Lotus Emira

There is a road about five minutes from the Lotus factory in Norfolk which in 20 miles will tell you perhaps 80 per cent of what you need to know about a new car’s chassis. Of the remainder, you’ll find about 15 per cent on the track and the rest only over time we don’t have today.

There’s another important qualifier here, and you should allow it to colour your view of the rest of this story. It is not my place to say whether it was a smart move or not, but Lotus decided to introduce its most important new car of the last quarter century to a small number of press before it was quite finished.