I'm really keen to take the Clio on an airfield day to mess about with some of these braking techniques learned here on the Lotus day. The fact they disabled the ABS was a real bonus for me, what with the Clio lacking even this.

 

Tracks are great fun and much more satisfying than weaving around cones on a windswept runway somewhere but a large expanse of tarmac - one with no gravel traps - gives you a bit of leeway to experiment without the risk of something nasty happening.

 

You will when you see this, Morgan's latest new model, the SuperSports Junior. That's new in a way only Morgan understands of course, the spoked wheels, bicycle mudguards and standalone headlights all celebrating a bygone age of classic motoring much like its traditional 4/4 and +4 road cars.  

Oooh, Dan’s a cheeky sod. Charming way to start the new year, that is. I won’t be forgetting this, let me tell you.

 

First though, a picture of my MX-5 on New Year’s Day.

 

Snow is one thing. But the ice that's followed has been, if anything, even trickier. Obviously there are the usual issues of slippery roads, iced-up windscreens and the rest. But the extreme (stop sniggering Scandinavians) cold throws up some other, less predictable problems. 

A family gathering meant a trip across country to the Cotswolds and a perfect opportunity to continue the bonding process with my new Clio Cup. But we were also obliged to contribute to the catering with a dish of potato dauphinois. The combination of said sloppy spud-based dish and inevitable B-road high jinks didn’t bode well, CJ's experience last year underlining the perils of untethered potatos in hard charging Clios. I guess I could have just taken the rather more sedate Skoda Fabia Greenline I’ve got on test instead. But I was itching for a proper blast in the Clio and the cross country route is ace.

 

And soon, thanks to the German sports car maker, so will I. A little known fact of Porsche’s magnificent Silverstone Driving Experience Centre is the ‘Human Performance Centre’ element. The what?

 

A hi-tech lab, that’s what – dedicated to analysing people, not cars.

 

from the predominantly British crew, all enjoying the Spanish sunshine and seemingly ready to dish the dirt on the international journos who’d come before us. Some Spaniards had caused a fuss by getting arrested on the test route, Jag’s bluff Ulsterman PR chap saying “I wasn’t bothered about them – I just wanted to get my car back in one piece!” Another Spanish journo apparently arrived at the track in his race suit, fancying himself as El Stig and announcing his intention to go drifting. Before understeering off at the first corner in a cloud of locked brakes. 

How else can you have a 7 Series that produces 245hp, hits 60 in 7.2secs, yet averages 39.2mpg? We’ve previously explained in depth all the features that contribute to it: low-drag alternators, engine stop-start, special tyres and so on.

 

But one really, err, cool feature is ‘active cooling’. What’s the point in having a hole forcing cold air into the engine, when it’s already chilled enough, thank you? The engine actually has to work harder to offset this. Daft. Far better, then, to shut a flap when it’s not needed. Opening when a blast of air is needed, before closing again.