Sunshine, blue sky, dry roads, so had to find a reason to go out in Tarka.
A short drive to Stockbridge to John Robinsons Butchers Shop, a butchers shop selling real meat the way it should be. Eight Week Dry Aged Beef anyone? Oh yes!
Anyway once on the A30 out of Salisbury going east I put the gear lever into sport mode and “explored the envelope”. I’d finally got my Sat Nav installed so could check the speedometer against the GPS speed. It seems that the VDO dial reads about 3% slow, as do the dials in our other cars.
Then it was playtime a bit. OMG, this thing is quick: unlike Aldermog which always seemed to be going faster than it actually was Tarka is the reverse. It is so easy to find that the speed is greater than that needed to make “good progress”!
Overtaking is “bike” fast, and can be very noisy, so safe and easy, other than the heart attacks it may provoke in startled drivers pottering along at 45mph on a main road.
To the twisty bits: glued on rails springs to mind. The car seems untroubled by poor road surfaces, it ignores the sort of longitudinal repairs caused by replacing gas and electricity services: Aldermog and other cars tended to follow them. On good, well surfaced roads it should be possible to maintain high average speeds without speeding simply because most bends and corners can be taken without slowing down, as can hills.
Talking of normal road driving the steering is geared sufficiently highly that 90% of the time the wheel needs to be turned only about 120 degrees around straight ahead, so no need to change grip on the wheel.
On the way home, with a long line of traffic ahead on the A30, I tried the cruise control. It works: well! As expected, it is BMW’s product. But together with the refined ride and lack of noise it means that the car is a viable long distance touring car. I may have to change the insurance to allow business use!
Only an hour out of the office but back with a big grin on my face. As it should be.
will just be a disappearing dot in your mirrors! 
often tells me to turn it down! 
