A burning supercar and a hot new M3: the week in brief

This week’s big news was Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato’s lucky escape from a fire while testing the Caparo T1 supercar.

We brought you the first pictures of the smouldering machine, looked at other motoring celebrities who’ve had big crashes and interviewed former Top Gear presenter Jason Dawe.

We got the first glimpse of some hot new metal – BMW M3 saloon, the Subaru Impreza WRX STI and the Mitsubishi Evo rally car. Also hitting the roads soon are the Renault Modus and Grand Modus and BMW 1-Series convertible.

The SSC Ultimate Aero TT blasted its way into the record books as the fastest ever production car, hitting 257mph. Vandenbrink Design’s new limited-edition Ferraris follow a little way behind – they can hit 218mph, making them the fastest Ferraris available.

Jimmy Greaves’s Chrysler 300C popped up for sale on Auto Trader – but today’s footballers can expect to face higher insurance premiums.

Also this week we’ve been guiding new drivers through the stresses and strains of passing their driving exam – including getting started, practical and theory tests, pass plus, and passing the final test.

Meanwhile lobby group Safe Speed produced a 100-word Highway Code and the government was criticised for planning to get rid of motorway hard shoudlers. The breathalyser turned 40 and we took a look at how it has helped reduce drink driving, and new calls to lower the drink drive limit.

We’ve been behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet and the Nissan Qashqai – and rounded up the best super saloons.

But it was a bad week for Britain’s top racing drivers Lewis Hamilton and Andy Priaulx.