When you own a rare supercar of which only 399 were made, you may like to think that you’re the one capable of driving “like a bat out of hell”. However, businessman Frank Mountain has issued a High Court writ, claiming a reckless bus driver has wrecked his £600,000 ($1,150,000) hand-built Ferrari Enzo.

The tycoon, who was in the passenger seat, was being driven to a race track by a Ferrari dealer. The writ claims the crash cost more than £300,000 in repairs and related expenses, including compensation for loss of earnings when the owner had to travel to Italy to pick up the vehicle, loss of use of the Ferrari and a drop in the car’s value. “As a consequence of the collision the airbags inflated and the Ferrari filled with smoke and dust, rendering the driver unable to see and causing the Ferrari to collide with the VW Golf.” The Golf was written off.

The bus driver said, “My wife Christina was furious. She said, ‘You couldn’t have been in an accident with anything cheap could you?’”

Wilts and Dorset bus company, whose driver was involved, dispute the claim. Finance Director Matt Dolphin said: “We have filed a counter claim.”

All that fuss over a car!

TVR used to be a very small company that made typical British sports cars - in Blackpool, Lancashire, of all places. They followed the same formula as all the other constructors: lightweight fiberglass body on a great-handling chassis and a lightly-tuned straight-4 to provide the power. AC broke away from the norm when Carroll Shelby squeezed an enormous American V8 into their Ace to create the Cobra and that gave everyone the same idea - why not do the same for other Brit sports cars?

It was tried with a variety of cars and TVR were no exception, but nothing earth-shattering was created until the eighties, when the company was bought by Peter Wheeler, a millionaire with big ideas. He wanted to make TVR into a “serious” sports car manufacturer.

The result was a series of models that multiplied to the point of confusion. They all had one thing in common, however - they were ridiculously overpowered and a handful to drive as a result. Until the Sagaris of 2004, that is.

The styling is very TVR, aggressive and slightly over the top, but at last the company had produced a car that could handle the power delivered by its 4 liter straight-6. And the result was a car as desirable as any of the great Italian supercars at a fraction of the price.

Well, Jeremy Clarkson seems to think so, anyway…

There are only 400 Enzos in the world - oops, make that 399. It seems comedian Eddie Griffin has managed to wreck one of them while practising for a race to promote the film Redline. He was unhurt but the Enzo is a write off - that’s $1.5 million worth of motor car.

Daniel Sadek, whose car it was, has “mixed feelings” about the incident, apparently. Well, I guess he would.

Never mind, at least there’s one thing we can all learn from this: never let a joker borrow your car…

After all this stuff about saving the planet, it would do us all good to have a breath of fresh air in the form of something totally irresponsible. A Lamborghini, for instance - they’re always good for a fantasy or two.

Or are they? According to Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, the company’s take-over by Audi has tamed the wild excesses of the Italian original. He seems somewhat disappointed in the Murcielago LP 640, apart from its power and speed, and I detect a certain nostalgia for the fins, scoops and protuberances usually associated with a Lambo. But I think it’s successful, in the looks department, at least. That dose of German seriousness has taken the edge off the usual Italian flair maybe, but it still looks like a Lamborghini.

So you have to drive it carefully? Isn’t that true of all supercars?