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On the Hill Route, the SWB ticks some large packing containers immediately. The 479bhp 5.5-litre V12 is extra gruff and vocal than it ever was within the 550, and that’s welcome. Throttle response is alert however not sharp, so good for such an utility. The clutch is agency and the gearshift tight, as a result of RML continues to be engaged on the tolerances, however common drivability is way slicker than you would possibly count on. It’s barely more durable to information than the Mazda MX-5, and a part of that’s all the way down to the stunning consolation of the driving place. All the pieces feels particular however pure.
What you can also’t assist marvelling at is the stiffness of the construction. RML retains the entrance subframe, central backbone and corners of the 550’s metal flooring however grafts on a carbon-composite lid that types the monocoque. Consider it as a conventional tub, like within the McLaren 720S, solely turned the other way up.
From this hangs the suspension, managed passive Öhlins dampers and metal springs. Our automobile bottoms out by means of vicious compressions, however progressive springs are within the works and ought to offer a lot improved help and finesse.
The SWB in any other case steers evenly and exactly, however not too exactly, which helps it retain a traditional really feel. I suppose the hydraulic 550 rack is in some ways nearer to that of the 250 GT SWB in character than it’s to, say, the frenetic set-up of right this moment’s Ferrari 812 Superfast. You information this automobile with fingertips. An ill-timed sneeze received’t careen you into the undergrowth.
The first experience is especially good; the SWB floats deftly once you’re merely going from right here to there with minimal dedication. Rougher patches of highway do fizzle up by means of the steering greater than you would possibly like, however then you definately surprise simply how a lot isolation is feasible whereas retaining the traditional really feel.
Better of all? You possibly can actually let the SWB rip. The pedals are effectively positioned for heel-and-toe shifts and the chassis retains a stunning homogeneous method throughout arduous cornering: the nostril stays on line, the physique stays reassuringly (however certainly not completely) flat and the rear has the steadiness to take large openings of the throttle mid-corner.
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