We’ve just hit 1,000 YouTube views on the Untitled feat. Harley Davidson 48 short we produced last week, so a massive thank you to all who have watched and for your comments.

It was all a bit of Sunday morning experimentation really, but I like how the multi-medium mix of poetry, video and music can be used to heighten all three arts. After some very positive conversations, here’s to developing more works in the future.

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Who would have thought that amongst the varied prized possessions of fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto would lurk a Rollys-Royce Corniche?

Fortunately, we can now all share his love for the Corniche by buying this limited edition T-shirt without the designer price tag. The tee has been produced to help celebrate Yamamoto’s 30 years in fashion, and coincides with an excellent exhibition that is currently running at London’s V&A museum until 10 July. If you can’t make the exhibition, you can still buy the T-shirt from the online V&A store.

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Rain. That incessant, unyielding kind that I thought only the Lake District could produce, has somehow made its way to London. And on the same weekend I have borrowed a Harley Davidson 48.

It’s only then, weird plastic murmur tapping on my half hat, that I realise it’s an odd argument as to why anybody would prefer to ride two wheels over four. It’s always colder, usually wetter, more dangerous, there’s no radio, no bluetooth for your phone, you can’t really chat to your passengers, you look a bit of a tool arriving at work and, as I recently discovered at an airport check-in, all the time you’ve gained on the road threading through traffic is lost having to strip off your multiple layers of kit.

But having grown up on the smell of two-stroke scooters, I just can’t seem to shake the habit. I value the perspective I get from a bike and, now I’m older, I can finally get insured for less than the price of a small house.

To my surprise, the Harley 48 has proved to be the most most remarkable town bike. The frame is compact and narrow enough to weave in and out of traffic. The chunky tyres, seat and suspension have been set up to make no drama out of potholes and the 1202cc engine has so much torque (98NM), you find yourself just burbling around in any of those five gears. It’s a massively infectious riding style and one that keeps your license in tact.

Equally surprising is just how useless the 48 would be on a trek to the Scottish Highlands. The forward pegs and wide bars get uncomfortable at prolonged high speed -  seriously, anything above 60mph and the vibrations hit you hard and the burly ‘potato potato‘ thrum becomes inaudible. All your ears pick up is the apparent ticking noise of an old cinema projector.

The most frustrating part would be that piddly 8-litre ‘peanut’ fuel tank. The range is supposed to be around the 100-mile mark, but in the city, I was seeing the fuel light flash on after half that. Come to mention it, I find it quite weird that a bike with an odometer and a trip computer does not also have a fuel gauge. I could imagine becoming quite paranoid if I was ever planning a route out of town. Keep this bike in the city however, and you will fall in love.

• For more discussions on the Harley Davidson 48, please listen to our Gas Station podcast at Podisode.com

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One third of all UK Audi sales are from the A3, so it’s no surprise that there’s been much anticipation for this ultimate edition, the 335bhp Audi RS3 Sportback. Even at £40k. It is blindingly quick, and can grip in a way that is hard to elucidate verbally.

I filmed the interior with my phone to give you all a tour as this is probably the last time we’ll all get close to this car again. All 500 units coming to the UK are sold.  As you can see, the cabin remains beautifully appointed, if a little bit long in the tooth these days.

I can confirm the DSG gearbox is brilliant. In ‘S’ mode, the transmission intuitively recognises what gear you want and shifts cogs effortlessly quickly, so there’s absolutely no let up. It’s the relentless acceleration that I found most impressive with this car.

Trouble is, four-wheel drive can often anaesthetise the driving enjoyment and although the Audi RS3 is, I repeat, devastatingly quick (seriously, I just don’t know what could beat it on a B-road) you may find yourself having more fun in something else. As long as you’re also cool with that meaning you won’t be the fastest.

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The country-wide ardour for all things motoring could only ever exist in Italy, which probably explains the Mille Miglia. What a spectacle. You’ll note by my complete lack of correspondence -- apart from Twitter -- that as soon as the clocks started, the Jaguar Heritage team and I barely had time to sleep, let alone blog.

I was there to do a job for Jaguar Heritage, and after following the Jaguar D-Type around the route during the day, the nights were spent servicing the car and improvising fixes with a boot full of tools. Our drivers finished day one at 2AM, and we arrived at our hotel at 4:30AM.  We were back on the road at 6AM, bleary eyed, yawning and debilitated by a double shift, but buzzing.

Most people will only see these cars in museums, if ever, so it’s just amazing when you’ve got hundreds of these iconic cars descending en masse through the streets of beautiful town after town, spumante and celebration being served up on every corner. Florence in particular was stunning. I drove past the Statue of David that overlooks the city and thought to myself how I’d very much like to return one day.

Adrenalin pretty much carries you through day three, but unfortunately ours was cut short 100kms from the finish when the Jaguar D-Type suffered overheating problems. Our final hours were spent on a roadside somewhere waiting for a trailer home. It didn’t seem fair at the time, but on reflection I think it helped me experience every emotion going. I needed a week to get over the Mille Miglia and still have the smell of racing fuel in my dreams.

