got quite a lot going for it but it just feels a little a little vanilla not quite as as crisp as you expect it to be as a car you we prefer it as a quattro it feels that that's what it was designed to be as a four wheel drive quattro car um the rear wheel drive doesn't really add anything if anything it takes away some of the crispness and the precision that a an r8 has it just feels short um on what we're expecting so yeah it's not coming to scotland for this another card was the morgan i love the way it looks and we had a morgan six cylinder car last year which was great fun this car i think again it's it's more of the same it's great to have it here and it's a change of pace and a different flavour but i think it would be quite out of its depth in the top eight so that's why it sadly doesn't get through i love that we have such a variety of cars this year so things like the dbx which is really really good and makes a very strong case for itself it's it's taken the suv game on quite a large chunk and then you've got things like the nomad r which is just i mean i have no idea how you categorize that car other than fun i'm a little bit disappointed that a couple of the cars didn't get through that the nomad was just the most intense most exciting craziest thing but i guess it's proved its point by being part of the larger group so i don't know that we would learn any more about the car if we took it up to scotland it's not perfect and it's sort of it's compromised as a road car which is why it's not going through to scotland but boy is it fun three cars are joining us in scotland are the toady yaris bmw's m2 cs porsche's cayman gts three very different cars but three fantastic performance cars that just deliver everything you expect of them the yaris has been a revelation it's everything we hoped it to be and chose has really delivered on its promises there it's going to be be fantastic i think up in scotland the real contender for for at least the podium if not more the cayman gts it's got the gt4s four liter naturally aspirated engine um which you might think dominates and overpowers your decision for that car but everything about it it's so well balanced it's so good on road and track it's so engaging with you and entertaining as well no matter your ability you get something from it it's a really great sports car and the bmw m2 cs has just taken that m2 story up to another level the competition version was really impressive step up for the m2 and this cs is just that final layer of polish that uh that makes a very special bmw m car one of one of the best of recent generations so the big news is the lamborghini is going to scotland because it's really charmed everybody and the 911 turbo and the alpine are fighting it out for the last spot and i couldn't really call that one at the moment i think the turbo s might just take it because i think there's a collective thought that the alpine s doesn't move the the standard car on enough um which i think will be its undoing great car but it's not a big enough step so would we be taking it just because it's a great car turbo s and alpine quite different cars the alpine's not quite the car as i would hope it would you know it was going to be is a lot firmer than the standard car so um the turbo s just pips it i think it just has more more going for it so yeah that would be my decision but you know that's my vote the other guys will have to get you know have their their peace as well so but yeah for me alpine just beats he's just beaten by the turbo s i know which one i want i think john and a couple of the other guys have decided as well so it looks as though we're going in the direction of the porsche just because it's it's a bigger achievement i think compared to the previous model whereas the alpine the s doesn't really move things on significantly so that's a good one to get nailed because i think that shapes up our final final eight there's been some really really cool cars actually and i think this year it's going to be one of the better years we've had in a long time because we go from everything from a yaris and a civic type r right up to a 765lt mclaren so and everything in between pretty much so i think it's going to be a fantastic trip up to scotland quite difficult to decide between them but we've got a good few days to do that so yeah really looking forward to the next element i think it's a pretty fair judgment uh i think we're all pretty much aligned as as to what other really good cars and it is a really really top quality set of cars going forward i have no idea what's going to win at the moment um if i was a betting man ferrari yeah we'll keep that one in the back pocket until later everything that we needed only one tire was killed in the making of this production and we've got our finalists we've got our eight cars it's been a real eye-opener for quite a few of us the selection of cars we've had their abilities and their breadth of talents on road and track and it's been really hard to whittle it down to the eight so we have our eight cars we have the ferrari f8 which i think has charmed everyone with its its precision obviously its performance just the way it goes about everything it's really an incredible machine i think that's a real favorite for next week we have the mclaren 765 lt which is just a complete animal it's a force of nature that hat to go through we have porsche cayman gts 4 litre which again has done really really well perhaps not so much other track car but it's it's still impressed everyone and i think we know that's going to be great on the roads up there with the new yaris that's been possibly the biggest excitement of the of the whole week i think everything that we hoped it would be so far can't wait to drive that on the road oh we have the honda civic type r civic is just an immense machine so well engineered it just feels so at home on the track we know it's going to be good on the road really really pleased to see that there we have the 911 turbo s a little bit more controversy around that wasn't sure whether it was going through or not but it's made it we have the bmw m2cs which i think has been a real favorite this year and we always knew i think that one was going to go through it's a great character real big character of a car and finally we've got the lamborghini huracan evo rear wheel drive which some of us thought might not make it but i think when the big green beast turned up and made that noise yeah i think it really won people over as the week progressed so eight incredible cars can't wait to see how they get on in scotland the cover fighter looked lovely i mean we were so blessed with the sunset and as i said the the cars are great colors great shapes so to have all of that together in one place you can wish for more next week in scotland it's going to be even better you know opening up to the scenery all the different elements of weather yeah so it's gonna be great you\n"