MY WEEK IN CARS
SUNDAY
Best to start a new year as you mean to go on, I suppose. This week, without actually trying, I’ve found myself at Brooklands Museum and Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey, at Caffeine & Machine in Warwickshire and at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire. Then again, why not? I already know I’ll spend plenty of 2024 at these places. Hope you’ll be there too.
Today was Brooklands, for the legendary New Year’s Day Classic Gathering. The reason for this event’s fame is its huge attendance and the overarching mood of elation, multiplied in cold weather, that goes with getting your special car out of the garage and driving it successfully to an enticing destination. Later, on the invitation of Ed Redfern, who runs driving events at nearby Mercedes-Benz World, I took a passenger ride with the Silver Arrows stunt driving team – four C63 Mercs that blast and drift through a complex routine on wildly different surfaces, crazily close together. I have seen it often but couldn’t imagine doing it myself.
MONDAY
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been driving Fords because I’m not as familiar with the current range as I should be. It’s oddly pleasing, if only for the sake of history, to see the Blue Oval restored as the maker of the UK’s best-selling car (the Puma SUV). At the same time, I’m deeply disappointed with the Kuga I’ve been driving this week. Its ride quality, especially on 20in ‘Performance’ wheels, is a travesty, especially for a company that has spent decades establishing a reputation for great dynamics. Ford execs need urgently to remember that if you sell a car that inexplicably lacks composure and crashes constantly into bumps, as this one does, you disappoint your devotees (me) most of all. Any rival would be better than this Kuga. The car is no less than a betrayal of Ford’s principles.
TUESDAY TO THURSDAY
For various reasons, I drove a lot over the break – around 50-70 miles most days – enjoying roads that were lightly trafficked except at lunchtime and in the early evening. It was alarming how quickly the surfaces were dissolved by relentless rain (I kept imagining the headache awaiting road chiefs after the Christmas break) but it was extremely pleasant, for once, to drive at my chosen speed without some impatient Herbert clamped to my backside because he wanted to go faster. It reminded me to temper my own impatience this year. How long will that last?
SU
