New Top Gear magazine: out now

A few words from editor-in-chief Charlie Turner on this month’s spanking new issue of Top Gear magazine…

It’s hard to imagine a country more synonymous with style than Italy. From Milanese fashion houses to the stars of this month’s cover, the ‘S’ word runs deep through great swathes of Italian DNA.

And, as automotive objects of desire go, it’s hard to think of any car more likely to elicit the fizz – as James would put it – than the new Ferrari 458 Spider, preloaded with the requisite blonde. We send Tom Ford off to live the (annoyingly perfect) Italian petrolhead dream for our cover story.

Another example? In the UK, flashing blue lights in your mirror tend to be attached to a Volvo estate, but Italy opts for something a little more rakish. We dispatch Sam Philip to the passenger seat of a Carabinieri Lotus Evora S in Rome to track down Tom and his beautiful accomplice. It’s the world’s most stylish police chase.

In another world-first, I find myself vomiting during a high-level industry interview. Mind you, high-level is an appropriate description – it’s also the first time I’ve conducted an interview while aboard a light-strike jet fighter doing extreme aerobatics. The results of my time in the cockpit of industry legend ‘Maximum’ Bob Lutz’s L-39 Albatros are later in the issue.

Elsewhere, we have a Mercedes ML giving chase to a runaway adventurer in a very large balloon, and John Cantlie offers a snapshot of how the Hilux became the vehicle of choice on the Libyan front line

There’s all the new metal, too. From a first drive of Citroen’s new DS5 to a face-off between two of the hottest (and priciest) supermini hatches on the market; the Vauxhall Corsa VXR Nürburgring and the Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari. Shot on Fiat’s iconic Lingotto rooftop test track, it’s a twin-test with teeth.

Enjoy the issue...