It’s one of life’s great conundrums (at least of you are a multimillionaire petrol-head): the iron fist in a velvet glove of the Aston Martin DB9, or the iron fist in an iron glove of the Mercedes SLS? On behalf of Evo magazine, Tiff Needell takes both cars to a wet track and wrings their necks as only a racing driver can (unlike certain TV presenters who have been known to use a driving double).

We won’t spoil the ending, but we can tell you that the result was surprisingly close in terms of lap times. Also the car that Tiff can force to go fastest on the circuit is not necessarily the best car for fast driving on the road.

The interesting thing is that the cars really do live up to their stereotypes. The Aston Martin is massively powerful, but covered by a veneer of civilisation – not unlike its most famous fictional owner. The Mercedes is like a caricature of Teutonic single-mindedness. “For more speed we add more power.” And handling finesse? “You can’t measure finesse so we ignore it” seems to be the attitude.