Racing-inspired Polestar 2 Special Edition

The Swedes chased this first outcome of engineering doping up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and called it "The Beast." Given the force and weight, this may be euphemistic. But that doesn't diminish the enthusiastic response that the prototype of the Polestar 2, which Thomas Ingenlath still drives today as a company car, received at the PS class reunion. Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 is the summiteer; however, there was a lookup under the name Polestar 2 BST Experimental the previous year.

The strut bar has stayed, and the body whizzes 25 millimeters lower over the road than is the case with the conventional Polestar. Brembo, instead of Akebono, now supplies the brakes. This is precisely the automobile we are sitting in now. In front of us, the Ascari Race Resort meanders along the plateau of the province of Málaga. "Open the bonnet, please," was the announcement. Click, click, click. "We're modifying the dampers now," admits Joakim Rydholm.

It is clear from the first bends that the Polestar 2 BST Edition 270 is not a Porche Taycan opponent. It shouldn't even be a car you can easily have fun with, on the street or on a closed racetrack. We have that! The top Polestar 2 is unaffected by anything, not even chicanes that induce load change reactions or full power-robbing over curbs or corners.

We roll back into the pits and critique a little tendency to understeer. Open the hood again, and two hands reach in. Click, click, click. Turning it changes the setting of the Ohlins damper, which was developed specifically for this Polestar 2. The first setting affects the compression, and the second involves the rebound. Both are in the front, where three oil circuits are installed per damper. Two external reservoir cylinders protrude into the frunk. The third number defines the rebound for the rear dampers. We conducted the first lap with the everyday setting of 7-7-7, which we also used on the country road. The parameters 4-4-4 are in the following phase: The handling is now clearly different. The front gets lighter because the back is now cutting asphalt.

Now we go all-in on 2-2-2, and the Polestar 2 sheds all Scandinavian restraint and whirls across the circuit. The chassis is even tighter, and the rear is even livelier. Despite this, the Swedish Dr. Jekyll did not entirely transform into a raucous Mr. Hyde. Uncomplicated enjoyment is still the priority. In addition, the ESP always watches in the background but leaves the rear with so much twerk flexibility that you could even drift.

In combination with the 20 percent stiffer springs, the Ohlins dampers display their full potential. Even in the fire-free setting, the Polestar 2 always remains easily controllable and does not abuse the back excessively. Yet, despite all its agility, it can never totally hide its weight. Despite its pinpoint accuracy, the car's indifferent steering does not work. On the other hand, the Brembo brakes with the 375 discs at the front and the 340 discs at the back give an overall better picture, can be dosed well, and does not let up even after numerous severe braking movements. Manually tweaking the rotating screws and working out the optimum setting is a lot of fun, mainly because the driving behavior changes substantially.