What is it?

It’s the maddest, baddest and just plain best Porsche of all, the 911 GT3 RS. Which might just give away the fact that we think this car is rather good. This is the second generation of the ultimate road racing 997 and costs £104,841.

Technical highlights?

The car itself, and pretty much everything about it. Except for the fabric door pulls – they’re a bit of a gimmick and not that easy to use, often needing a couple of pulls to actually work. The 3.8-litre 444bhp flat six is utterly majestic, the stats it’s capable of producing (0-60mph is four flat, 100mph in 8.1) a mere sideline to the engine’s sound, spirit and range.

What’s it like to drive?

Astonishing. That’s the word I keep coming back to. There’s an aura about the latest GT3 RS and the communication levels that bond you to it that somehow transcend the usual boundaries of ride and handling.

First of all there’s the knowledge that nothing this side of a tarmac rally car is faster on a given bit of road – for evidence of that, I’d urge you to watch (or re-watch) the video of rally legend Francois Delecour taking Chris Harris for the ride of his life.

No other car I can think of makes dizzying cornering speeds more comfortable, more secure, more accessible and yet puts you in closer touch with exactly what is going on at the wheels. Every corner is picked apart and no matter how fast you tackle it you realise the RS is giving you so many options to trim or alter your line through it.

It forces you to up your game, to concentrate absolutely on the pure task of driving, which suddenly becomes a learning process. It’s extraordinary, this car, with its telepathic responses, the detectable hint of understeer on corner entry (so easily neutralised), gymnastic balance, razor-sharp engine and amazingly compliant ride. Even on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres it deals with rough roads better than the standard GT3. The gearshift is heavy and occasionally crunchy, but that just means that every perfect heel-n-toe shift is cause for celebration.

It’s a wonderfully active companion, always telling you something and everyone who drove it went home the pretty way. I nearly doubled the length of my normal commute, while Henry just drove all night…

How does it compare?

To what, that’s the question? The closest car in spirit and execution is probably the Lotus Exige Cup, which doesn’t have an engine anything like as enthralling. The RS is unquestionably worth the extra twenty grand it costs over the standard GT3, too – and let’s not forget that was runner-up at ECOTY last year.

However, for the definitive answer you’ll need to read this coming month’s issue of the magazine, on sale on the 28th April.

Anything else I need to know?

The level of detail that has honed this car is intense. The exhaust has a 5mm wider bore and is now made of titanium, track widths up up 26mm and 44mm front and rear respectively and no, you don’t have to have the graphics…