Read Don't Stop Me Now for Free Online Page B

into a corner too fast, and in an instant, with no warning, you’re in a world of smoke and hate. Getting your entry speed wrong in a TVR is as dangerous as spilling a Glaswegian’s pint. But the toothbrush just understeers, like a Golf or a Focus.
    There’s other stuff, too. For all the racing heritage and volume of a straight-six engine, it simply doesn’t sound as terrifying as a V8. And this is the first TVR I’ve driven in ages with a substandard interior. In recent years we’ve become used to all sorts of swoops and oddities, but in this one it just doesn’t work. It feels daft for no reason.
    And yet, by some considerable margin, this is the best TVR I’ve ever driven. With its integral roll cage it feels stiffer and more together, like all four corners are working in harmony, rather than in discord. And the brakes are just astonishing.
    So’s the power. You may only get 3.6 litres and no forced induction, but you end up with a better power-to-weight ratio than you get from a Lamborghini Murciélago. That means it is seriously, properly, eye-poppingly fast.
    And because it doesn’t try to bite your head off every time you make a mistake, you can use more of the power for more of the time.
    Finally, there’s the question of money. To get this kind of performance, you have to be looking at a Porsche GT3 for
£
72,000, or a Murciélago for
£
163,000. Even the Noble I wrote about last week is over
£
52,000. But the TVR is just
£
38,500. Plus another two if you want lift-out roof panels.
    So what we have here is a TVR with all the savagery of the olde worlde coupled with the practicality of a usable boot and a soft ride. It’s an ancient Briton with Roman overtones, and as a result Alan Rickman wouldn’t be able to play it properly in a film. He’d be too mad. Think more in terms of Alan Titchmarsh – a little bit raunchy, but actually a little bit not.
    Sunday 5 October 2003

Porsche Carrera GT
    There have been a handful of scientific breakthroughs in the past few weeks that I suspect may have slipped under your radar.
    A couple of Dutch boffins, for instance, have developed a new kind of fabric that could be used as a television screen. So pretty soon you’ll be able to watch
Matrix Reloaded
on your tie.
    Then we have the British satellite that can spot rainfall and vegetation growth in Algeria. As a result, farmers there will be able to bring some shock and awe to the locust breeding grounds before the insect sex even takes place.
    Or what about the vibrating shoes that have been developed in America? Apparently these compensate for a loss of balance in the elderly and will cut the number of falls and broken hips.
    Best of all, we have the 2580 service on your mobile. Dial the number, hold the phone against a speaker and within 30 seconds, for just 9p, you’ll be sent a text saying what the song is and who it’s by.
    So now you can wave goodbye to the misery of trying to find out what it was you heard on the radio by attempting to sing it to your friends. ‘You must have heard it. It’s brilliant. It goes ner-ner-ner de-dum-dum on the beach.’
    Even China is riding the techno wave. We were told this week that the sheer weight of skyscrapers being built in Shanghai is squashing the rock on which the city is founded.
    And we mustn’t forget that extraordinary dam that will provide limitless power for everyone until the end of time, or their rocket, which next week will keep the red flag flying in space.
    Nearer to home, scientists have developed a heat-resistant plastic which they’re using to make a light that goes on in a handbag every time it’s opened. Wonderful. No more standing around on the doorstep for 15 minutes while our wives rummage for the keys.
    And then there’s the world of computers. Seismologists have been able to work out just how big the tidal wave will be when Tenerife splits in half and falls into the sea. Very, seems to be the answer.
    They’ve even been able to determine