After the responsibility and level headedness demonstrated by my last post, it must be time to look at something totally irresponsible, insane and outrageous. How about the fastest production car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron?

Of course, it’s lovely, apart from the attempt to fit in the Bugatti grille with modern supercar styling, but they were always going to have difficulty with that - absolutely necessary, however, to persuade us that the car has some sort of remote connection with the real Bugattis of the 1920s and 1930s.

And it’s far too costly for any of us to contemplate buying one. So our interest must center around this business of it being the fastest - 253 mph is claimed. Can it really do that?

For the answer, just watch this video of Top Gear finding out.

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…

While most of the world’s car manufacturers plan smaller, more fuel-efficient and hybrid models in their bid to “save the planet”, Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo refuses to consider that route. He assured journalists at the Geneva Motor Show that Ferrari would never build a smaller car.

This follows the success of the GTB Fiorano model which has a two year waiting list for buyers. And the next Ferrari will be based upon its highest seller, the F430, which is powered by a V8.

Clearly there is a market for such cars, with Ferrari enjoying good sales and big profits over the last year and buyers lining up to spend their money. It seems that the rich don’t take too much notice of the global warming scare.

Or could it be that they know the whole business is a politically-motivated scare story without scientific foundation…?

Fox News has a story about a Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake being sold at auction for $5.5 million. Although not a world record, this is the highest ever paid for an American car.

And when you see the spec for this car, it becomes clear why it sold for so much. Made in 1966, the Super Snake added twin superchargers to the 427 Ford V8 - that gave it a 0-60mph time of around 3 seconds, unimagineable acceleration at the time.

Now that’s what I call hairy…