Video: TG drives the Aston Martin Vulcan

"Naturally aspirated, ultra-responsive, wondrous, strident and sonically magnificent. It howls. Shrieks almost. Like an old V10 era F1 car, but slightly less shrill. The sound pulses pile on top of each other, the detonations more densely packed than in a V8, coming faster and harder and more urgently, each forcing speed from the car.

"It’s fast alright, but on a circuit you never really notice just how fast because you’re locked into the seat so tightly and have other things to preoccupy you. I do feel the drag start to press on the car above 150mph, restricting acceleration, and overall the balance between grip and power is probably fractionally in favour of grip, but the way the car drives, the sensations it delivers, are just… remarkable."

So said TG's Ollie Marriage on his first acquaintance with Aston Martin's track-only, limited edition Vulcan. In a world exclusive drive in this month's Top Gear magazine, we tested the £1.8m machine to its limits at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit. At night. Cue lots of noise and a little bit of fire.

Speaking of which, hit play on the video above. You might want to turn it up loud, because - as mentioned - that V12 sounds incredible. Once you've done that, order your copy of the new magazine here, or click here to download it to your device.