The Week in Cars #1

Geneva Motor Show report and the death of the Audi R8.

The Geneva International Motor Show doesn’t need a whole lot of introduction. It is the pinnacle of jaws hitting the floor. Not exactly surprisingly, Geneva last year did nothing short of amazing everyone, with new supercars being the main name of the game. The gleaming machines littered the halls, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that 2018’s GIMS had, despite the weight-reducing efforts of the show cars, a LOT to live up to. Luckily, however, the high rolling cars managed to roll even higher, with the first two days being a frenzy of track-focused hyper and supercars, as you shall see. 

As a recap, last year gave us the McLaren 720S, Ferrari 812 Superfast (nope, still sounds weird), Lamborghini Huracán Performante, and much more in the way of start-up electric cars. This is a report on this year’s contenders, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the article.

The first thing to come racing onto the showstands was, after a seemingly endless supply of image and data leaks, the Ferrari 488 Pista. In case you were wondering, Pista is Italian for ‘Track’, and that explains the ‘Pista di Fiorano’ sign at Maranello’s infamous race track. Anyway, back to the car. Squeezed out from a 3.9l biturbo V8 comes a tidal wave of 711bhp, released through a new Inconel exhaust, which hopefully will give the Pista the sonic punch that it has long been needing. Inconel is the same substance used to create the pipes of the raucous Jaguar F-Type SVR, so seeing as that thing makes a noise like Satan stepping on a piece of Lego, it should sound pretty decent. 0-62mph is dusted off in just 2.85s, and top speed is 211mph, coming up in the final gear of 7th. Those numbers are half a second quicker to 62 and 1mph less respectively compared to the McLaren 720S, and half a second slower and exactly on par with a Porsche 911 GT2 RS. The Mc720 has 710bhp and 568lb ft of torque, and the RS 691bhp and 553 torques, but remember that the Macca is in the normal S form, and a bonkers LT version is yet to come. I’m secretly rooting for the 720, but really it doesn’t matter which is your favourite in this context. The wheels of the Pista are made from carbon fibre, and are some 40% lighter (contributing to a 1280kg dry weight) than the aluminium items on the standard car. They also look nice as well. Speaking of looks, the gaping abyss of the S-ducted bonnet looks fantastic to me, as does the striping and ducktail spoiler, also heating up the competition with the beautiful 720S. To help you stay in line while piloting the Pista, Fezza has employed the 6th version of Side Slip Control, which debuted on the 458, which allows a bit of slip, but not too much. £207,000 will be charged for the privilege, around the mark of the Huracán Performante or McLaren 720S. And if history is anything to go by, this will be a very interesting battle.

Secondly, we have a very green, very mean machine. Porsche’s 911 GT3 is hardly a car lacking in the… anything department, really. However, that hasn’t put Porsche off from making an RS version, with all the NACA ducts and wings and vents of the aforementioned GT2 RS. Power is up by 30bhp to 523, 0-62mph down by a tenth, green up by 100%, and no manual, like you can order the new GT3 with. PDK only.  Top speed? 198mph. It’s basically a a GT2 RS sans turbos. The colour is called Lizard Green and price is around £143,000, very close to that of the 577bhp (and also bright green) Mercedes-AMG GT R. Once again, an interesting battle.

Unless you have retired to a comfy spot underneath a rock for the past year or so, you will have heard of a certain Richard Hammond pitching a 1 of 8 (or 7 now, as Mr. Clarkson will gladly point out) Rimac Concept One off a Swiss hill. Well, Hamster, your new company car will most certainly NOT be one of these. 150 of them will be made, so estimate 149 to remain by the end of The Grand Tour S3 (haw haw haw.). This is the brand new Rimac, the C_Two. And it is quite fast, if you weren’t expecting it to be. In fact, by ‘quite fast’, I mean 0-62mph-in-1.97s-and-a-top-speed-of-258mph fast. Also bear in mind that the last estimate of 2.7s was a bit conservative, with the Concept One laying waste to 918s everywhere it went. That all comes courtesy of four electric motors making a total of 1888bhp and 1679lb ft of torque, powered by a battery pack good for 400 miles of range. But this is just the start. In fact, how much of that 400 mile range you actually are driving for is up to you. Yes, that’s right, the C_Two can drive itself, at Level 4. It also has a ‘Driver Coach’ function, so yes, the car will tell you how to drive faster. Imagine a horse asking you to move back in your seat, or whatever makes you ride faster. The butterfly doors open up automatically (they have facial recognition and know who you are), taking you from the sleek, actively aerodynamic exterior, to a carbon-festooned and intriguingly crafted interior. 

No less than 6 screens adorn the cabin, and knurled knobs with mini-screens on them adjust modes (including Drift) and climate control. The Hammond jabs start when you select a driver profile. If you select ‘Guest’, a picture of RH pops up. Just while we’re here, the central screen can sense whether you are looking left, right or centre, or highlight pedestrians. Under the engine (engine?) cover, a fire extinguisher lies in a leather strap with the words ‘In case of hillclimb, use to extinguish fire.’ I love that. You can also have Rimac race helmets held in similar recesses. Power is managed between two gearboxes on the rear axle, with two speeds apiece, and one single-speeder at the front. So, this joins the ever-intensifying fight between the Bugatti Chiron, the Koenigsegg Regera/Agera RS, the Hennessey Venom F5, the Tesla Roadster, the Aston Martin Valkyrie, Mercedes-AMG Project ONE, McLaren BP23 (ish), and the Lister Storm II. Big list, that.

