25 Aug 06
And for sheer excessiveness, the SRT-8 is going to take a great deal of beating. With a kerb weight of 2270kg it weighs more than the biggest, longest S-Class Mercedes while under its bonnet sits a 6.1-litre V8 that manages just 17.2mpg on the combined cycle, where even a Ferrari 599 GTB manages 21.3mpg. And as for its emissions, if I tell you that you could buy two BMW 530d executive expresses and combined they'd emit less CO2 than this Jeep, you get some semblance of the size of four-wheeled environmental disaster this ridiculous car represents. As I blipped the engine I could almost feel the globe warming around me. Best of all, there's a line in the press release from Peter Lambert, MD of Chrysler Jeep UK that goes, and I quote: 'The SRT-8 is not intended to be off-road capable.' That's the Jeep SRT-8.
The most pointless car in the world? If so, then it seemed entirely appropriate to do something equally pointless with it. Without pausing for further reflection, I headed out onto the track.
Happily I know Donington better than most people know the street outside their house. I've done countless races and track tests there, love every undulating inch of it, and the thought of inflicting this Jeep upon it made me feel the same way I did as a teenager every time my father had to ask me to turn down Deep Purple. He was still getting over the death of Mozart.
