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HOTVauxhall Magazine; April 2007

COUSINS UNDER THE SKINCOUSINS UNDER THE SKIN

 

enthusiast's idea of heaven) and have to be physically dragged away by the poor souls who want to close up and go home.

Fortunately, as the name suggests, our Vectra SRi Nav features satellite navigation as standard, and it's a shining example of user-friendly intuitiveness.

We elect to spend the evening sampling the delights of Nottingham, but first we have to get there. Fortunately, as the name suggests, our Vectra SRi Nav features satellite navigation as standard, and it's a shining example of user-friendly intuitiveness. We had no hotel booked, but the Vectra helpfully lists anything in reach for us; so we set the waterside Jurys Inn as our destination and sat back, following our instructions. And in spite of Nottingham's numerous one-way systems, bus lanes and tram lanes, we're guided faultlessly to the doorstep of our destination.

The following morning, we begin the long journey to Goodwood. That feeling of dynamic precision and solid control impresses us again. High speed crests and compressions don't faze the SRi's suspension, while the firm, well modulated brake pedal lets you shed speed swiftly before tackling the next corner, or slowing for the occasional sleepy village. En route, we stop off at Triple Eight Racing. And there's no doubt about it, the VXRacing Vectra looks a winner.

By the time our road and race car cousins are snapped, it's early afternoon and we're heading for Winchester, our stopover for night two. We could quite gladly continue to our destination of Goodwood, but as it's dark the pictures say we should wait.



So it is that the next morning we find ourselves at Goodwood, standing next to an authentic World War II Warbird, a US-built T6 Harvard IIB. Dieter Sinanan, Goodwood Flying School's Deputy Chief Flying Instructor, fires up the 22-litre, 550bhp, nine cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial engine. It spits, coughs, gurgles and finally catches - and clouds of white smoke billow from its exhaust. We wonder how its CO2 emissions compare with the 2.0-litre Turbo's clean 209g/km and 32.5mpg Combined economy figure. Dieter laughs: 'No comment!'

We leave Goodwood's immaculately preserved World War II all-grass airfield and treat ourselves to a gentle jaunt up the equally historic Goodwood Hill Climb. Open to the public all-year round, you can drive it for yourself, albeit at considerably more restrained speeds than on the Festival of Speed weekend - this year on 22-24 June.