With bends like ‘Chicago’, the ‘Hammerhead’ and ‘Gambon’ along with the famous ‘Follow through’ the track, which tests cars handling and outright pace to the limit, has become legendary among petrolheads and will appear in Gran Turismo 5 – if it ever gets released.

The king

Sitting at the top of the show’s ‘Power Board’ is the ludicrously named Gumpert Apollo S. This German car – with its bonkers design – is a car focussed almost entirely on track usability which explains its time of 1 minute 17.1 seconds.

With a 4.2-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, the Apollo S will accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.1 seconds and has a top speed of 225mph. 

The giantkillers

Many of the star cars at the top of the rankings cost a fair few quid; the Pagani Zonda F, which sits fourth in the list, will set you back more than £900,000.

So it’s always a breath of fresh air to see a ‘more affordable’ car step forward and produce a stunning time. The £39,000 Caterham R500 is the definitive giantkiller. 

While it may only boast 230bhp, it has an awesome chassis with magnificient cornering ability, lapping the track in 1 minute 17.9 seconds – 0.4 seconds quicker than the £1,000,000, 253mph Bugatti Veyron.

Other notable stars include the £30,000 Ariel Atom (1 minute 19.5 seconds) and the £56,000 Nissan GT-R (1 minute 19.7 seconds).

Although the greatest giantkiller of all hasn’t officially been recognised. The British-built Ultima GTR with a 7-litre Corvette engine and 720bhp went round the track last month in 1 minute 9.9 seconds – 7.2 seconds faster than the Gumpert Apollo.

The disappointments

For every giantkiller there’s also a disappointment with the Mercedes SL65 AMG Black not realising its potential.

With such an aggressive design, blistering performance figures (670bhp and 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds) and a £250,000 price-tag the SL65 Black offered so much. It lapped the track in 1 minute 23 seconds.

Another car which didn’t perform as well as we would have hoped was the Alfa 8C Competizione which completed the circuit in 1 minute 38.2 seconds – in appallingly wet conditions. Top Gear says a soaking wet lap is six seconds slower putting the Alfa at around 1 minute 32 seconds – on a par with the Mazda 6 MPS.

But on the plus side, with the Alfa being slower than expected, you do get more time to look at what is quite possibly the most beautiful car ever built.

What’s coming up? (Contains spoilers)

Series 14 kicks off this weekend with Jeremy, James and Richard driving a Ferrari California, Aston Martin DBS and Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in Romania.

It also includes a rare trip to the Top Gear track for James ‘Captain Slow’ May who will be testing the BMW 760i and Mercedes S63 AMG super-limos. There’s no news on what Mr Stig will be driving, but it’s most likely the German duo.

Eric Bana is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

Source: BBC