Third, second, first, all the while with my foot on the brake, each gear fitting better than the suit of Karl Lagerfeld. Now a sharp turn to the right, without even needing to steer hand over hand. In this fraction of a second, my brain is telling me to go straight on, whilst my foot is pressing down on the right pedal, driving the car full throttle into the tightest point of a 180 degree hairpin bend near Cortina d’Ampezzo. Then, like a stone from a slingshot, I find myself once again in the opposite direction Going into the curve, I could see a Cayman GTS at a distance in the rearview mirror – leaving the curve, I’m greeted by the Alpine panorama. Is this perfection? Well, nothing is ever truly perfect. But this comes damn close.
What does any of this have to do with Vienna and the Hofburg? A scene in the Hollywood film “Red Sparrow” was shot right there. And Red Sparrow would have been a fitting description for the Polo, but the people of Wolfsburg instead decided to call its distinctive colour “Flash Red”. Either way, the Polo looks at least as good as Jennifer Lawrence against this picture-perfect historical cityscape.
A story of performance and my personal farewell to Vienna (for now).