Everyday heroes: When 'normal' cars sneak into supercar showdowns

It took until 1999 for anything without a hint of high-performance pretension to resurface. At the "notoriously evil" Oulton Park circuit, we took a flier on the Volkswagen Bora V6 4Motion on account of its punchy engine and its four-wheel-drive hardware (the Haldex system shared with the Audi S3, also present).

As expected, the narrow-angle 204bhp V6 was impressive, offering a "smooth, muscular" drive. But the rest of it was something of a shambles; the suspension that offered great comfort on the road was much too soft for anything approaching enjoyment on track, disappointing a field of testers who had hoped for a spiritual successor to the Golf VR6 of old.

"There's always one car that's out of its depth," said our Colin Goodwin. "This year, sadly, it was the soft and sloppy Bora V6."

At the turn of the millennium came an all-timer of a BBDC field: Lamborghini Diablo GT, Noble M12 GT, Lotus 340R and Audi A2.

"A high centre of gravity and a mere 75bhp are hardly the stuff of which handling dreams are made," we acknowledged, noting that Audi's supermini had hardly a sporting bone in its body.

But it "brilliantly defied" its humdrum specification, with shocking agility and brilliantly communicative steering. "Everybody loved driving the A2, yet it was the slowest car here by 10 seconds," we remarked. "That says more about how good the basic handling was than mere words ever could."

Three years later, it was the turn of the Honda Accord Type S (rather than the rarefied Type R), which faced stiff competition in the form of the Audi S4 and Volvo S60R.

With 187bhp and four cylinders, it had half as much engine as the S4 yet sparkled on track. "Japan beats Europe" was our verdict, thanks to precise, accurate steering and a great gearchange. "The Accord wins by trumping, easily, the Euros in terms of chassis sensitivity and poise."

You might be surprised by the lack of a Ford so far. Up to this point, the firm's contenders had all been sporty flavours of the Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta. In 2007, though, we finally entered a regular Ford a 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo Mondeo. We had already declared it a winner against the BMW 3 Series in the run-up to 'Handling Day', but could it really stand up in comparison with a Lotus 2-Eleven, Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Lamborghini Murciélago?