There are four-point harnesses and a generous degree of shoulder room within the spaceframe chassis. The throttle and brake are to the right of the steering column, the clutch is to the left. The diddy gearlever sprouts from between chassis tubes and it’s only a few centimetres from the round steering wheel.
What’s it like? A total dreamboat. The clutch is a little (but not too) sharp, but stalling is always a possibility for clumsies like me. The control weights are all light and delicate – exceptionally so.
The steering lock is poor but the steering ratio is right and the front is so little loaded that you can steer with your fingertips.
The gearshift is a five-speed sequential, and you can make clutchless upshifts by just easing a bit of finger weight against the lever, then lifting the throttle slightly to ease shifts through.
There’s a transaxle with low and high ratios and to provide reverse ratios, so actually there are 10 forward and five reverse speeds, but in practice you tend to use the lower five forward ones (and one reverse). It’s not like it’s too short-geared in the low ratios: the redline in second is above 90mph.
That means the ability to be in its zone is limited, because peak torque is only 77lb ft at 8500rpm. But because it weighs so little and because there’s only so fast you can go on the road anyway, you can make brilliant progress through its fizzy mid-range, making really small, low-effort control inputs.
No car is like a motorcycle but, because the Rocket is only 1.5m wide, because the control weights are so precise and easy and because it’s so responsive, you can brake with a flex of the toe. I found driving it had a similar flow and ease to riding. It makes everything else feel big.
A Range Rover? Fatso. Alpine A110? Bloater. A Caterham Seven? You should cut down on your porklife, mate, get some exercise. Sub-400kg is where it’s at.
I thought the Rocket would be good. What I didn’t expect is that it would enter my ‘favourite road cars of all time list’ somewhere in the top one. What a thing.
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