New Top Gear magazine out now: it’s Speed Week 2022

“How the hell can you compare a £50k, 118bhp Morgan three-wheeler to an 818bhp Ferrari supercar, or a 2.3-tonne Aston Martin SUV? This test is RIDICULOUS,” says the angry person on the internet every year, without fail. To be fair, angry person has a point, there is a certain freewheeling, laissez faire approach to our Speed Week format. In fact, the only rules appear to be: are you a performance car launched in the past 12 months? Does the Top Gear editorial team think you’re good? Then come on down!

Another telling situation, this time a conversation with the PR representative of a manufacturer we’re trying to convince to lend us a car that will have many thousands of miles put on the clock and will be roundly thrashed on circuit. “Will you be recording lap times? In which case we’ll need to send a full tech team.” We will not. “Will you be figuring each car on circuit?” We will not. “Then how will you work out which one is best?”

Are we the only ones that think performance cars should be judged purely on the way they make you feel? Don’t get me wrong, stats are fascinating and feed our inner car geek, but as a method for recommending whether you should spend your hard-earned on something, they’re next to useless. Our only metrics are the ones you can’t measure.

Does the car give you a fizz of anticipation and delight? Do you babble about what you’ve just experienced when you climb out? Can you see yourself owning one and using it on a regular basis? Does it have a unique superpower, or a combination of attributes nothing else does? Does it have personality and foibles and does the joy of the engineers that created it spill out of every pore? These are the things that matter. This is what Speed Week is about.

Want to see exactly what’s competing for the grand title this year? Well, we’ll have a rundown of all the contenders on TopGear.com soon, plus there’ll be loads more exclusive Speed Week content in the magazine. In order to read the full issue – which includes all of our thoughts from a mega road trip, a giant track test at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic and a three-car shootout for the win on glorious mountain roads – you can click this link to order a copy direct to your door.

Fancy more Top Gear magazine than that? Of course you do. Take out a subscription with the ultimate Speed Week issue today and you'll pay just £18.49 every six issues, saving 49 per cent on the usual shop price, PLUS you'll get a £10 Amazon voucher. Click here to take advantage.