The accidental hero

When Ford launched the four-door Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth – the last of the fast Sierras – in 1988 it flew journalists like me to Taormina in Sicily to test it. As anyone who’s driven the enticing roads skirting the volcanic cone of nearby Mount Etna knows, it’s ideal territory to wring out a swift car.

And back in Taormina after a day’s indulgent driving, as I looked down from my balcony at the San Domenico Palace Hotel over a coast that has lifted people’s spirits for thousands of years, I couldn’t help thinking that the location was especially apt, and not just for the roads.