Out now: brand new Top Gear magazine

Over to Top Gear magazine's Editor-in-Chief Charlie Turner for a few words on this month's spanking new issue - out now!

Supercars may be very good at shock and awe, leaving us salivating over lunatic power figures and miniscule lap times, but at TG we also like to celebrate quieter heroes. The giant-killers that operate in the real world, at a more meaningful level than the million-pound superstars, delivering day-to-day thrills for us real people, at real-world prices.

Ford's blue-collar back catalogue is better than most. Which means that a new hot hatch from the company that made names like Mexico, Cosworth, ST and RS bywords for affordable, accessible performance is big news. And it requires serious attention.

Here at TG, we may be perversely proud of being ambitious but rubbish, but the Focus ST deserved more. Of everything. The plan was simple: fly the car to the wrong side of America, airdrop Sam Philip into LAX where he'd meet a photographer and drive across the US to deliver the ST to the docks in NYC five days later. Obviously, there was a catch: at no point during the trip was the car allowed to turn a wheel on an interstate.

Some 3,333 miles later (nearly one seventh of the Earth's circumference), Sam was very well acquainted with the ST's driving seat. Not least because the photographer revealed, as they were leaving LA, that he "couldn't drive stick". While others will have driven the ST for a matter of hours, TG has crossed an entire continent in it. Ambitious. Not rubbish. The adventure begins on page 120.

With the creation of another real-world hero from Ford comes the birth of a supercar that might just redefine the term. The work of art that is the new Pagani Huayra. Ever since engineering alchemist Horacio Pagani first showed us pictures of his newest creation, it was clear that he was going to take automotive artistry to a new level. But does the driving experience match the insanity of the visuals? Tom Ford recalibrates his senses on page 136.

From real-world adventures to the ultimate in automotive escapism. And everything in between. Only in Top Gear.

Enjoy the issue.

Want more from the Ford Focus ST? Here's a natty time-lapse video of our momentous trip across the States...

And do you want more videos like this? Got an iPhone or an iPad? Then pop to the shops and get yourself a Top Gear Magazine. Then download the free TG Mag Extra app right here from the iTunes Store. Then point your smartphone at an image where you see the Stig logo and a video will load on your screen. Don't ask us how it works - it's probably magic. Or Stig-craft.