OK - here’s the story. Spurred on by watching far too many Top Gear episodes I’ve always fancied having a long blast through Europe, preferably taking in as many miles of unrestricted Autobahn on the way trying to go as fast as possible.

However, I have never been able to come up with a plausible excuse or reason why to undertake such a voyage. I’d tried rehearsing my argument .. ME:“Darling, I’d like to take 5 days away from the family during busy term time, get up at 3am in the morning, drive 2600 miles as fast as possible and return a fit for nothing worn out rag”.WIFE:”That sounds fun dear, away you go and have a really nice time”…And then I’d wake up.

Then a small flash of inspiration came - I needed not only a reason for going but also a friend to go with. This elevated the whole enterprise from ‘wholesale desertion of family’ up to the level of ‘a pointless Boys trip’ - I might just be in with a chance then. Friend Mike was very much up for a trip which we decided would be to as many car factories as we could reasonably fit and a rush around the Stelvio pass (Top Gear’s no.1 road) for good measure. Added bonus - Mike’s a sales guy and can come up with a compelling argument on literally any mad cap scheme. He did and we were on!

The key choice would be what car to go in? First thing’s first - no speed limiter thank you very much. I’m not going to barrel down an autobahn just to hit a 155mph electronic wall. So any thought of high powered BMWs or Mercedes was jettisoned. Second thing - the car needs to have a sense of occasion. Porsches were therefore omitted at this point. Brilliant cars they maybe but they’re ten a penny over here and I’d guess Germany would be even worse.Third thing - no Italian hardware, unfortunately. If our destination was Italy then it seemed pretty pointless turning up at the Lamborghini factory and then losing your car in the car park amongst all the other Gallardos (“Now where did I put it?!”). No, the more we thought about it, the more we realised that we must ‘Fly the Flag’ and travel in one of Britain’s automotive finest.

So a Ford or Vauxhall then. Sorry, no..a Bentley or Aston Martin. Now give me an Aston Martin any day of the week to look at but to drive across a continent? My initial choice was the Aston Martin Vanquish - in British Racing Green. A fantastic brute of a machine capable of 200+ mph seemed just the ticket. However, a preliminary drive for a couple of days revealed a liking for dropping down into neutral at traffic lights and then point blank refusing to select first gear for at least a minute or two. If it can’t make it the 2 miles to Sainsburys without mishap what chance the 1125 miles to Sant Agata or Modena? Perhaps then the DB9 Volante (THINKS - that would be nice - a soft top in the Italian sun!) but hang on, wasn’t that the one where the sound system broke down listening to radio 4 in my front drive? Mike may be a salesman but even he couldn’t keep talking for the 10 hours a day we would be travelling - we had to have music!

So it came down to one - a bullet proof, flag waving, grand tourer capable of 195mph and the ability to have the top down if the sun came out. Our choice - The Bentley Continental GTC.