Alex Unleashed on Cars

  Aston Martin recently made their return to top class prototype racing this year with their new AMR Valkyrie LMH. Whilst their current season in the WEC (World Endurance Championship) hasn't been filled with wins and podiums, it is a welcome return for the make. But, what about Aston Martin's previous endurance racers? After all, Aston's efforts all stem from that sole win at Le Mans in 1959. Following that win in '59 Aston Martin's next big assault at Le Mans was in the 80s, there were 3 Group C spec cars: the Nimrod, EMKA-Aston Martin & the AMR1. All 3 were fairly uncompetitive with the AMR1 posting the best finish of 4th at Brands Hatch in '89 and all 3 used the same basic 5.3 (later 6 litre V8 engine also used in Aston's road cars of the time. The first two cars, the Nimrod & EMKA weren't factory backed cars, Aston Martin was merely the engine supplier for both, Both competed at Le Mans with only the EMKA's brief time in the lead in 1985...

  The Mercedes SLR McLaren (or McLaren Mercedes if you prefer) is a bit of an oddball in the world of hypercars and the 200 MPH club. It has an automatic gearbox, the engine is in front of the driver and it packs a lot of Mercedes creature comforts. And yet, we're talking about the 2nd fastest Mercedes ever made (AMG-ONE is fastest), about a car that can stop from 120 MPH in the distance the Highway Code says it should stop from 60 and a car that packs a mighty supercharged V8 engine. The SLR owes it's existence to the 15 year long partnership between McLaren and Mercedes in Formula 1 that gave Mclaren 3 world titles: '98, '99 & '08 before Mercedes became a team on it's own, though McLaren still mostly used Mercedes engines after the split. The SLR project, owing it's name to the old 300 SLR that Sir Stirling Moss & Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia was first unveiled in 1999 with a projected release in 2003, the concept had a smaller 5 litre...

  There have been plenty of great rivalries in the world of cars: Ford v Ferrari, Senna v Prost, Veyron v F1 etc. But the Subaru Impreza v Mitsubishi EVO has to be up there as one of the all time great rivalries.  These two cars defined an era in the late 90s and early 00s of humble saloon cars that could keep up and surpass purpose built sports cars all whilst having big boots, solid reliability and being relatively affordable, they were what the Quattro and Sierra Cosworth had been back in the 80s, the peoples supercars. The first EVO, full title Lancer Evolution I, was launched back in 1992, 2 years before the Impreza Turbo. It had a powerful 247 BHP engine as well as a 4-wheel drive system from the Galant VR-4, it was also available in a lightweight RS trim with no alloys or even ABS. The next two EVO's II & III didn't change much from the original, mainly a power jump to 256 and then to 266, bigger alloys and fuel tank and the III got some more aggressive styling comp...

  When you say Subaru to someone, chances are they think of the Impreza, the high flying turbocharged rally machine. And rightfully so, the Impreza Turbo and later WRX & STi models defined an era of ultimate bang for your buck performance. And yet, after 10 years, something happened, the usual fanfare and praise for the hot Impreza fizzled out, it was just more of the same, the same old same old Impreza. But back when the Turbo 2000 first hit UK shores it was a revelation, here was a humdrum saloon (or 5-door hatch or estate) with 208 BHP, could hit 0-60 in a confirmed 5.2 seconds, top out at 140 MPH all for less than £20,000 and that infamous flat-four engine note, it was one of the all-time greats of the 90s a real era defining car. And if perhaps you hadn't being paying attention to the car magazines then just one year later Subaru took the WRC title with the late great Colin McRae at the wheel which propelled the Subaru Impreza to a new level of stardom, here was a car now ...

The Citroen Xsara is generally seen as a sub-bar offering from Citroen, at a time when Citroen were trading their quirky and unique image for a more mainstream and sales friendly image. The Xsara is disliked mainly for its boring looks and for being very middle of the road, not overly exciting or revolutionary, just satisfactory. But I say the VTS coupe is actually a very good car and one of the best hot hatches of the late 90s. It uses the same 2 litre 167 BHP 4-cylinder engine as the Peugeot 306 GTi-6, but the Xsara is faster as it has a 5-speed gearbox as opposed to the Peugeot’s 6-speed, this allows it to do 0-60 in 7.7 seconds, faster even than the VW Golf GTi mk4, Rover 200 BRM and the Alfa 145 Cloverleaf. It will also top out at 137 MPH, which for the 90s was at the top of the pile in terms of performance save for the bonkers Clio V6 and the various Group A homologation specials. In the corners, the Xsara VTS was praised for having sharp brakes and steering whilst being less twi...

Since it has been 3 years since I got my first car I decided to write up a big long-term review on what life is like with my car covering all areas of driving and owning this vehicle.  Driving On the road the Fiesta is a joy to drive indeed. The 1.4 Zetec engine gave 79 BHP new, and it certainly feels like it still has 79 BHP, overtaking even in 4th or 5th gear isn’t as difficult as you’d think. But it’s in the corners where the Fiesta really shines. On sweeping bends, it feels stable and the lack of body roll in corners just encourages you to keep on driving with enthusiasm and the steering is nicely weighted as well, the words poised and balanced describe this cars handling perfectly. The gearbox is also fantastic, it has a nice firm action that encourages you to drop a cog and give it some welly out of bends, it’s also a nice and tall lever rather than short and low down, you know where it is aand can shift gears effortlessly. Then there’s the brakes, their strong and the pedal ...