[ENGINES REVVING]
A little earlier in the year, we proved, quite conclusively
at Santa Pod, that from rest to about 130 miles an hour,
the new Ducati Panigale is faster than a Porsche GT-2 RS.
For many people that wasn't a surprise.
But the margin of its victory surprised me and made me feel
a bit patriotic towards the motorcar.
And I suspected that at really high speed, the car might come
good again.
So here we are at Bruntingthorpe, a two-mile
Second World War runway.
And I've got another Panigale next to me, this time an S,
which is down a couple of horsepower on
the Tricolore model.
Still Ben Cope from Visordown, who spent most of his time on
the way here on the back wheel, which I have to say is
quite cool.
We've got a bit more space this time.
So we'll start again from scratch.
And let's see what happens when we
start to go a bit quicker.
[ENGINES REVVING]
He's just disappeared.
He has just disappeared.
Look, there's no other way of putting it.
From a standing start, even above 120,
the Porsche got murdered.
Even if I could have used everything in first, it
wouldn't have made any difference.
More worryingly, above 120 miles an hour the gap was
still widening.
We're going to do a rolling start this time, because it's
a little bit fairer on the car and because I don't want to
wreck the gearbox.
So rolling in second gear, what's quicker?
And this time, we won't stop at 130.
I think we'll just go, what I hope every girl when I was 15
would say as, all the way.
[ENGINES REVVING]
He's on the back wheel.
[? Fair play. ?]
And he has disappeared.
Can we claw him back?
Because I'm doing 140 and he's still going.
[BLEEP], that's quick, that thing.
154, he's getting away from me.
164, I've gotta get my gear changed.
We're at 174, 177, 180.
184, 187, 190.
I'm still catching him.
194, 196, now we're catching him.
Now we're catching him.
200.
201.
202.
So in the end, we can catch him.
Above 160, the GT-2 RS is a monster.
It just keeps pulling.
But the bike was so far ahead by the time it hit an
indicated 180, I had to do an indicated 202 to get past him.
But get past him, I did.
Eventually.
Now as the upholder of the motor car's dignity in this
test, it was a pretty tough day.
The bike was just astoundingly fast.
Every time Ben twisted the throttle, it opened a gap.
But I suppose we should be impressed that a 911 can get
anywhere near a 195-horsepower motorcycle.
[ENGINES REVVING]