Porsche 911 'Design911.com'

There's a stretch of the North Circular, clockwise, just after Henley's Corner, where the intersecting A1 reaches into Central London, and ends about two miles later as you slow to a crawl, indicating right to join the road dropping into Muswell Hill. This stretch has everything: camber, inclines, convex segments, dips that vary between the lanes, traffic lights that have to be timed to beat, and more often than not, another guy on the inside lane who's up for the challenge....

As the road swoops, climbs, ebbs and flows, it just works for me, and I mainly relish it, later at night as I make my way from North-West London. The traffic tends to be light and the speed just climbs. The uphill entrance to the orange-lit tunnel, is guarded on either side by Britain's most expensive bus stops, and here you'll have the window down. In a manual car, you should have already shifted into 5th gear about two hundred yards back, but in a big auto V8, the growl will start to resonate across the walls, especially if you kickdown.

I've done the run in a number of different cars, from a beaten up Escort van to an M6 and it's thrilling every time. And when I recently went to the local Porsche dealership to 'play' with a 996 Carrera 4S, I advised the salesman that I needed to experience the car for a weekend....

Like Valentino, I did that stretch of road six times on one glorious night.

Most car permutations are familiar and the experiences mildly vary: engine in the front, power to the back. Four wheels spinning or two, the physics in the equation are played up by journalists, magazines and hacks more than 80% of drivers will ever really determine. But the 911 is a totally different proposition.

For the first time, I didn't feel too comfortable attacking the road. But the second time, I focused on one sweeping right hander for an improvement. And then on the third, built on this making sure I flicked the Tiptronic a few seconds later on another section, letting the revs crescendo up. I felt like Von Karajan. Slowly I built up my confidence and the payback was exponentially more than I ever would have envisaged.

The 911 is an iconic car, because it's an automotive peculiarity. It rewards, it delivers, it engages, on more levels than any other sports car, simply because you have to put so much in to begin with. Like using an old Montblanc with an oblique nib for the first time. If you master it, hold it correctly, you'll write the most beautiful letters.