evo LAPTIMES FROM CADWELL PARK

Blasts from the past dig deep into your being. Even as the National Hockey League comes closer and closer to total parity – where any of the 16 playoff teams could feasibly win the Stanley Cup and the wealthiest franchise in the league is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the third straight season – I tell my hockey addict friend that I have a yearning for the good ol’ days of dominance. “Remember when we were kids and teams clinched their playoff spot? It wasn’t a few games shy of the season end.” I want a blast from the past.

When an iPod was a Sony Walkman. When cranking a manual window lever required great effort and built up my forearms. Ah…. when the hot hatchback was not just hot; but wild. evo, a Brit car mag looks back to the hot hatch past more than just about anybody I know. Contrasting an all-time great with some newer and smaller hatchbacks may not be obvious, but it looks fun. And fast. Cars involved included the sub-Saturn Astra, aka Vauxhall Corsa; the successor to another all-time great, the Renaultsport Clio 197 Cup; and the predecessor of the Ford Verve/Fiesta. Oh, and the Lance Delta Integrale. Here are evo’s laptimes from the Woodland Circuit at Cadwell Park. Other evo -related posts are available here.

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Vauxhall Corsa VXR 888 …. 53.3 seconds

Renault Clio 197 Cup ………. 54.1 seconds

Ford Fiesta ST185 …………… 55.5 seconds

Lance Delta Integrale Evo …. 55.8 seconds

evo’s Jethro Bovingdon concludes: “If you’re looking for a new car, then the Fiesta just gets our vote. Maybe what we really need is a car with the indulgence of the ST, the control of the Cup, and the performance of the 888. If it could have even a tenth of the character and sense of occasion of the Integrale then we’d really have a new hero.”

evo.co.uk

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