When you drive a normal hot hatch—say, a Golf GTI—the joy is mechanical. You shift, it rewards you. You brake, it obeys. But the 09b7 learned. If you swore at the traffic, the steering ratio quickened. If you gripped the wheel in fear, the brakes faded to nothing, forcing you to confront your own panic.
I found the last prototype in a barn outside Lille in 2001. The headband was still coiled on the passenger seat like a sleeping serpent. Curious, I strapped it on and turned the key. 09b7 Peugeot HOT-
One test driver, a veteran of the Monte Carlo Rally, lasted eleven minutes before he was found weeping in a ditch. “It knows what I hate about my father,” he reportedly told the project lead. “And it agrees with me.” When you drive a normal hot hatch—say, a