Well, it's been a day of mixed emotions and 500 odd miles in 2 very special cars. I left Brighton this morning and took a roundabout route to Cheltenham via the A272 (one of the best roads in the South of England) in the Trophy and even in the completely atrocious conditions I still had a very enjoyable and highly memorable drive. When I got to the the garage to pick up the R26, I felt incredibly guilty to be leaving the Trophy behind for a newer model.
Having familiarised myself with the R26 though, I felt at home very quickly (I'm a little fickle apparently!) probably helped by the Recaros! Having only done 9 miles when I picked it up, I was expecting it to feel a little strained, but having fully warmed it through I gradually started to run it through the gears pushing fairly hard, but not straining anything. After the first hundred or so miles I started to get a feel for the R26 and it's definitely very agile (not trophy flickable, but still incredibly poised) and can be hustled very fluidly round sweeping B-roads and felt very predictable even with standing water everywhere.
It's noticeably more refined on the motorway - mainly thanks to 6th I think, but also probably thanks to the 18"s and longer wheelbase. It's also clearly got a lot more go in 4th and 5th than the trophy (even keeping the rev's fairly low) and I will be very interested to see how this improves as the miles pile on. What's very worrying at the moment is how thirsty the engine is. Over a 200 odd mile run of motorway's and B-roads it returned 26.7mpg according to the trip comp. On the run up - driving a fair bit harder - the trophy saw a very respectable 36mpg.
So first impressions are that the R26 is incredibly capable and essentially feels like a slightly more modern trophy. The only thing is I don't know whether this is a good thing! It feels slightly more artificial than the trophy, but not in a bad way if that makes any sense?! I guess effectively it just feels like a more modern car (no surprise there!) The big issue now is whether to keep the decals or not. I have got so many different opinions off people so far!
I have been very impressed by the R26 so far, I will be very interested to see how things improve/loosen up over the next few thousand miles.
I'll get some pics up asap!
Having familiarised myself with the R26 though, I felt at home very quickly (I'm a little fickle apparently!) probably helped by the Recaros! Having only done 9 miles when I picked it up, I was expecting it to feel a little strained, but having fully warmed it through I gradually started to run it through the gears pushing fairly hard, but not straining anything. After the first hundred or so miles I started to get a feel for the R26 and it's definitely very agile (not trophy flickable, but still incredibly poised) and can be hustled very fluidly round sweeping B-roads and felt very predictable even with standing water everywhere.
It's noticeably more refined on the motorway - mainly thanks to 6th I think, but also probably thanks to the 18"s and longer wheelbase. It's also clearly got a lot more go in 4th and 5th than the trophy (even keeping the rev's fairly low) and I will be very interested to see how this improves as the miles pile on. What's very worrying at the moment is how thirsty the engine is. Over a 200 odd mile run of motorway's and B-roads it returned 26.7mpg according to the trip comp. On the run up - driving a fair bit harder - the trophy saw a very respectable 36mpg.
So first impressions are that the R26 is incredibly capable and essentially feels like a slightly more modern trophy. The only thing is I don't know whether this is a good thing! It feels slightly more artificial than the trophy, but not in a bad way if that makes any sense?! I guess effectively it just feels like a more modern car (no surprise there!) The big issue now is whether to keep the decals or not. I have got so many different opinions off people so far!
I have been very impressed by the R26 so far, I will be very interested to see how things improve/loosen up over the next few thousand miles.
I'll get some pics up asap!
