Why, then, are sliding pedals not more common? I really don’t know but my guess is that it’s to do with regulations and cost, because it is almost always one, the other or both of those factors that deter car manufacturers from making the most of these apparent easy wins. A central driving position, like that of the McLaren F1 or Speedtail, is another such example.
So what is this other car? It is none other than the Maserati Bora, introduced alongside the Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer as one third of the original supercar trinity, back in 1971.
I was six at the time and even when Boras started turning up in magazine group tests a few years later when I was old enough to read and understand them, I never gave them much thought. Why would you when the Ferrari and Lambo were so much more dramatic and faster too?
It was not years but a period of time best measured in decades before I realised what a fool I’d been to have ignored it. By then I’d driven most of the front engine Maseratis of the ‘60s and ‘70s – cars like the Indy, Ghibli, Mexico and Khamsin – and while I’d liked some more than others, I’d not lost my heart to any of them. But then I drove a Bora. Oh my goodness.