How often have we watched motor racing on the television and thought that everything seemed pretty slow? The braver of us may even have ventured that we could do better in our tuned-up road burners with the go faster stripe. It is hard to judge speed when watching it on a screen without peripheral vision to give us a reference point.

The Top Gear team performed a revealing test, however, pitting a standard but sporty car against a rally car and a Formula 1 racer - and the results are even more staggering than we can imagine. Have a look at this clip and be amazed at the speed of the F1 car.

One of the ironies of the fast sportscar is that most of us cannot afford to buy one until we’ve become somewhat of a classic vintage ourselves. And that means that inescapable facts like receding hairlines and the creeping grey invasion tend to cramp our style as dashing young men in our sporting machines.

The obvious answer is to seek artificial assistance in the guise of a wig or hairpiece but there are problems inherent in this - how much speed can you risk before wind velocity overcomes your wig’s ability to hang on to your balding pate?

Naturally, the Top Gear team have had the foresight to road test the various wigs available and you can see the result in this clip from YouTube. But spare a thought for the stoicism of their tester, Barry…

This has absolutely nothing to do with cars, except that it’s the Top Gear team. It’s quite funny, however, and might lift your spirits on a Monday.

The team attempt to play a song for Rednose Day (it’s a charity thing that began with Comic Relief) - and it’s quite good, amazingly enough. Just don’t ask me who Justin Hawkins is - I’m far too old to know things like that.

Anyway, here it is!

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?