It was barely capable of 65mph, took almost 22 seconds to hit 60mph, and was super-basic. There was one colour option: dark green.The cunning bit was that, once you'd bought your Moke, you could turn it into a car by adding passenger seats, a wiper and flimsy sidescreens. It was know to affect the action of the contraceptive pill, drugs used to prevent tissue rejection in transplant patients and antiretroviral medicines taken by people with HIV and Aids, Professor Houghton said.. Many also stayed in 1960s London, where Afghan-coated hippies shivered at the wheel as they waited at Notting Hill traffic lights.Alec Issigonis, the Mini's creator, devised a military version shortly after he finished work on the ground-breaking saloon. As carefree transport to the golden sands of the Mediterranean, it was ideal: sling in your towel, leap into the driving seat and off you went. Funny, really, that a vehicle intended to be dropped into enemy territory and then used as a nimble cross-country troop-carrier should, instead, finish up a rolling symbol of holiday freedom. Flat-panelled and more open-air than any sports car, the Moke - Australian slang for obstinate pony - was adopted as Britain's eccentric riposte to America's beach buggy. Mine's a lovely blue colour; oh, is that a really girly thing to say?"No, honestly it's fine, Sue You haven't mentioned depreciation once..

"I've always loved the cars, and it's great to see so many of them here. She only took delivery of her almost-new Boxster three days before and, now, here she is in the cradle of Porsche enthusiasm. With the high-pitched, air-cooled scream of a trio of 911s speeding past him on the track, it's important to keep the neighbours sweet. "Being local, we'll generally pop along most weekends and see what's happening," he says.Susan Smith from Banstead, Surrey, meanwhile, has become an instant convert.

He's got a Vauxhall Astra coup?nd, because he lives in West Kingsdown next to Brands Hatch, he gets a free resident pass to the circuit. The first 14 people I accost - men and women, clad in everything from tracksuits to tweed jackets - all own a Porsche, and some of them try to tell me what great value they are Finally, I encounter Steve Aspinall. There are no barriers and hardly any "Do Not Touch" signs; ice-cream drips from cones held in small hands just inches away.Commander Sloan pats an engine on a metal stand. "If you wanted one of these then one could be made but it would cost over £1m," he says casually. His own Porsche 911T/R, one of just four right-hand drive cars, has a phenomenal rollcall of famous previous owners, including gentlemen racers Sir Anthony Bamford and Alain de Cadenet."Porsche racing cars have often proved just too successful," he says.