The guys at Autocar, the oldest car magazine in the world, are usually the first to get behind the wheel of new models. So they usually have the most intimate knowledge of these cars by the time they have to pick the best in each category. The category we are interested in of course is the driver’s cars, and here’s how they went about picking the best of 2014.

In this big, epic test, the journalists hit the Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire with a lineup of fine machines to find Britain’s best driver’s car. The winner must be the “most entertaining to drive,” not necessarily the fastest or most beautiful:

The lineup includes everything from the Ariel Atom, to the Corvette Stingray, Renault Megane Trophy, Alfa Romeo 4C, Porsche 991 GT3, McLaren 650S, Ferrari 458 Speciale, BMW M4, Jaguar F-Type, and Holden Commodore. The highlight of this lineup was the BMW i8 sports car which hold its own against all the big boys even though it is only a three-cylinder hybrid.