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read moreBritain's Best Driver's Car - the winner
Starting with 11 of this year's best driver's cars, we've whittled it down to just one. The winner is...
The winner is... The Porsche 911 R.
And so, after the toughest podium fight anyone could remember, what must have been the tightest margin of victory of any Britain’s Best Driver’s Car shootout was decided.
In a change to the usual scoring format intended to allow a fairer distribution of credit, our judges had up to 50 points to award to each car – 25 for a car’s showing on the road and 25 for the track. There was no restriction preventing them from awarding the same score to more than one car, but the total number of points on offer was intended to mitigate that possibility and to make a tie for any given place in the final rankings less likely.
Even so, the 488 GTB and 675LT Spider couldn’t be separated for second place. Although two judges scored the Longtail highest overall, the 488 attracted praise more consistently.
Not as consistently, however, as this year’s BBDC champion: the brilliant 911 R. Nobody saw fit to deny the 911 more than three points of a perfect 25 for either its road or track performance, and it was the only car to score full marks from a judge.
With an astonishing array of talents, the 911 R’s driver appea
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read moreBritain's Best Driver's Car - the final three
Eight strong contenders have fallen. Just these three titans remain
This was never a given. We’re not supposed to divulge secrets at this stage of the proceedings, but I can perhaps share with you the fact that had this contest taken place on road alone, there’d be two McLarens in the top three, with the 570S outpointing the 675LT.
By contrast, the Ferrari would have been beaten by not just both McLarens, but both Porsches, too. Then again, had we gone to only the track, well… I can’t give that particular game away this early, but suffice to say there’d be rather greater cause for celebration in Maranello.
Nor should you escape with the idea that these three made it through to the final shootout by being the quickest, most exotic cars here. This is not, nor has it ever been, a contest to find the fastest car, nor the one most capable of generating the most cheek-rippling lateral g. Which is why, in years gone by, cars as modest as the Toyota GT86 and Mazda MX-5 have beaten many far faster cars to the crown. Yes, the winner must be exciting to drive, but also willing to involve the driver and provide him or her with the confidence to push right up to and, on the track, straight past the limit safe in the knowledge
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