I'd wanted an Elise ever since it hit the headlines back in the mid '90s. I was barely old enough to have a driving licence then, but I loved the concept and couldn't wait to drive one. My father had owned an Elan in the '60s and driven other Lotuses of that era, so you could say it was in the blood.

My opportunity to drive one came in '99 at Silverstone, as part of the Elf Fastrack competition to find young racing drivers. Of all the road cars I drove during that 3-day event, the Elise was firmly at the top of the list. The steering was like nothing else I'd experienced before, so pure and full of feel.

It wasn't until early 2004 that I was finally in a position to afford my own Elise. I'd had various cars over the intervening period which had made a nice ladder to Elise ownership (Porsche 924S, Focus 2.0 Zetec, Peugeot 106 GTi and Eunos Roadster), so it felt like a natural step.

I'd spotted a low-mileage 4 year old 111S (S1 shape) at my local dealer, and took a test drive. It felt like a very nice example, but doing the sums it seemed as though a new S2 wasn't as far out of reach as I'd expected. One thing led to another, and I found myself in their brand new 111R demonstrator.

After the S1, it felt hugely more sophisticated in terms of damping and ride quality, not to mention the improved roof, interior and outright performance of the Toyota engine, complete with afterburner effect of the high-lift cams above 6k rpm.

I didn't really want (or need) the touring pack, but they only had 2 cars in stock and both were fitted with it. It was either take one of them or wait a couple of months for one without the pack. Having just driven one, there was no way I wanted to wait 2 months, so the salesman had me hook, line and sinker!

The first 4 weeks of Elise ownership were a bit of a roller coaster. There was the initial thrill of picking the car up, then the tedium of running it in, then the joy of reaching 600 miles and being able to use full throttle and maximum revs, followed by the nuisance of having to get it serviced after 1,000 miles.

Then one sunny Saturday morning in April, the roller coaster took an unexpected leap off the tracks... The sky was blue, the roads were dry, the first leaves of Spring were on the trees. I was driving roofless on a nice back road in my new Lotus Elise 111R... bliss.

I'd spotted a sign saying uneven road surface for 1.5 miles, and lo and behold the road was cracking up a bit and slightly bumpy. The steering was giving its characteristic chatter of feedback as the front wheels followed the bumps. "It's coping", I thought, and maintained speed.

What happened next was one of those "oh f***" moments that you relive over and over. I spotted a patch of road that looked slightly more undulating than the rest, but it was only when I was almost on top of it that I realised the road surface had subsided quite a lot, in a long undulation with two peaks. I hit the brakes and a split second later I was airborne.

The launch into the air was violent, to say the least - my feet came off the pedals, my bum left the seat and my hands almost left the wheel. The landing was equally vicious, and as I tried to regain control I took off again with the same severity as before. This time the launch into the air set me on course for the tree-lined grass verge. With their rearward weight bias, Elises don't fly very gracefully.

On landing, the tail slewed to the left and I piled on the opposite lock, adrenaline flowing and heart thumping in my chest. I knew it wasn't enough, for the car's heavy tail was wagging the dog. Going up the road completely sideways at 50+mph watching the trees whipping past the windscreen was the moment I knew I wasn't going to get away with it unscathed.

The car's nose ploughed into the saplings on the other side of the road at about 90 degrees to the normal direction of travel, ripping off the bodywork. A second later the car hit a substantial tree at about 35-40mph, just behind the front nearside wheel. There was that sickening, expensive and unmistakable BANG that cars make when you introduce them to solid objects at speed.

I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say they involved an air ambulance, a fractured pelvis, 6 weeks on bed rest (fortunately no operation required) and a major loss of pride! Never in a million years did I imagine I'd crash my pride and joy on a straight, dry road in good visibility. A wet, diesel-covered roundabout or tightening, unsighted bend would have been understandable perhaps...

I expect I was probably the first owner in the UK to write off their 111R, and my Nightfall Blue replacement arrived in July 2004 (it was not my intention to help Lotus' perilous finances this way!). Since then I've done 12k miles in it without incident, and it continues to impress, with its supreme interaction between driver and machine.

It is an acquired taste though, for it demands that the driver does a lot of the work to maintain a decent pace. But to me, that's the whole point of the car - it doesn't flatter you, in fact quite the opposite. When you nail an apex just right and revel in the car's agility, balance, purity of feedback and spine-tingling performance as it pulls through to 8k rpm, it's just magic.

Throw its other unique characteristics into the equation (exotic construction and styling, rarity, Lotus' heritage) then it really is a very special car, one that you're unlikely to get bored with in a hurry.