The Panamera heist: RAY MASSEY drives £3.3m worth of gold across London in Porsche's ultimate getaway car

Updated: 07:22 EST, 28 January 2018

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Like most motorists, I usually have nothing exciting in my boot. But this week was a bit different.

I had £3.3million of heavy gold bullion in two large crates sitting in the back of my hatchback.

That’s because Britain’s biggest gold bullion refinery marked the opening of its new underground vault by sending its largest-ever bullion shipment, worth £10million, across the capital in a trio of 190 mph Porsche Panamera estates, which also served to demonstrate the practicality and adaptability of the German sports tourer.

The London job: Two of Porsche's blisteringly quick Panamera estates roll over Tower Bridge loaded with £3.3m in gold

I helped deliver the gold, riding ‘shotgun’ in one of the cars, carrying a third of it on the nerve-racking 12-mile, hour-long route through the capital’s traffic.

We manoeuvred the load from bullion dealer Baird & Co’s refinery in East London’s Docklands to its new vault in Hatton Garden in the heart of the jewellery quarter.

Baird is the UK’s largest gold refiner and though it normally uses armoured cars, it also occasionally uses normal cars when the move needs to be incognito.

The Panamera has a boot capacity of up to 520 litres — expanding to 1,390 litres with seats down — proved more than sufficient for two hefty crates of bullion

All this took place 50 years after the filming of the classic crime caper film The Italian Job starring Sir Michael Caine as amiable small-time crook and anti-hero Charlie Croker.

The Porsches were painted red, white and blue: the colours of the Union Flag used for the Minis in the film. But this was ‘The London Job’.

Drinks on him: Wheelman Ray takes his cut

The Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo can accelerate from rest to 62 mph in just 3.6 seconds — outpacing a Ferrari F40 — making it the perfect getaway car.

But rather than steal the gold, as in the film, our job was to deliver it safely. So security was exceptionally tight.

My Panamera featured a turbocharged 4-litre V8 petrol engine linked to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and developing 550 bhp, equal to the pulling power of five Ford Fiestas.

Boot capacity of up to 520 litres — expanding to 1,390 litres with seats down — proved more than sufficient for two hefty crates. Air suspension meant the vehicles remained level throughout.

And in the case of an emergency, powerful carbon brakes bring the car to a complete halt from 62 mph in just 1.8 seconds — twice as fast as it accelerates. It’ll even do 30 mpg.

DRIVING IS WRITTEN IN THE STARS

Taureans are the worst drivers while Scorpios have the fewest accidents and insurance claims, says a new report.

Aries are the rudest and Librans the most prone to road rage, in sharp contrast to Geminis (like me) who are apparently the calmest, according to Privilege car insurance which hooked up with celebrity astrologer Debbie Frank to find out what our horoscopes say about our driving.

Geminis and Leos taking their driving test should do well as they are the quickest learners and most likely to pass first time.

MINI FLYS THE FLAG

Mini is having a mid-life facelift, but you’ll be hard-pushed to spot the difference on the revised three-door, five-door and convertible models.

Union flag tail lights are one tell-tale sign.

Does this reflect Mini’s German parent BMW gearing up for Brexit?

Volvo diesel wins Car Of The Year

A diesel version of Volvo’s new compact family XC40 off-roader has been crowned Car Of The Year in the 2018 motor industry Oscars.

The Swedish-built XC40 D4 R Design took the top honour in the awards run by leading consumer magazine What Car?

A diesel version of Volvo’s new compact family XC40 off-roader has been crowned Car Of The Year in the 2018 motor industry Oscars

Significantly, judges said they had defied ‘the demonisation of diesel’ and ignored the ‘anti-diesel hysteria’ to give the car the top accolade and ‘prove that diesels are definitely not dead’.