Supercars

There it was, striking colour way sat in the workshop up at Piaggio Silverstone. First impressions, smaller than I thought, especially for an 1100cc bike. Very compact and lightweight looking, gorgeous! Very accommodating team at Piaggio. Tuono – Thunder in Italian, why doesn’t that surprise me, a name like that! It is the closest thing to strapping a thunderstorm between your legs, so I have been told! 

The arrival of a new Jaguar is always an occasion to be celebrated. A beautifully proportioned British motor car, featuring new technology, a luxurious interior and just enough sporting character to remind its owner that life was supposed to be enjoyed.

The Suzuki GSX-S1000GT is Suzuki's sport-tourer that replaced the older GSX-S1000F. It takes a legendary superbike powerplant and houses it in a sporty but comfortable, long-distance chassis built for high-speed touring and spirited backroad scratching, and boy, does it deliver.

My bike was the GT+, which includes factory colour-matched 36-litre hard panniers (capable of holding a full-face helmet in each side), and heated grips as standard.

There is a special kind of magic that settles over West Sussex in the height of summer, where for one weekend, a narrow 1.17-mile ribbon of tarmac is transformed into the most revered stage in global motorsport. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a fleeting, three-minute visceral punch—a 304-foot ascent where the analytical mind takes a back seat to pure adrenaline, and I was invited to experience it for myself as the guest of Honda motorcycles.

Bentley has unveiled its first fully electric car. The Torcal is a five-seat SUV with up to 876 bhp, a claimed range of 375 miles and a rather elaborate answer to the question of what a Bentley should sound like without an engine. It involves a viola. We shall come to that.

We loaded up the Harley-Davidson Road Glide Limited, and I swung my leg over the sumptuous leather seat and thumbed the starter. The fabulous Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine fired into life, settling down to a melodic, rhythmic throb. Kate jumped on behind me, and off we went, leaving the historic grandeur of Boringdon Hall behind. The second leg of our journey took us southwest, out of Devon and into Cornwall, toward the quiet waters of the Helford River near Falmouth.

There is a distinct, quiet magic in returning to the roads of your youth. Growing up in Plymouth, the landscapes of South Devon, where the rugged granite tors of Dartmoor give way to sweeping coastal horizons, were the backdrop to my early life. Returning decades later aboard a motorcycle adds an entirely new dimension to that nostalgia. The long, open miles through the West Country flow past with effortless rhythm, culminating in a stay at one of Devon’s most captivating historic estates: Boringdon Hall Hotel and Spa.

There is a distinct, nostalgic thrill to slinging a leg over a proper supermoto. It looks like it means business just standing on its side stand, tall, lean, angular, and mean. Built for hooliganism. 

The 2026 Suzuki DR-Z4SM is the long-awaited, ground-up overhaul of Suzuki's iconic supermoto platform. Replacing the long-running DR-Z400SM, the new model updates the classic "thumper" design with modern fuel injection, updated chassis geometry, and lightweight electronic rider aids while keeping its nimble, street-focused character.

I should probably start this review with a confession: I’ve never really wanted an electric car.

Ascot, more than anywhere, understands horsepower. It has spent centuries breeding it, grooming it, weighing it and inviting people in elaborate hats to bet on it. The BMW iX3 50 xDrive brings 463 horses of its own to the party, although none of them eats oats.