That all takes a little bit of mental processing. There’s loads of torque and a boosty sort of delivery in the feistier driving modes, so you just pick a ratio, stick with it, hold on tight and let the engine slug it out. The last manual sports car I drove with ratios that felt this long but which still felt anything like as fast might have been a Corvette Z06; before that, probably a TVR Tuscan. They don’t come along often.
A drivetrain like that ought to make the P24 RS’s engine the headline act in its driving experience, of course. Is the V6 quite that good? I’m not sure. It’s potent, without doubt, and not backwards coming forwards – but it doesn’t quite have the bristling, histrionic intent you expect in a car as mad as this. It can sound a bit flat at times, as V6s tend to. Otherwise, well, it’s just not the fast-revving straight six or gargling muscle-car V8 that I can’t help thinking this car deserves.
Later in the day, on those testing Salisbury Plain roads we know well and where we can push the P24 RS at least a little bit closer to its dynamic limits, one or two other ‘works in progress’ emerge. In High ride mode, at least, that light steering I mentioned earlier can make the car a bit of an act of faith to commit to a corner – although it does get a little easier and more intuitive as you wind up the adaptive dampers.
Having done that, though, the formerly fluent ride becomes a little unyielding, the dampers struggling to deal with bigger, sharper intrusions without sending shocks and clatters through the suspension top mounts; and tending to ‘freeze’ when loaded up with cornering forces and then asked to deal with vertical inputs simultaneously.
With niche sports cars like this, customers are willing to overlook the odd dynamic quirk and wrinkle. They don’t expect immaculately reproduced, homologated perfection, and the P24 RS will give them an over-abundance of character and rawness.
