Some like it hot

摘要

This is not good. Wheelbarrow Man has come out of nowhere, his hunched over form wobbling and wavering in the thick and oily heat haze. Both Chris Porritt and I crane forward in our seats at the unbelievable sight. Flying along the Dubai highway at 283 km/h (177 mph) in Aston's new V8 Vantage the last thing we expect to see - or want to see - is a man pushing a straw-laden wheelbarrow across the four-laner. We cannot believe our eyes. Porritt does not back off for a second. A slight jink, the Aston's nose moves cleanly left then right, carving a neat arch around the jaywalker, and we bullet safely past him leaving nothing but scattered sand and the Vantage's howling exhaust note in our wake. Porritt, Aston Martin's vehicle engineering manager and test guru of the Vantage, rolls his eyes and grins at me. "Dubai. Home of the weirdest of the weird."