MY WEEK IN CARS
MONDAY
One of the most delicious feelings in motoring is getting back into a car you’ve loved and realising that it’s as great as you remember. This has just happened in odd circumstances, when Matt Prior and I set out with an Ariel team to test an Atom 4 in the Catesby aerodynamic tunnel (see p40).
We didn’t drive much: just a dozen acceleration runs each way in the 1.7-mile tunnel and a bit of manoeuvring at either end. But it was more than enough to remind me of the wonders of the Atom 3.5 that I owned for four years and to make me add my name to the list of hopeful hacks bidding to borrow a car when the weather improves.
The Steering Committee and I once had a sunny Atom weekend on the Isle of Wight with our luggage squashed into a bag in her footwell. I’m desperate to do it again.
TUESDAY
The fact that our 2021 Alpine A110 will soon need its first MOT test makes me glad the authorities decided not to extend the pre-inspection term for new cars from three years to four. Even a garage queen like our car deserves regular inspection. And it will be nice to renew acquaintance with our much-valued local garage man.
WEDNESDAY
In the local Costa before work, my inbox pings with a fascinating essay from Car Design Research, the Cambridge-based agency that works for a third of the world’s car companies.
Founder Sam Livingstone discusses an elusive phenomenon that I’ve always known but never articulated: just-rightness in car design. It’s fairly easy to find in sports cars and classics, says Livingstone, but more elusive in ordinary cars. He cites the Peugeot 205, Alfa Romeo 156, Volvo V70 and Porsche Macan as examples.
Everyone has a candidate for just-rightness, I suppose. I thought instantly of my first-ever long-termer, a 1979 Citroën Visa Club. I used to study its profile out of my kitchen window; the rear wheel arches and the curve of the pillars between its bonnet and screen were perfect.
I would love to see a Mk1 Visa today, but iron lace disease has killed ’em all.
THURSDAY
It seems to me there’s always a ghoulish exhilaration in the way that Europe’s city leaders introduce curbs on cars (Paris has just trebled its parking charges for heavier ones; London watches with envy). Such announcements always carry a sanctimonious tone, as if they’re doing good and there’s no argument. But I reckon they run a serious risk of deterring peo
