On the track in small hot hatches

Hot hatches are very much a feature of our roads and cities, everywhere from the overtaking lanes of motorways to the suburban roads of any built-up area. Testing them on a vast racetrack would be fun for the drivers but wouldn’t be terribly helpful at seeing what they’d be like for heading into town on a Friday night.

So we took them to a racetrack, a small one called Blyton Park in Lincolnshire, which at least in part simulates what a road is like without distractions like blue flashing lights in the mirror and a Stinger on the road ahead.

Three manufacturers, and about 600bhp spread evenly between them. Given that both Renault and Ford have serious heritage and success in making cars fast for the track, we weren’t necessarily expecting too much from the other French car. So it was quite a surprise to discover that the DS3 Performance was actually the quickest car round the track.