Late copy on a deadline in the distant past…my visit to Millbrook last April?
Aside from hot noodles and food stalls, what do I remember ?
I drove trucks – for the first time and an Alpina roadster, oh’ and went offroading in an Isuzu.
I had thought that gearchanges would be the difficulty when trucking as there are far more cogs in the transmission tunnel but the examples I drove were automatic such as the Daf LF Electric, Mercedes Arocs and Volvo eFL. Only wheelbase to concern myself with and mirror checks so as not to knock over posts at Millbrook Proving Ground.
That Mercedes required three steps to pull myself upwards into the cabin – the most strenuous workout of the day !
Alpina to Renault is what Alpina is to BMW although one glaring anomaly to me, at least. Why was there no manual version offered ? Isn’t that what roadsters need so you can work through cogs on the bendies ?
The Hyundai Ioniq and Volvo XC40 have settings of brake regeneration that made me feel queasy although you can outpace sports cars on the bends as these electric cars have a lower centre of gravity.
I wonder whether that Jeep Wrangler ever worked again, having been abandoned by one hapless hack in one of the water pools. Never go into the water at Millbrook as noone can hear you scream !
Words are copyright of Sotiris Vassiliou
December 2022
