Frank Sinatra had it about right: “It's very subtle, the Continental, because it does what you want it to do.” I had spent the morning driving down relatively busy A roads behind a Ferrari 599 but was perfectly happy that I had got the better of the deal. It’s no hardship being cocooned in the plush cockpit of a Bentley Continental GT Speed listening to John Humphrys detailing the latest travails of our benighted government.

And then we reached Salisbury Plain. The road stretched ahead, virtually devoid of traffic, with few hedges or walls to impair visibility through corners. The driver of the Ferrari did not resist giving one of the greatest sports cars of modern times a proper work out. The Bentley shouldn't have stood a chance.