The team certainly selected the right weapons. The most potent was a torque-sensing Drexler Motorsports mechanical differential, making this the first Vauxhall or Opel to feature such kit since the demise of the rear-wheel drive Omega. 

Inverted Bilsten monotube dampers, progressive rate springs and lightweight Brembo brake calipers were also installed, while those 10-spokers were forged and the car sat two centimetres lower. 

Adjustments to the turbocharger, a new ECU and a redesigned exhaust extracted another 13bhp from the standard VXR 1600 engine, taking the total to 202bhp, and you could extract 207lb ft of torque during frenzied moments of full-throttle acceleration.

That all sounded great, but so many times has Autocar been told of the great efforts invested in the latest Vauxhall chassis, only to experience disappointment 500 metres later, that stepping into this ambitious Corsa did not invite much hope. The venue was Rockingham’s handling circuit, the Autocar test team present for three days of driving everything from snappily spoilered shopping hatches to hypercars whose alloys would cost much the same money as this Vauxhall.

This time, though, the story was different. Your reporter was amazed to discover a front-drive Vauxhall that not only resisted understeer, but seemed magnetically attracted to any bend’s apex if you aimed its rather lively wheel accurately enough.