Features - by Ben Barry

‘Okay, light them up!’ Queue to drive up the famous Goodwood hill at the Festival of Speed and, just before the start line, you’ll find yourself in the tyre-warming area. Great if you’re in a...

For a baptism of fire, it was biblically wet. I’d been invited to pop my racing cherry in a Jetta TSI at the VW Racing Cup, Rockingham and everything was starting to go horribly wrong. First, the...

An old-age pensioner gave me the biggest adrenaline rush of my life the other day. No, not some myopic relative with a Metro stuck in ‘R’ and their foot stuck to the floor. I’m talking about multiple...

He's set to achieve our wildest dreams, so what's with the cheap digs, asks Ben Barry The British always like to cut people down to size. That’s why, even as a UK driver is set to clinch the Formula 1...

To paraphrase Fernando Alonso, winning the constructor’s championship isn’t anywhere near as big a deal as winning the drivers’ championship. And that’s why, despite the unprecedented £50m fine (minus...

CAR's resident M3 expert Ben Barry enters a drift competition at the Nurburgring The choice was easy: stay at home and take the weekend easy; or leave work on Friday for a 1000-mile round trip to the...

Ever wondered what F1 stars do the night before a big race? Ben Barry joins Honda's F1 team Last Saturday evening I had the most surreal experience of my career on CAR. Invited to Silverstone for an...

Ben Barry applauds Tata's shift from cheap 'n' cheerful to cheap 'n' green While the alternative energy debate has been gathering momentum over the last couple of years in Europe and North America,...

Popping your Ferrari virginity is fraught with the risk of disappointment, says Ben Barry Two weeks ago I'd never driven a Ferrari. I'd had the F40 poster on the wall, played Outrun with a Testarossa,...

Customer surveys throw up some odd results, finds Ben Barry Don't know about you but I'm incredibly suspicious of reader-voted 'best car' awards. Seems that drivers of underdog cars are determined for...

Forget Formula One. Touring Cars is where the action's at, says Ben Barry Just back from Brands Hatch after watching the British Touring Car Championship. What a day – three races packed with some of...

Safety matters, but not if seatbelt beeps drive you up the wall, says Ben Barry I’m all for not flying through the windscreen in the event of an accident, but it seems ‘bleep’ warning systems have...

Grappling with a Westfield in the wet Recently took a Westfield around Rockingham circuit in the pouring rain and now have a new-found respect for anyone who races anything similar. In the wet it...

BMW can do it all: screaming M3 engines to clever, new-tech green advances, says Ben Barry Gas guzzlers. I can’t stomach how the mainstream media are chucking this handy catch-all around at the...