This week, Steve goes on a Land Rover hunt - he's looking for a 1950 Land Rover Series 1 - and makes his longest day trip for a year in a Bentley Bentayga.

Monday

It’s not often we all get the chance to participate in the global hunt for a unique classic car, but here’s one. We’re looking for an Aussie-registered 1950 Land Rover Series 1. Autocar’s firm friend and former European editor, Peter Robinson, has been trying to find the Landie that his family owned when he was a kid in the Australian bush (that’s him in the passenger’s seat). He wants to find it, see it, drive it and write about it.

There’s a twist in the tale. This particular S1 (chassis RO6108381), in which the four pictured Robinson brothers learned to drive, was severely damaged in a bushfire in 1969. In 1987, the remains were sold for about £80 as wreckage. The buyer planned to restore it but never did, selling it instead to an unidentified person about a decade ago. After that the trail goes cold. Can anyone help Peter find the family Landie? It goes without saying that this is a special mission and a special S1. After all, it did teach the world’s greatest motoring journalist how to drive.

Wednesday

From Jonathan Palmer’s Motorsport Vision (MSV) comes the stirring news that Donington Hall, a handsome but run-down 18th century mansion house adjacent to the circuit, is to become a comfortable, inviting, 40-room hotel specifically designed for the needs of enthusiasts attending race meetings or track days. MSV also plans to convert a nearby office block (formerly the British Midland Airlines headquarters, because of its proximity to East Midlands Airport) into Donington Hall Motor House, where cars can be cosseted in perfect safety.

2 Donington hall