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If you believe some elements of the media, these are the darkest financial times since records began.

Nobody is supposed to be able to still afford anything as frivolous as a fast, powerful car, but the desire to drive, own and just see such dream machines is as strong as ever, as a recent "Hypercar party" at supercar club Ecurie25 in King's Cross, London proved.

Now what exactly separates a Hypercar from a Supercar?

That is a question many people discussed when organiser Jay Broom came up with the criteria for which privileged automotive stars would get the invite.

Well starting with "supercar", Ecurie25 quite rightly position themselves as a "supercar club" and their impressive roster of cars for their members' use includes Lamborghini Gallardos, Ferrari F430s, an Aston Martin DBS etc.

So supercars are faster, rarer and more expensive than common or garden sports cars like Porsche 911s, Nissan 350Zs et al.

But despite the party taking place at Ecurie's premises, none of their cars were invited to actually participate in the display of metal inside (although most of them were being used by members anyway).

So hypercars then. I suppose a trite definition could be "faster, rarer and more expensive than common or garden supercars".

But I would personally add the additional criteria of limited production "special" models that are not closely based on a regular production model.

So that would make the Ferrari Enzo, F50 and Porsche Carrera GTs there firmly in the hypercar camp.

But what about this awesome, one-off 850hp TVR Speed12?

I should coco...

I also loved the fact that the F50 had been resprayed Grigio Silverstone, complete with colour-coded wheels. Hypercars might, by definition, be rare, but that does not mean they are all necessarily priceless works of art which should not be altered in anyway from original.

In fact quite a few of the cars on display had been modified from factory-spec. Chris Green's superb Enzo has been discreetly tweaked, most audibly by having no silencers on its Tubi-Style exhaust...

Gumball Rally organiser Maximillion Cooper's Jag XJ220 is not only wrapped in matt grey vinyl, but is one of the extremely rare, expensive and powerful TWR editions which almost makes it over-qualified!

The fact he has already taken it on two previous Gumballs, and is planning on crossing America in it in this year's 3000 mile extravaganza, proves that hypercars do not have to spend all their lives locked away in hermetically sealed storage facilities.

So what about the trio of stunning of Lamborghinis in attendance?

Well, Lisa and Derek's vivid orange Diablo GT is very rare and was at the time considerably more expensive and powerful than cooking Diablos, so I think that quailifies.

Pete's outrageous plum-coloured Murcielago roadster is also obviously rare, particularly in rain-sodden Britain, but it is a regular production model, so is on the cusp of hypercardom.

As for Phil James' Deep Purple monster 6.0 VT (as featured extensively in this very website and last month's Octane magazine); well at the time, it was the "base model" Diablo and not limited in production, so sorry, Phil, not a hypercar in my book...

Still, he's in good company, because although I was kindly invited to display my Z06 (now modified too, which will be covered in a new entry soon), I make no pretensions about it being even a supercar, let alone a hypercar.

But for one fun evening, the red-neck sports car and I enjoyed gatecrashing a celebration of some of the greatest pleasure machines mankind has ever created.

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