Somewhere in that list, you may have spotted the Aston Valkyrie, the elephant shrew in the room. I’m not kidding; there is more empty space between the four wheels than there is bodywork. Well, if that wasn’t quite enough downforce for you, then there is now a track only, bright green (seeing a colouration theme here?) AMR Pro alternative. And, with 1100bhp and over a tonne of downforce, to combat the 1000kg kerb weight, the AMR Pro will actually be able to drive upside down. Oh yes. Just as a recap, the Valkyrie (the name is taken from Norse mythology) has a 6.5l n/a V12 based on a V10 used in a Williams from 2010 and tuned by Cosworth, partnered with a battery boost made by Rimac. This is a serious machine. No word on performance yet, but expect over 250mph and lap times on par with an actual F1 car. That might be partly due to it being designed by Adrian Newey. Yep. This thing has a lot resting on its carefully sculptured shoulders.

McLaren’s Senna is another car like the Valkyrie; there’s not a lot that you can do to make it any faster. Yet, as with the manic P1, there is now a new GTR version, with about 1000kg of downforce (up from 850), 814bhp and about 1000kg dry weight. Price? A million pounds. You can also have the ‘Carbon theme’ version, or just a run-of-the-mill £750k Senna.

Merc’s two-door AMG GT range has been praised far and wide by journalists for its bombastic V8, lively reactions, well weighted steering and a tangible buzzing energy that only the best cars have. That’s not to mention the stealth-bomber looks, awesome gearbox… you probably get the idea. Well, for all the E63S enthusiasts wishing for a bit more… AMG-ness, there is now a four-door, also called the GT, and developed exclusively by the maniacs at Affalterbach. Under the bonnet, you can have a hybrid GT53, a V8 GT63, or the one you want, the GT63S. Said GT63S has the 4.0l V8 which Merc likes to shove into everything that it will fit in, in this case producing 631bhp, same as a Lambo Huracán Performante. A hybrid, 800bhp version will follow, but a big talking point is the styling. The new Benz design language has not gone down too well with most, with the new A-Class and CLS being hated by many. However, the GT looks like the Merc designers’ ideal vision of the ‘Sensual Purity’. The taut waistline and whacking great prison-gate style grille look great on the GT63S, especially in Selenite Magno Grey or the bright blue that the thing has been displayed in. It will also be fast: 0-62mph in 3.2s, around 200mph at the top end, after smashing through 9 gears of wet-clutch automatic wizardry. Most importantly, it has a Drift mode, unleashing 631bhp through only the rear wheels, ensuring stupendous gurning and mid-corner hooliganatic activity (i.e. sliding it around like an idiot). However, it doesn’t have the party, or indeed the autobahn, all to itself. 

BMW has just unveiled the M8 Gran Coupé, with suspected M5 underpinnings. In fact, although the details are light on the ground, the M8 looks even better than the GT, with angry lines, big grilles, thin lights, the lot. North of 600bhp is conceivable, but the material choices… aren’t. The seats, for example, are made from tigers’ nipples, and the windscreen a big fat Swarovski crystal. This one will be interesting.

Jaaaaaaaaag, meanwhile, has unveiled the long-awaited I-Pace, which looks
pretty near exactly like the concept. It looks rakish and polarising, though Ian Callum hasn't gone and done a BMW X6 with the styling, and 394bhp seems juicy enough for most. The signs are good so far. The EV400, as it is called according to JLR’s new naming strategy, does 0-62mph in 4.8s, and is limited to 155mph. The big talking point is the interior space, however. Jaguar says the I-Pace has the dimensional size of a Porsche Macan, but has the interior space of a Cayenne. Interior design is very similar to that of the Range Rover Velar, but is more focused on chunky metal switches. The whole thing isn’t that surprising in any respect, but the next JLR item most certainly is.

The Range Rover actually launched with only 2 doors, and the new Range Rover Sport SV Coupé brings that back. Only 999 will be made, £240,000 apiece, and with a 557bhp 5.0l V8. The newcomer is focused more on driving, although why you wouldn’t buy an F-Type SVR for that is unclear. Really, the SV isn’t the most exciting thing at Geneva, and there are more interesting things to write about.

The best of the rest at Geneva:

-The 18kg lighter-than usual Bugatti Chiron Sport

-The 1287bhp Techrules Ren RS lands with a diesel turbine and 6 electric motors

-Lambo lops off the roof of the Performante

-Porsche’s Mission Cross Turismo previews the production Mission E

-VW’s Vizzion concept is Level 5 autonomous and has 24-in wheels

-Skoda makes a natural gas powered crossover called the Vision X
-Zenvo's new 1177bhp V8 hypercar, the TSR-S has a ridiculous pirouetting wing

Finally, we have the tragic news that the Audi R8 will not continue for a third generation, so petrolheads will now have to mourn the loss of their wailing V10s and snappy DSGs/open gated manuals, and focus instead on the replacement for the Lamborghini Huracán, which might have the VW group's 4.0l biturbo V8. I will have to wrap it up there, but I hope you have enjoyed the article, and that you stay tuned for the next Week in Cars.

If you think I missed anything out, or just want to say what you think, leave a comment below.