Here are the performance cars taking on Top Gear's Speed Week 2022

What we said: "Be confident and prod the throttle hard as you turn in and the thing skids about like an MX-5. Often 4WD cars feel confusing at this point, but although the DBX does shuffle power forwards, it remains predictable and stable. It’s a hoot. Entirely irrelevant, but still a hoot.

"But when not yobbing about the 707 still gets out of corners engagingly. Rather than ploughing on nose first, it exits neutrally, all four wheels working well. I’m most impressed by the back axle which feels calm and controlled. Heading into corners the front occasionally hops under hard pressure. Admirable resistance to understeer, but the steering needs more weight to accurately communicate the forces involved.

"On the whole though, this thing rips around a track with a precision and ability way beyond what you’d imagine from an Aston Martin SUV. It’s this ability at and beyond the limit that makes the DBX 707 feel new and different to what’s gone before."

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Photography Mark Riccioni

What we said: "It’s not as visceral as something like the Merc - despite being the same power and also AWD - but the fact that it feels like it’s more on your side makes it just as quick. You’ll feel like you’re going faster in the A45, but I doubt you will be. More than that though, the RS3 now feels like it’s starting to get really comfortable in its own skin; it’s a confident, worthwhile, capable car, with a side order of madness not far off..."

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What we said: "On the optional Cup2R rubber which BMW says is specced by over half of buyers, the CSL is a different animal to the standard car. The nose is phenomenally responsive, diving into corners as if it’s front-mid engined. There’s not that much more feedback and as usual M Division’s obese steering wheel is too thick and squidgy to offer any tactility, but the sense of grip is limitless. With the powerful brakes underfoot, the CSL is hugely confidence inspiring, carrying speed like a Nissan GT-R with half the driven wheels..."

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What we said: "The V6 is a thing of beauty, and so’s the car itself; the visor-like windscreen, the buttresses, the 250 LM-inspired side vents. Only those with an electric allergy would choose F8 over 296. This is a big step forward: electricity used to add depth and dimension to the supercar experience, to be there when it’s beneficial, but to step back and work in the shadows when it’s not. Perfect. More intimate and engaging than big brother SF90, too. With that they made the tech usable, here they’ve taken it to the next step: made it fun..."

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What we said: "As ever with a Maserati, the MC20 has its idiosyncracies. Creating a supercar that meets all the current regulations means that the fancy new engine can feel a little uptight at times. The bandwidth is there but those 600-plus horses aren’t as wild as you’d expect. The trade-off is a car that really does work as a daily driver, in terms of its long distance refinement and ease-of-use. And at some point on your way to the Tuscan villa you’ll have a moment of clarity: Maserati has manufactured a genuinely impressive motor car here, one that more than justifies its existence without playing second fiddle to the back catalogue..."

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What we said: "Have we been seduced by that wonderful engine? Hell, yeah. It’s always been special, a real high point for atmospheric internal combustion. With the sword of Damocles now poised above the entire concept, there’s no doubt the Huracán Tecnica arrives as a new(-ish) car pre-loaded with a sense of nostalgia. We won’t see its like again.

"But the rest of the car is just as good, and offers the perfect platform for the engine to do its thing. The Tecnica is hugely exciting without being spiky, hi-tech without being bamboozling. At £212,000, it’s also £48k cheaper – erm, less expensive – than the STO. It’s the sweet spot, all right..."

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What we said: "The Elva shows McLaren at its best. By taking the seemingly stupid idea of ripping off a Senna’s windscreen and sort of engineering a way around it to make it work via the very clever (if not a little temperamental) AAMS system, this speedster not only takes the brand somewhere new but also driving as a whole. Like its rivals, it’s utterly eccentric and a purchase will more than likely be supported by ego, but unlike its rivals, a lot more thought has gone into how it should be engineered. That’s very McLaren..."

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What we said: "Yes it looks completely bonkers, but the Super 3 isn’t just a comedy act. In fact it’s far from being the class clown. It is a joy to drive, providing so much feedback and giving you the confidence to explore its limits – not least because with just 118bhp on tap and only a single wheel to send it through, those limits are generally found at perfectly sensible speeds.

"There’s a strong argument that says the Super 3 is the perfect sports car for these changing times. It’s engaging, loud and unassisted for the purists, but using a proven Ford 3cyl means you’ll struggle to see less than 38mpg. And because it’s light you won’t be burning through tyres or brake pads..."

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What we said: "Does the world really need a GT4 RS when we already have a more-hardcore-than-ever 911 GT3? Yes. Yes it does; goodness are we happy this car exists. With an all-electric Cayman on the horizon, you can tell Porsche’s GT department senses the combustion engine’s demise and wants to build these types of cars while it still can, these monuments to what’s possible when you mix extraordinary engineering with a bit of fun..."

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What we said: "The Praga was at its best into the slow and medium speed corners, devastating under brakes with great chassis balance that allowed you to brake all the way to the apex without a whiff of understeer or oversteer. Not a huge amount of pedal feel, but that’s race car norm when things are so rowdy and frantic inside.

More grip than power on the way out, which is always good for confidence. Hot slick tyres made all the difference there. Through the sweepers on the back side of the circuit it must have been 10-15mph faster at the apex than anything else. And because it’s so light and dextrous, you have fantastic feedback. It’s a proper thing, capable, Praga says, of pulling a lateral 3G."

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After a launch that was delayed by almost a year, this was the new core McLaren sports car’s time to shine, up against the old school Lambo and far pricier Ferrari. McLaren said chip supply delays were to blame back in late 2021, but when Woking’s new twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid was finally unleashed in early summer this year it suffered several incidents on the rescheduled press launch. With electrical niggles also proving common among the early Arturas, the under pressure company announced it was unable to provide an Artura for Speed Week after all.

We should have had the new Lotus sports car too: after all, we’ve already driven one in the UK, and group tested it against the likes of Alpine and Porsche. However, the Emiras in question were rather unfinished, and having been bruised by some of the criticism that resulted, Lotus elected not to dispatch an Emira until it’s definitely, actually, properly set up as the eagerly anticipating customers will receive their cars. A pity: the last two Lotuses that have attended a Speed Week broke down, so the Emira had a mighty shot at redemeption. Sadly not to be, this time.

Another car we’ve already tested on road, on track and utterly loved is the Gazoo Racing engineered successor to the GT86: Toyota’s back to basics sports coupe. While the entire two-year allocation sold out in a matter of hours, we were confident the GR86 would be at Speed Week (not to mention being in with a real shout of winning the whole extravaganza). Then came the news that all GR86s needed a mysterious software update as decreed by Japan, and though the car was finished enough to be launched to the media several months ago, it wasn’t anymore.

Developed entirely by AMG, the new SL is determined to shrug off its boulevardier pretensions and be taken seriously as a proper sports car. In ‘63’ guise, it packs a 577bhp V8 punch with proper supercar performance. Alas, SLs are extremely rare of late as Mercedes battles the semiconductor chip crisis. Supplies are so stretched that SLs are basically built to order for customers, with no spare demonstrator cars apparently. So the SL was all set to represent Mercedes at Most, right up until the last moment, when it wasn’t.