I have a few road test memories indelibly preserved in my mind. They can be played over and over like Tik-Tok clips but more immersive; I’m in the car and can feel what’s going on. One is of the Mégane R26.R on the Bala to Ffestiniog road (oh, the poise!), another the Pagani Zonda heading up a twisting, wooded road in northern Germany (a supercar should not be this easy to powerslide!). Turns out there’s one I didn’t know was in there: the Noble M12 GTO on the A47 Hinkley bypass. 

It all comes flooding back. I’m delivering the M12 back to Noble in Barwell, Leicestershire, a couple of miles north of Hinkley, and this mini-movie is all about the sound and feel of the effortlessly gutsy, twin-turbo V6 behind. I’m in a high gear, savouring the rich, indulgent, smooth delivery – automotive triple-layer chocolate cake – relishing how the M12 growls and scoots forward on just a whiff of throttle.

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On that gloriously hot day back in 2000 I’d done the shoot with Andy Morgan and recorded a full set of performance figures at Millbrook, yet when I think ‘Noble M12’ I’m on the Hinkley bypass. I think it’s because I knew I had just a couple of miles left before I handed the M12 back and I wanted to savour them. 

With the M12, Noble had arrived. The figures we recorded – 0-60mph in 4.1sec and 0-100 in 10.2 – eclipsed even those of evo’s reigning Car of the Year, the 996.1-generation Porsche 911 GT3. The M12…