This morning’s Observer column.

I am not what you might call a petrolhead. I got that out of my system decades ago by owning a 3.8-litre Mk II Jaguar – until the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973 cured me of the habit. As a result, Top Gear and similar TV programmes tend to pass me by. So it was just idle curiosity that led me to tune into How to Build a Super Car on BBC2. Since McLaren is a Formula One racing team, I assumed that the show would be about how it designs and builds motorised chariots for the likes of Jenson Button.

How wrong can you be?