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Less than one week ago (and weirdly, while chatting to a colleague about the XK120) I received the most awesome phone call from Jaguar Heritage boss Tony O’Keefe. It was a request for my attendance at the 2011 Mille Miglia, and to be a Jaguar Heritage support crew member for what is, arguably, the world’s most infamous road race.

It’s always an incredible privilege to work with the Jaguar Heritage boys. I may not have had any time to re-acquaint myself with the D-Type (most likely the car I will be supporting), attempt some conversational Italian or organise sufficient holiday cover (sorry about today, Andy).

But I’m now lightly packed with a laptop and Flip camera and I can’t stop my feet from moving on this jazz-tastic airport carpet. The moral to all car fans is this: if you are offered a job attending the Mille Miglia with Jaguar, you don’t turn it down.

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My two-wheeled dream ride has just moved from being a Moto Guzzi to a Harley Davidson.

I won’t bore you with the details but after visiting Guzzi specialists Corsa Italiana in south London, you’d think that they weren’t keen on selling you a bike. Pretty lame when you consider that new bike sales figures are already struggling with only a trickle of new riders wanting to join our embattled gang. So it was onwards to Shaw Harley Davidson in East Sussex to show them how customer service is really done.

While buying a Harley may pigeonhole me into some demographic, I would like to think my choice of wheels was a mute and useless indicator of the content of my character. I don’t want to join a Hog Chapter or grow a porn star goatee, I just want to ride. The staff at Shaw H-D could see that and were incredibly knowledgable about what bike would be right for me.

The 48 (pic above) is an attractively priced introduction to Harley Davidson ownership. It’s still A LOT of money to mentally come to terms with, particularly when you consider what you could buy with four wheels, for the same pot of cash.

But the physical and psychological sensations are more persuasive than any practical argument. For example, the noise the 1200 makes when you cut the pipes is off the scale! Plus I will be cherishing this bike for the long haul.

But at Shaw H-D, it’s not so much what they can sell off the shelf that’s so appealing. It’s how they can help you develop the bike afterwards. Shaw H-D recently entered the International Custom Show in London and took the top two podium places in the Modified Harley Davidson category (more on those amazing bikes another time).

Half of the appeal of owning a Harley for me is the ability to customise and an unscheduled tour of the Speed Shop, courtesy of Dealer Principal Steve Willis, has caused my mind to work overtime at the possibilities. The stock bike is simply a blank canvas.

Brethren, after much deliberation I think I’m pretty close to making a decision. So if you’ve got any reservations about Hog ownership, speak now or forever wear your ear plugs.

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TT 3D is the best documentary I’ve seen about this incredible road race on the Isle of Man. The main thread is the 2010 campaign of everybody’s favourite underdog, Guy Martin. There are several other narrative strands, however, featuring TT heroes John McGuinness and Richard ‘Milky’ Quayle that offer some very personal insights into why this race, with all the inherent danger, is such a drug.

With 3D footage to complement such frank and honest answers -- before every TT trip, John McGuinness confesses to mowing the lawns and completing odd jobs around his family home in case he doesn’t come back -- I guarantee this film will open your eyes that little bit wider and leave you with a newfound respect for every single TT rider.

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Report 2. Load-lugging skills

The Ford C-MAX has been looking after its nomadic keeper this month. Moving flats meant off-loading various boxes of accumulated ’stuff’ into the garages of beloved friends and family members across the UK.

First stop was chez Quirk Snr in the Lake District where opulent blue skies replaced London’s smoggy effort which, quite often, can only be described as the colour of a soiled shirt collar. Sadly no sooner had I dumped my contents than I was forced to head back down the M6 and M1 with another van load of stuff for two of my sisters.

When you fold the rear seats down (annoyingly, they don’t fold completely flat) the Ford C-MAX loading area expands from 666-litres to a pretty substantial 1723-litres. Litres mean nothing to me either, so as the photo demonstrates, the C-MAX can hold a mattress with accompanying wooden bed frame, Breville machine, Delonghi toaster, chopping board, carpet and wooden penguin ornament thingy with space to spare.

Unfortunately, the 113bhp 1.6 TDCi is proving less versatile. Yep, it emits just 119g/km of CO2 and has a claimed average fuel consumption figure of 61.4mpg, but I’m now more than 3,000 miles in and haven’t seen anything higher than 43mpg. On paper, the 0-62mph sprint time can also be achieved in 11.3 seconds, but that’s assuming Tony McCoy’s at the wheel. On most occasions, with people or stuff in the car, the engine can get bogged down if you don’t offer a bootful of revs. Starting to think I may have chosen the wrong diesel engine.

Next month, I’m going to focus on giving this C-MAX a bit more exterior flair. I’ve already lined up a conversation with vinyl wrap specialists Motor Mode UK to see what is achievable. You may think a matt khaki C-MAX with gloss black (or maybe brown?) roof should be condemned to the dustbin of bad ideas, but I want to hear it from the experts first. I think it could look pretty awesome. Well, certainly better than chrome…

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