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Passenger Review
Now this was an unexpected surprise. We’ve been going to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England, for many years, watching all varieties of classic and modern sports cars and supercars charging up Lord March’s drive … but this year was very different. I won a passenger ride up the hill amongst the modern supercars in a heavily-modified BMW 7-series - the Alpina B7!
My driver was Kris Odwarka, the Sales Director of Alpina. Our first surreal moment was when we were queueing to go to the start line, and the rear door opened and a jolly voice said “Mind if I have a ride chaps?” - it was Sir Stirling Moss, world-famous Formula 1 driver, on his way to his McLaren SLR Stirling Moss edition which was waiting at the start line!
Kris drove expertly up the hill - behind the super-convoy led by Lewis Hamilton and Sir Stirling in their SLRs - showing off the refined delivery of 500 bhp from the twin-turbo V8, excellent handling for a 2-tonne car and nearly-good-enough brakes! It was a fantastic experience, culminating in parking at the top of the hill amongst the most amazing collection of supercars - 2 Bugatti Veyrons, Pagani Zonda R, Ferrari California, FIVE SLRs, Aston Martin DBS Volante etc etc - see here for pictures, and the bottom of this page for a video of the ride.
The Alpina was an impressive car - particularly inside, which is where the Alpina folks transform the somewhat plastic run-of-the-mill finish of most BMW interiors (for example, see my comments on the BMW M3 V8) into a luxurious living space … sumptuous soft white leather, and a beautifully finished dashboard. And of course, there is the ultimate James Bond feature - “stealth mode” nigh vision - an infra-red camera in the front grille and a screen in the dash, providing increased vision at night, or fun watching the glowing pulsating orb in front of us as we followed the hot Koeniggsegg back down the hill!
Paul Williams
PASSENGER RATINGS: Exterior: 4/10 Interior: 9/10 Cool Factor: 5/10 Passenger Experience: 9/10 Fear Factor: 1/10 TOTAL: 26 (Fear Factor Scores are subtracted) |
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