However, this decision was made for me on the return drive from North Yorkshire as during the last few miles of the drive, on the North Circular Road in London, a horrendous screeching noise started emanating from the rear of the gearbox. The clutch still worked fine, but the noise was particularly dreadful when the pedal was depressed, so I deduced the problem was clutch-related (own up guys, who was practising standing starts whilst I was off in the other cars?) and nursed the 355 back to my garage.

The RAC then fleeced me for ΂£60 as I didn't have their 'home start' option, but the Spider is now visiting Uncle Carl again and I don't want to see it again until it's perfect.

I think I'll stick to playing driving games on consoles. It's a lot cheaper...