Actually I can put up with the jibes, because from where I'm sitting ΂- behind the wheel of the joint-best everyday-usable sports car currently on sale in the UK ΂- life feels pretty damn good. In fact, on a late summer's evening, firing the VX down the backroads that snick and snake from our Wellingborough office to my Cambridge home, it's hard to imagine anything much better. We've dribbled over the VX's chassis and steering many times before, but familiarity does nothing to dull the exquisite pleasure. When X335 EMJ took part in our Track Car of the Year competition, professional racer Simon Harrison confirmed what we already knew ΂- this is a fabulously well sorted device. Comfortable enough to use as an everyday road car, it's plenty sharp enough to cut it as a track day tool, too.

Wherein hangs a tale. You see, as soon as I took delivery of the VX, I began scouring the evo Active events for a suitably gentle entry into the world of track days. I hit upon a Wheeltorque-organised day at Jonathan Palmer's Bedford Autodrome ΂- just ten minutes from the office, and more important, nothing to hit if I overcooked it. Perfect.

Come the evening before the big day, work done, I tucked the hood in the boot, dropped into the bucket seat, turned the key, thumbed the starter button, and, after a brief churning and a bit of a cough and splutter, nothing. Aaaargh!

After trying repeatedly to coax it into life, leaving it for a few minutes, checking the leads and the fuel level, switching the immobiliser on and off three times, swearing at it quite loudly, and trying again, I was forced to give up. It was spinning merrily, but apart from a couple more splutters, it was as dead as a very dead thing.

In the end I took the Impreza WRX to the track day and thoroughly enjoyed myself (sorry about the tyres, Andy), but I was really missing my VX, which was being prodded and poked by the technicians at W Grose of Northampton, one of the Vauxhall dealerships that are authorised to fettle VX220s.

They eventually diagnosed a duff ECU, and since these aren't things you can repair, a new one had to be ordered, fitted and the car's security code programmed in. It's been fine since, and as soon as we've put this issue to bed, I'll be planning my next track day. Life begins, and all that guff...