Highlight of the month was a trip to the N΃¼rburgring to see the bonkers BIG project (a 840bhp, 1100lb ft Mercedes CL) being tested by its Russian creator, A: Level Engineering. It was to be a frustrating couple of days as the BIG hit a few problems and the Nordschleife was closed to the public. Fortunately the journey to and from the Eiffel mountains was almost worth the agonising futility of it all.

The STi was simply fantastic on the beautiful French autoroutes and surprised a few M3 owners on the German autobahnen. I never got a clear shot at V-maxing the Subaru but the speedo wound past 150mph on several occasions. At that speed the flat-four is nearing 6000rpm in top and pulling hard. I wonder where it would stop given the space to explore the final 1000rpm or so...