Always fancied driving a race car but never had the time, money or opportunity? Well, a small company in Britain is producing what amounts to a road legal race car and it is going to be made in the States by Brammo Motorsports.

It is called the Ariel Atom and is just a space frame, wheels and an engine - needless to say, it goes like a racer. In fact, Jeremy Clarkson says it’s more fun than a motor bike and he just might be right.

With the Honda Civic R engine, supercharged, it has over 500 bhp per ton and achieves 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Top speed is a mere 140 mph or so but, as it has no windscreen (or body for that matter), it would be tearing off your face at that speed anyway.

As with all great cars, it is the handling that makes the real difference and the Atom just begs to be thrown around - as it should with so little weight and loads of power.

The American version will have a supercharged GM Ecotec engine but promises to be just as quick and as much fun. Save your pennies.

Top Gear is a British institution. Beginning life as a motoring magazine program on BBC television, it has become an icon far beyond mere facts and figures about autos and sparked parodies, copies and spin-offs as only the best programs do.

A large part of its success has been the character of its presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, a man that everyone says they hate but secretly wish they had the guts to emulate. He is opinionated, loud, abrasive and uses that college student humor that delights in long-winded pompous phrases to state the obvious. In short, he is obnoxious but also so much over the top that it’s almost impossible not to like him, as long as you don’t tell anyone that you do. Really, the only way to understand what I’m saying is to experience the man himself.

And, thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can offer you that experience. Here, as a first instance, is Top Gear’s take on the Maserati MC12. Jeremy Clarkson is the feller with the Ladybird book of cars at the beginning. Apart from anything else, he gets to drive one of the most beautiful racing cars ever built, the Maserati F250 - and that’s enough to make any car lover go green with envy.

But I don’t think I can ever forgive him for what he does to a Maserati Bi-turbo. It really doesn’t matter how bad a car it is, a Maserati is still a Maserati…