Photographers love the Skoda. It’s got a huge boot, a decent ride (perfect for tracking shots) and enough grunt to keep in touch with all but the quickest group tests. Unfortunately this month it was tasked with chasing the quickest group test we have ever conducted. Needless to say, it struggled a bit…

Still, three- or sometimes four-up, and loaded to the gunnels with photography and filming equipment, the vRS was happy cruising all day at 100mph and even touched 140mph or so a couple of times. OK, so it didn’t draw many admiring glances in the company of the Veyron, Enzo, Carrera GT and Zonda, but after three days and over 1000 miles it certainly won the respect and affection of both photographer Gus Gregory and cameraman Roger Green. It returned 26.4mpg, too – about three times better than the others!

Having the vRS there put the sheer sweep of VAG’s motoring empire into perspective. The Octavia and Veyron are distant cousins, no matter how strange that seems when the boxy, upright Skoda is parked alongside the broad-hipped, curvaceous Bugatti. And although we couldn’t find any shared components (there’s no Skoda switchgear in the Bug’s glorious interior), there’s definitely a family bond there somewhere. Each fulfils its role brilliantly: the Skoda a rapid but immensely practical load-carrier, the Bugatti simply the most staggeringly fast supercar the world has ever seen. It’s hard to see how each could do its job better.

The trip took its toll on the vRS, though, leaving it insect-splattered, grimy and even requiring an emergency litre of oil when the oil-level warning light came on. But chasing your younger, more athletic family members has always been fraught with danger…