ESTATE OF PLAY

Last month we enjoyed BMW's new M3 Touring on the roads where it was developed with the people who developed it. Now it's time for it to take on tough UK tarmac and the current fastestate leader, Audi's RS6 Avant

-  JETHRO BOVINGDON

UNWITTINGLY, THE DAY BEFORE we shoot the Audi RS6 Avant and BMW M3 Competition Touring on the rolling roads that thump and yump over the North York Moors, I remind myself just why the fast estate car is such a special concept. My first sight of the RS6 is at 6am. It's shrouded in thick ice and the air is so cold that my clothes crackle as I walk towards it. A few minutes later I'm thawing in heated seats and pointed towards Brands Hatch, some 100 miles south. The miles accrue easily and the 4-litre twin-turbocharged engine slips almost silently into the background. It's just the start of a very RS6 sort of day.

The track is perilously slippery but the Audi barely notices. It's acting as fast chase vehicle, photographer and video team taking turns to lie in the boot to capture an old race car with 900bhp or more. Once I've removed the baby seat, of course. The Group C car tiptoes where the RS6 claws and I'm pretty sure the Audi would give it a real run for its money in these conditions. Then, when the sun sets and the temperature plunges again, I head north. Way north, to Kirkbymoorside, a solid 250 miles away, taking in the hell of rush hour M25 and mile upon mile of oddly dilapidated A1. It's after 10pm when I arrive, fuelled by burger and McFlurry, and the last 20 miles or so are cross-country, straights punctuated by bursts of tight corners. The big Audi morphs from refined cruiser to relentless, unstoppable force and delivers me to the hotel feeling remarkably fresh. I almost wish there was another hour to run.