Photos

Volkswagen's Ehra-Lessien test track is around 13 miles long and has been described, not least by VW, as ‘an oval'. But it isn't, really.

At each end is a 180-degree banked turn. One side of the ‘oval' is a 5.5 mile dead straight, but the other is shaped more like a comic-strip dog's bone. Viewed from the sky, I suggested, it would look a bit like a very elongated BMW grille. They didn't like this.

Words: James May
Photos: Justin Leighton