We’ve praised this car before on these pages, even if it pursues its performance with some wantonly rough edges. ’Twas ever thus with JCW-badged cars, but the vigour of their damping appears to have reached a whole new level here. Over a standard Cooper S the suspension uses bespoke springs and dampers, plus more negative camber on the front wheels, to more keenly point you into corners, while its four-cylinder ‘B48’ engine has 228bhp and 280lb ft peaks for 0-62mph in 6.1sec.

The big headline, however, goes to its gearbox. The JCW is now offered only with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic ’box – yes, the manual Mini hot hatch is dead. Indeed, the manual petrol hot hatch as a whole.

My wistfulness is soon decimated by the madcap Mini’s turn of pace. Without the minor pause of a clutch dip and a flick of your wrist, it snarls forward insatiably, and you’ll encounter brief moments of wheelspin or torque steer if you try to deploy too much of its potency on cool or damp surfaces – there’s no clever differential set-up here to smooth the edges.

It’s a boisterous bucking-bronco of a car over the crests and into the dips of the roads that lead us inland, but it’s hard not to be enraptured by the experience. You’ve no choice but to get stuck in.

Our next stop lies 18 miles south, and it is an essential visit for any petrolheads in the area. Oliver’s Mount is England’s only road racing course that’s open to the public, and it’s a chance to pop the Mini between some painted kerbing with no need for a helmet or race boots.