BBC Top Gear Magazine July 2015

SUBSCRIBE TO TOPGEAR Get Britain’s number-one car magazine every month, delivered to you as a hefty paper offering, an interactive app or a digital edition. See page 148 for more details TOPGEAR.COM Check out TopGear.com for your daily dose of TG. Or you can join us on Facebook and Twitter TELEVISION Watch your favourite episodes again and again (and again) on Dave NEW CAR BUYERS GUIDE Comprehensive road tests for every new car on sale in the UK, available at all magazine retailers TOPGEAR PORTFOLIO Available exclusively at WHSmith,TopGear Portfolio is a collection of the best images from our archive A Cobra attack helicopter scything around the final corner of the Red Bull Ring, a bare 20ft above two and a half million quid of performance cars, tends to focus…

TWITTER.COM/BBC_TOPGEAR FACEBOOK.COM/TOPGEAR SECOND FLOOR A, ENERGY CENTRE, IMMEDIATE MEDIA COMPANY LONDON LIMITED, MEDIA VILLAGE, 201 WOOD LANE, LONDON W12 7TN FROM TOPGEAR.COM Meet the Viper American Club Racer, with one tonne of downforce and a 645bhp V10. It’s the fastest street-legal Viper ever It’s like an Americanised TVR Sagaris. I love it! Scott Burge That front difuser! That rear spoiler! I AM SO IN LOVE WITH IT! Ian Lai Seems legit. Christian Dez Black And yet no one will buy one. Patrick M They sold out of the last-generation ACR. They’ll sell every one they can make. D-R0CK ACR vs Z06 – battle of the century! SgtStig Gotta love that big, hairy-chested American iron. Even with 645bhp, that engine is still not terribly stressed. Klem Too bad they don’t have…

Since a massive bucketload of the proverbial got engaged too closely with the airmoving device and I no longer have an office to go to, I have travelled almost exclusively by bike. This has not been a decision driven by either reduced circumstances or a desire to put on a public show of it. Rather, I have enjoyed being freed from the need to turn up wherever I’m going looking like something other than a sack of badger droppings. Biker Face and Helmet Hair is a bit of an issue if, on arrival, you’re going to be required to remove the lid and bump your gums in front of a camera. While my television career has not been founded on model looks, it doesn’t help if viewers keep being sick…

I’ve never liked the McLaren 12C quite as much as the Ferrari 458, but really, there’s not much in it. They’re both brilliant. Similarly, if I ever managed to drive the TheFerrari with the Porsche 918 and the P1, I think the Fezza would cream it, just. But I don’t doubt that the other two will be outstanding. Then again, so they should be. Have you seen how much these things cost? If I forked out that sort of cash for a car and it was anything less than life-changing, I’d want a refund. Here’s my point: of course a car costing as much as a house will be good. It has to be, because elsewhere you can buy something that will do the same essential job for well under…

FACT #1 THE NUMBER OF MILES OF ENGINE TESTING COMPLETED WITH CASTROL EDGE IS EQUIVALENT TO 1.86 million Castrol’s Global Sponsorship Manager, Donald Smith, is well aware of the benefits of having the Castrol logo on a race car. “Motorsport is a great platform for building awareness,” he explains, “but it’s far from the only reason we’re involved.” Castrol’s reason for racing goes much deeper than mere marketing. “For us, these are crucial technical partnerships,” continues Smith. “We work with manufacturers and teams to maximise the performance of their race cars, but it works both ways. Each partnership enables us to improve the performance of our product, too.” And it’s the pace and intensity of motorsport competition that delivers the cutting edge. “Motorsport is an extreme, high pressure research and…

Heritage is big business these days, and BMW leverages it more imaginatively than most. Last year saw the Mini Superleggera – now confirmed for production – and that was preceded by an M1 reboot and two unashamedly retro reinterpretations of the 328 MM. BMW has an enviable back catalogue for sure, but this year’s reboot – unveiled at posh classic car concours Villa d’Este – mines the brand’s barrel-chested Seventies CSL Batmobile lodestar for inspiration. Not surprisingly, it’s been in the mix for a while. “What’s my favourite BMW?” head of exterior design Karim Habib asks TopGear “That changes constantly. But the CS coupe was certainly one of the most elegant BMWs, and the CSL helped establish the template for BMW as we know it now. I’ve been lobbying for…