So it’s March I’m minding own business chilling at work not doing a great deal. I get an interesting message from a friend of mine, who happens to be the admin of RS4OC(UK). He asks me if I still want to have my car featured and that Carwow has reached out. The original plan was to use my supercharged RS4 against something at some stage, but as you know it went bang. As I’m sure you’ve seen I was pitched the idea of going against the new BMW M8 competition which consistently pins 3 second 0-60 sprints. The deal was sweetened further when it was announced there was going to be a prancing horse present.

As a petrolhead I couldn’t say no to some exposure to a Ferrari never mind the privilege to race one. I’d not owned the GT-R very long at this point so I was still figuring it out. My car had a replacement gearbox in 2011 and then a Litchfield clutch upgrade in 2015. This car clearly had a propensity for breaking itself when launched, despite my launch counter showing 0. So when it came to it the car was babied off the line with 0 revs and sent. For those of you saying “it’s just one it’s just one” it took around 10 takes to get all 3 cars launched correctly, so it would’ve taken its toll if repeatedly launched. That may not bother you but if so you’ve a much larger wallet than I do. The Ferrari was stunning and it’s Novitech exhaust system reminded me of the big F1 cars from my childhood. There’s just something about a Maranello supercar that makes you feel like a little boy allover again, they’re special that’s for sure.

The M8 is no doubt a look into the future of modern performance cars. Admittedly the test car is well known to have been back to BMW for a software tweak. It launches like nothing else I’ve ever seen and it does it every single time. There was no point risking my gearbox or clutch to try and chase it as what really is the point? No one will buy a £30,000 Nissan GT-R if they’re considering a brand new M8. The fact my car was 0.2 seconds behind the Ferrari Lusso without mine even being launched is a testament to how good a car the GT-R was in 2009 and what a used car bargain they can be 11 years on. I challenge anyone to stay a car length behind a Ferrari at full chat on an autobahn and feel disappointed. I’m immensely proud of what my car achieved that day and the rolling launches were humbling to see it stick with the big newer cars. It was a great insight into automotive journalism and the industry I one day long to work in. The only real negative was that during one of the launches a stone got wedged against one of my rear brake discs and scored it badly. Currently discussing with Carwow the replacement of these so I’ll keep you guys posted. Honestly I had a great day and got to look at some very special cars.

In the near future my GT-R will have downpipes fitted and the map tweaked to suit. Somewhere in the region of 650-660bhp at the crack which is more than enough for me. If I’m feeling brave I’ll get some drag times and see what the improvements are. However as a daily driver the GT-R has been such a laugh and I can’t wait to have it back after social distancing in the UK has ceased.