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Written by Tom Ford
You can feel the aero working, yes?!" Shouts the race instructor as we fling ourselves around the final right-hander of Portugal"s sinuous Portim o Circuit. Honestly? No. I can"t feel the aero working. Mainly because this final turn before the main straight is yet another unsighted crest-and-fall filled with slightly panicked commitment, and the speed is well into the hundreds. The instructor is mounted in a VW Golf R and has the surety of all-wheel drive. I"m in the new Golf Clubsport and can feel the front differential straining as it tries to apportion enough torque to just two driven front wheels. Understeer is nibbling at the edges of perception, the steering"s vector a sly indicator of my rising worry that the Clubsport might not quite have enough room to scribe the required line."Er. Yes?" I mumble into the radio, slightly desperate not to disappoint, but even more desperate not to violently park one of the only three CSs currently in existence into a Portuguese retaining wall. I trust, and keep my foot in. There"s a wriggle, a low, mournful moan of partially flayed rubber, and the little Golf fires down the main straight like a dirty tungsten-coloured bullet, exhaust happily roaring defiance at the empty grandstands. It"s good, this. Even though I can"t feel the aero.Photography: Tom SaltThis feature was originally published in the February 2016 issue of Top Gear magazine.
Date written: 25 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2289
You can feel the aero working, yes?!" Shouts the race instructor as we fling ourselves around the final right-hander of Portugal"s sinuous Portim o Circuit. Honestly? No. I can"t feel the aero working. Mainly because this final turn before the main straight is yet another unsighted crest-and-fall filled with slightly panicked commitment, and the speed is well into the hundreds. The instructor is mounted in a VW Golf R and has the surety of all-wheel drive. I"m in the new Golf Clubsport and can feel the front differential straining as it tries to apportion enough torque to just two driven front wheels. Understeer is nibbling at the edges of perception, the steering"s vector a sly indicator of my rising worry that the Clubsport might not quite have enough room to scribe the required line."Er. Yes?" I mumble into the radio, slightly desperate not to disappoint, but even more desperate not to violently park one of the only three CSs currently in existence into a Portuguese retaining wall. I trust, and keep my foot in. There"s a wriggle, a low, mournful moan of partially flayed rubber, and the little Golf fires down the main straight like a dirty tungsten-coloured bullet, exhaust happily roaring defiance at the empty grandstands. It"s good, this. Even though I can"t feel the aero.Photography: Tom SaltThis feature was originally published in the February 2016 issue of Top Gear magazine.
Date written: 25 Feb 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 2289