Isle of Sky

I WAS ALWAYS FAIRLY SURE that Alastair Doak, Mazda’s marketing director in Australia, hates me, but the enormity of the enmity is a surprise. Only someone with a deep dislike of you would force you to dress up like a walrus and then throw you into the frigid and frankly frightening waters of the North Atlantic Ocean off Scotland’s icy Isle of Skye.

Alastair – who wears his Scottish heritage with every elongated vowel and gnurled “r” sound, and an inability to use the word “small” instead of “wee” – swears that I will love the ‘coasteering’ adventure he’s taking me on as part of our Mazda 3 Isle of SkyActiv-X drive, but I know the truth.

The fact is he has never forgiven me for the day, way back in 2002, when I, imperilled by the impetuosity of youth, ruined the Very Important Mazda RX-8 initial launch drive in Japan for everyone, and embarrassed him personally as the Australian PR man, by spinning out, ever so slightly, during our track-based test, and causing the Japanese to shut the whole day down.

As I crept out of the barely damaged car in the pits, the pointedly polite Japanese asked me if I was okay,