Ti drives: 2026 Noble M500

I merge onto the dual carriageway, the traffic gentle, the outside lane empty and beckoning. I thread between inside lane-dawdlers and accelerate hard through second gear, finding third at 55mph. It’s a granny shift but a feisty one, the throttle floored in synchrony with the release of the clutch. The turbos whoosh just behind my head, the back of the car squirms, the sheer torque overwhelming the 295-section Michelins – in third gear, in the dry. Completely involuntarily, I find myself yelping with glee.

At this moment I know for a fact this is the only production Noble M500 on the road, anywhere in the UK, or indeed the world. And that’s because all the others are still at Noble’s facilities, a few miles down the road behind me. I am at the wheel of the first production-spec car off the line.

Back at the factory, the first customer car rests under a cover, awaiting collection. Sitting next to it, two of the prototypes. The next four customer cars are still on the production line, the most advanced of which is just a couple of weeks away from completion.