Bruce

Planet evo
You wait ten years for a new Japanese supercar and then three turn up at once. There’s a new NSX (Hurrah!), a hybrid-powered Supra (a quiet, green sort of Hurrah! that doesn’t let out too much CO2) and the V10-engined Lexus LF-A

Driven
Aston V8 Prodrive Vantage, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Weltmeister Trophy Exige, Impreza STI Spec C Type RA-R, Fiat Bravo 1.9 MultiJet, BMW 335i Convertible, Toniq-R Duratec, Vauxhall Vectra VXR, Morego BBR Focus ST280

Alfa 8C Competizione
The 8C is arguably the sexiest car to come out of Italy this century – and we’re granted an exclusive audience with the production-ready Alfa, which will reach the first of 500 lucky buyers this autumn. David Vivian runs his hands over its curves – and chats to its German designer

Audi R8
Will it be a proper rival for Porsche and Aston? Or will it be a gorgeous car with a fantastic engine but one that’s been set up to understeer safely at the limit? Richard Meaden could induce oversteer from a pogo stick, so we sent him all the way to Las Vegas for the R8’s moment of truth

The Cost of Running Supercars
Harry Metcalfe is a man who knows all about running supercars. But Nick Hancock of the P1 Club is a man who knows even more. Want to know what breaks down, depreciates faster than it accelerates and is generally a pain in the Coutts? It’s all here

New Civic Type-R
‘Type-R’ is right up there with BMW’s ‘M’ and Porsche’s ‘RS’ monikers. A new Civic Type-R is quite an event, but can it deliver on the promise? Henry Catchpole is first behind the wheel

Hot Hatch Group Test
What’s the current king of the hot hatches? Is it the Civic Type-R (New Hatch On The Block), Astra VXR (World’s Strongest Hatch), Golf GTI (Eton and Harrow Hatch), Leon FR (Budget Hatch), Mégane R26 230 F1 (DIFFicult Hatch) or Focus ST (Lazy BeHatch)? John Barker decides

TVR Typhon
According to Greek mythology, Typhon had a hundred horrible heads, venom dripped from his eyes, lava poured from his mouths and he tore up whole mountains and threw them at the gods. Amongst his children were Cerberus and Chimera… Jethro Bovindon drives TVR’s last Blackpool-built beast on a poignant journey to the old factory

Long-term tests
We welcome a big Merc and an unlikely Nissan to the fleet this month. And Tomalin dabs a tear away and flutters a hanky in the breeze as the Westy rides off into a particularly deep red sunset

Letters
One of our ‘experts’ is taken to task for daring to suggest a Vauxhall could ever replace a Lotus

The Knowledge
Should the Radical SR3 featured in issue 100 be included on our Bedford lap chart? You decide. Email - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

NSX: Birth of an Icon
The Honda NSX is this month’s trip down memory lane. And this month’s pub trivia is that NSX stands for New Sportscar eXperimental