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But that's not to say Craig takes himself seriously. He's a good laugh. And, again contrary to reports, a bit of a pedaller. He didn't have the best start to his driving career - "I missed my first driving test because I was drunk," he says, but luckily he went on to pass his test soon after and has enjoyed cars and driving ever since.

Les Goble, chief test driver at Aston Martin, was genuinely impressed when he drove with Craig on Aston's test track at Gaydon in Warwickshire, telling me he was one of the best drivers he'd been out with. "Did he say that?" says Craig. "I love him. That only cost me £500. I thought I had gone round very quietly."

So what does he make of his new set of wheels, specially built to suit him? At this point Craig lights up like a Christmas tree and looks genuinely excited. He has been involved in the DBS's development right from when it was still in clay form. "I can't wait to get back on the test track with it," he says. "As long as I can take care of it. No, I don't want to take care of it, I want to rag it. I want to bald the back tyres..."

A bespoke supercar is certainly a long way from the actor's first car. "That was a Nissan Cherry. It cost me £300, which, thinking about it now, was way too much money." That really must have been a chick magnet. "I never pulled the girls with that car. That's not the way to pull girls - you don't pull girls with cars."

Er... I beg to differ. Are you sure you have seen your new car Daniel? In the absence of Major Quentin Boothroyd, or 'Q' (we can live without the gadgets but we're all still missing Desmond Llewelyn) may I present your new car Mr Bond, the Aston Martin DBS? Now, pay attention.

The DBS is a development of Aston's DBR9 race car. It sits between the DB9 and the DBR and shares the same platform and architecture - the same roof, side screen and wheelbase as the DB9 - but the whole thing is lower as the chassis has been dropped by 25mm. Its haunches are more pumped up and muscular, covering a 40mm wider track.

If Craig's performance could be described as 'when Bond goes feral', then this car is 'when the DB9 goes bad'. It looks very mean, with air scoops and ducts everywhere. The whole front end is focused on the functionality of cooling a six-litre V12, which is rumoured to have been uprated to produce well in excess of 500bhp.