I jumped in the passenger seat at a recent meet to see what all the fuss was about. Now I'd been out in it before (as well as other beantins) and never been that impressed by them.

However, this time I had to eat my words, as the thing pulled like a fucking train all the way to 7k on the rev counter. In fact, on the private test track it peaked at an indicated 140 on the clock . Not impressed? That was in FOURTH ! Fifth was then selected, and it STILL continued to pull like a train and had the needle off the clock .

I was shocked and impressed, as I know what a quick car feels like, and this felt VERY quick. The funny thing is, Gary (the main man behind the mapping of the car) has a 360-370ish bhp Evo VII (Motec etc) and he can only match the acceleration of the Beantin . I think he's pissed at that - expect him to be bolting on a bigger turbo to change that . In the meantime, I can't wait to see it being speed tested, as 165 must be attainable . I would point out though - it's still a beantin .