Ten Things We Learned This Week

In his latest role, the Earl of Grantham plays English stage, film and television actor Hugh Bonneville as a guest on this Sunday's episode of Top Gear. How did he do? Tune in to BBC Two at 8:00pm to find out...

Do you own an unbelievably spoilt and tiny person? Then buy them this immediately - it's a fully functioning, 46mph, petrol-engined Aston Martin DB. Yours for a mere £16,500 from Nicholas Mee & Co.

Turns out the first car designed by Ferdinand Porsche was this rear-engined EV. And it was even called the P1. Rubbish ‘Ring time, though - it could only do 21mph.

Well, that's what this one went for at Anglia Car Auctions on January. Admittedly, it's got 82,720 on the clock, but a new-ish Aston for £25,200? That's only £500 more than a Toyota GT86...

Yep, the tiny three-cylinder racing engine weighs just 40kg - roughly the same as a male Doberman. But unlike a Doberman, it has 400bhp and 280lb ft of torque. That gives it a better power-to-weight ratio than the new 1.6-litre turbo V6s used in this year's F1 season. And a Doberman. We think. We've not put one on a dyno yet.

A boutique carmaker? Selling LS7-powered, carbon-clad hyper-expensive supercars? That only ever appear in the form of concept sketches? Surely not... This teaser pic shows a new, unnamed Arash model due for launch at the Geneva motor show. We aren't holding out for a test drive quite yet...

Despite graduating from the 911 school of redesignery, the new Mini is, in fact, all new. Down to the last nuts and bolts. But has it lost its... Mininess? Click here to find out.

Sobering results from Global NCAP show that some of India's popular small cars have shown a high-risk of life threatening injuries in road crashes. The models tested were all entry-level with no airbags, and included India's best-selling car, the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, as well as the Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo.

Max Mosley, Chairman of Global NCAP, says: "It's worrying to see levels of safety that are 20 years behind the five-star standards now common in Europe and North America. Poor structural integrity and the absence of airbags are putting the lives of Indian consumers at risk. They have a right to know how safe their vehicles are and to expect the same basic levels of safety as standard as customers in other part of the world."

Watch a Tata Nano crash at 39.7mph here

An intercepted love letter from Hammond to Porsche reveals that he thinks the Porsche 911 GT3 is "the best car ever invented".

Turns out we were the most popular programme on iPlayer last year, with a record-breaking 3.4 million requests to watch the first part of our Africa Special. That's the equivalent to the entire population of Panama streaming TG... Remember to click here if you miss the show on Sunday...