PISTONS AT DAWN

Hyundai’s awesome lonig 5 N is our reigning fast electric car. But can it see off 2024’s finest enginepowered driving machines from the likes of Aston Martin, Porsche, BMW, and McLaren?

- Ben Barry, Ted Welford, and Piers Ward

LAST ONE TO MONTPELLIER IS A LOSER...

A circuit to ourselves and some of the finest driving roads in the south of France await. But first, the small matter of the Channel and 1,300 kilometres By Ben Barry

SENSIBLE IS A RELATIVE CONSTRUCT WHEN it comes to our annual performance car showdown, the Sports Car Giant Test. You join me, for instance, fresh off an early Eurotunnel and barely into an I,3oo-km trek to the south of France in the totally-new-for-2024 Ariel Nomad, half grinning, half grimacing as the elements bluster around its open sides.

If I appear still lost on the zoo I Paris-Dakar, I am, in fact, locked on to the rear bumper of a car that knows exactly where it is heading-the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. And the Hyundai is remarkable for reasons other than the fact that it has a navigation system. It is the first electric car to ever receive an SCGT invite, having seen off the likes of Pininfarina's remarkable Battista and Porsche's wicked Taycan Turbo GT earlier this year. The Ioniq is certainly an altogether more sensible way to blow your mid-£6ok (Rs 64.50 lakh) budget than the Ariel.

Prior experience says the hot electric vehicle (EV) will be a riot at Goodyear's Mireval circuit. But EV charging, despite the Eurotunnel's 210-k W chargers, and compressed journey times rarely make happy bedfellows.

Such is the way of the world in 2024 that the Ariel and Hyundai live at the more affordable end of our fast-car spectrum. Half of our nine contenders slot between £4ok (Rs 43 lakh) and £7ok (Rs 75.25 lakh) and some even have rear seats and hatchback tailgates, among them the Golf GTI Clubsport in our convoy. It is the least expensive car on test at £42,155 (Rs 45.32 lakh).