Torque shows

Performance-car engines are sometimes like comedians in that they depend on good timing. When a good comic delivers a punchline the audience can sometimes take a few seconds of silence to geddit - until they burst into uproarious laughter.

In a similar way I was involved in an extremely good example of the advantages of torque over power the other week - and of how timing its use is important to avoid being a laughing stock. I was test-driving Aston Martin's new four-door sportscar, the Rapide, in Spain. The six-litre V12 engine has been retuned and delivers more torque, lower in the rev range (because that's more useful in a street car), at the expense of a little top-end power. Nonchalantly, I tapped off the traction control and planted my right foot. It took the car a second or two to comprehend the depths of my stupidity - and then all hell broke loose. The rear wheels spun, the car jiggled, my heart raced, palms sweated and I had that hair-tingling feeling which suggests a week's worth of adrenaline used up in a split-second.

My passenger Alan Judd - novelist and contributor to The Daily Telegraph - probably raised an eyebrow (I was looking elsewhere) but remained remarkably calm considering we could have disappeared stage-left into some of Valencia's orange trees. I suppose Alan doesn't get flustered by very much since the day he was blown up (obviously not entirely effectively) by the IRA when serving with the British army in Northern Island.

So, the Rapide. It has four doors, though you have to look hard for the rear ones so well concealed are they. I rode in the back for a comfortable 30 minutes (with Mr Judd at the wheel taking a more sedate pace) amusing myself with the video screens set into the back of the front seats. There are cubby holes perfectly sized for bottles of Evian, Moleskine notebooks and BlackBerrys. I suspect Aston Martin will come up with a version for the iPhone too.