The reality of car testing: Five minutes to judge a 1600bhp hypercar

The alarm goes at 4.30am. Ahead of you is a 150-mile drive that thousands will be doing this week: the well-trodden way to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Except you’re going a day early, to the neighbouring racing circuit, for a date with 1600bhp. Yes, sixteen hundred.

You’re carrying out the magazine’s first test of one new all-electric, tri-motor sports car. The FoS is an increasingly popular venue for the public debut of new performance cars. Manufacturers therefore tend to build preliminary media test drives around it.