SPEED FREAK

There’s a slight crest that I’ve never really noticed before. Shortly after the exit of Goodwood’s Lavant corner, it coincides with the GT2 R reaching 4,000rpm when the turbos really start to make their presence felt. The rear goes light, there’s the slightest squirm as the 11-inch rear tyres hunt for traction, before the GT2 R’s rear hunkers back down, the engine runs around to its redline and I reach for another gear. Lavant Straight is far from it, being kinked, uphill but fast, and it’s here that the GT2 R’s engine forcefully reveals its potency, with fourth gear quickly devoured, the shift light flashing in the instruments in front of me as I push the clutch and reach for fifth.

There’s no time to think. Just drive. That’s just as well, because GT2, when applied to the 911, has long been associated with being a difficult, challenging car. A few hours earlier I’d been sat at my desk, having decided to give Goodwood SpeedWeek a swerve, because I had other things on. Then I got a call. “We’ve got some track time in a GT2 R if