A STING IN THE TAIL

THERE IS A THEORY THAT THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH performance you can use on the road. That when it comes right down to it, you’re only on full throttle for a few seconds at a time, so while the potential may be huge, be it in terms of grip, horsepower or both, in reality only a percentage of it can be deployed. I’ve seen it in action, from the seat of a 911 GT3 while tailing a Ferrari Pista, the Ferrari’s 700bhp unable to ‘gap’ the 500bhp Porsche. This is on sinuous driving roads, of course, not autobahns.

So I’m hopeful that the fat rump of the 911 Turbo S is not going to get much smaller in the windscreen of my Mercedes-AMG A45 S, despite the chunky little Merc having a deficit of over 200bhp. We’ve ambled down this road a couple of times, dep ed Adam Towler and I, while evo photographer Aston Parrott trains a long lens on us from the top of the valley, so we have an idea of its twists and turns. When we get Aston’s radio message to say he’s got the shot, I’m expecting the 911 to take off.

And it does, leaving the A45 and, it seems, that theory choking in its wake… But there are only short straights, there are tight corners and there is Armco on the right and hillside on the left. This is a road that demands you stay in your lane, within the