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It’s been a busy few weeks for Paul’s 2000 Jaguar XK8 4.0 X100 having been compared to not one or two but three rivals. Although the 18th century French philosopher and mathematician, the Marquis de Condorcet, once advised to, “Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another,” I still find pitching my XK8 against rivals from the same era to be a fascinating experience.

Commissioned to photograph an Audi TT for another magazine, Paul compares the four-seat coupe with his own Similar to how Liverpool Football Club and my son’s under 16 team do roughly the same thing while also being totally different, the same could be said of the Jaguar XK8 and first generation of Audi TT. Although both are four-seat coupes, one is a big, purposeful and V8-engined GT and the other smaller with much of its DNA sourced from elsewhere.

The Integra has been driving better than ever this summer, and the air-con has proved an effective heatwave antidote. Now it’s time for some long-awaited TLC. Keeping on top of rust is a key part of DC2 ownership. This one has been well maintained, but the previously repaired rear wheelarches were starting to bubble up again when I bought the car. This had barely changed a year later, but a further year on, the driver’s side ’arch is looking considerably more troubling.

Over the years, I have come to realise just how important photography has been on my career. Car design is a very public art and it’s through photography that most people first saw the cars I created. Looking back, it was the photographs of my homemade Plaster of Paris car that helped me to get into the Royal College of Art in 1975.