I have a confession to make: there is a continuity error in the new series of Ashes to Ashes. This is TV-speak for a mistake and it concerns the car that my character, DCI Hunt, is driving. Normally I wouldn’t bother you with this, but since I am filling in for Jeremy Clarkson, who is famously scrupulous, I thought I should mention it. But first a bit of background.

When we decided on making the follow-up to last year’s Life on Mars, one of the biggest discussions centred on the type of car that DCI Hunt should drive. We knew that the new series would be set in the 1980s; we knew that Hunt would have a new sidekick – the female police psychologist played by Keeley Hawes – and we knew that there would be lots of tyre-squealing chases. But we didn’t know what car Hunt would be driving.

This was important. In Life on Mars, which was set in the 1970s, the old Ford Cortina I drove virtually made third billing, after me and John Simm, who played Sam Tyler. It captured the time and the character of Hunt and added to the realism of the show. More important, it wasn’t a Granada, which is what they drove in The Sweeney.

So it was something that we had to get right for the new series. I think cars have always played a part in creating on-screen characters. There is Bond in his Aston Martin, obviously, but I also remember being terribly impressed by the Aston and the Ferrari Dino on The Persuaders. They completely defined the characters of Roger Moore and Tony Curtis: the suave, smooth Aston had to be Moore’s, while Curtis, the street urchin made good, had the loud, raucous Dino.

The problem was that when we sat around discussing cars with the production crew and scriptwriters, trying to think of an iconic car that defined the early 1980s, the only thing we could come up with was a Mini Metro.

I think it was me who suggested the Audi quattro. As a child I would spend hours watching rallying on Saturday mornings and it was always the quattro – usually in red and white or a rather strange orange colour – that would be tearing up the field. Also it would be a lot groovier to drive than the Cortina. Everyone agreed: the Audi quattro would be perfect.

One immediate problem with this was that Hunt would never have been able to afford one on his salary. Then again, we reasoned, Crockett would never have been able to afford his Ferrari Daytona Spider. And Hunt probably would have nicked it anyway.

So where’s the mistake? Well, the version of the quattro I drive in the show was introduced in Britain in 1983. Ashes to Ashes is set in 1981. The changes are tiny (slightly different headlights are the most noticeable) but it’s still a continuity error. I hope it doesn’t distract you from enjoying the show.

I’m expecting a deluge of letters of complaint from eagle-eyed fans and members of the Audi appreciation association but, given that the alternative was a Metro, it’s something I think I can live with.

The car we found has about 150,000 miles on the clock – and it’s still going strong. But it’s so much smaller than I remember. I recall the quattro as a big hulk of metal, but compared with cars on the road today, it’s tiny. I guess that shows how fast modern cars have grown. But in most other ways it has aged brilliantly well – and did I mention it’s much more fun than the Cortina?

In some ways it is too good for the show. We do a lot of handbrake turns – because they look good and they’re fun. But with four-wheel drive you pull the handbrake up and nothing happens. So we took it to a place that modifies all the Bond cars and the mechanics there put a little hydraulic thingy on the handbrake so now we can do really groovy handbrake turns. And it actually drives much more smoothly.

The quattro was well ahead of its time in the 1980s. It was the first mass-produced road car to have four-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine.

There was nothing to touch it and it catapulted Audi from being just another maker of dull German saloons into the desirable car market alongside BMW and Mercedes. And that, as Clarkson might say, brings me neatly to the car under review today: the Audi R8. This is the car that Audi can, with some justification, claim moves it one rung further up the ladder to challenge Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin in the supercar class. With its 4.2 litre V8 engine and ultra-light aluminium chassis it blasts out 414bhp and does 0-62mph in 4.6sec and a top speed of 187mph. It also makes a great noise and looks amazing.

I have never been in a car that turns heads quite like this one. Everybody stares at it. I span it around and took it down to the golf club just to see all the quite rich City boys eye this poncy actor in his R8. I couldn’t help protesting: “But it’s not mine . . . ” – and I know you’re not supposed to say that. I even had a fellow actor saying to me: “I know you’re doing well but I didn’t know you were doing that bloody well.”

The first thing I had to do when I got in it was try to work out how you start the engine. You need to put your foot down on the clutch before you can start it, so I spent a good 15 minutes trying to get her going, thinking that I had a flat battery. Not a good look. Once you do get going the thing you notice instantly is the sound of the engine. It’s in the back of the car, very close to you, and that’s all you can hear: this massive V8 revving behind you. You think: “S***! This is rather powerful.”

Naturally the first thing you want to do is get it out on a bit of road where you can put your foot down a bit to see how quickly it gets up to 60mph (very, very quickly, is the answer) but of course when you live in London that is easier said than done. It doesn’t matter what car you have here – it can be a Fiesta or a Ferrari – you can never get it out of third gear. But when I took it for a little spin down the M3, before I knew it I was at the Solent.

This is a high-performance car and it’s just not built for tootling around town or going down to Waitrose and showing off to people. (Although that is quite fun.) It almost makes you a little bit cross because you know that it really wants to go, but you are too scared to let rip. It is built for the German autobahn. Which got me thinking: this is the sort of car that makes you want to buy a little place beside an autobahn so you can go for a spin, rather like other people buy ski chalets.

Funnily enough, road rules and regulations have hit television as well. When Minder was doing his stuff, they never closed off roads for him; they just piled up a load of cardboard boxes and filmed early in the morning when there wasn’t much traffic around. On the set of Ashes, health and safety rules mean we have to have the real police close off a stretch of road so we can do all the stunts. I’d like to say I do them all but in reality the stunt guys do the more difficult stuff.

I’m not sure what Gene Hunt would think of all this. He probably wouldn’t be too impressed. But I know he would like the R8: it’s fast, loud and brash and, with a fuel economy of less than 20mpg, it is also brilliantly un-PC.

Perhaps if we make another series set in 2008, he will be driving one.

Jeremy Clarkson returns next week

Vital statistics

Model Audi quattro coupé
Engine type 2144cc, five cylinders
Power 197bhp @ 7800rpm
Torque 233 lb ft @ 5000rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual
Fuel 26mpg (combined)
CO2 n/a
Acceleration 0-62mph: 7.1sec
Top speed 137mph
Price £14,500 (new in 1980)
Verdict A brilliant bruiser

Rating

On sale 1980 to 1988

Vital statistics

Model Audi R8
Engine type 4.2 litre V8
Power 414bhp @ 7800rpm
Torque 317 lb ft @ 5000rpm
Transmission Six-speed auto R tronic
Fuel 19.3mpg (combined)
CO2 325g/km
Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.6sec
Top speed 187mph
Price £78,195
Verdict Perfect for Germans

Rating

Date of release On sale now

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