LES 24 HEURES DU M25

Ladies and gentlemen, press your start buttons - it's time for the world's toughest (and most idiotic) endurance event

- TOM FORD/SAM PHILIP/OLLIE MARRIAGE/SAM BURNETT / PAUL HORRELL

Welcome to white knuckle endurance racing, 2023-style. This is the inaugural (and, let's be honest, probably last) 24 Heures du M25: a daylong, non-stop battle round London's notorious, traffic-jammed orbital. The 117-mile loop most drivers avoid at all costs, but that we're selflessly embracing for the ultimate real-world EV challenge.

The rules? Simple. Most miles racked up in 24 hours, wins. Only miles accrued on the M25 itself count. Direction changes are permitted, but only after completing a full lap. Tapping out is not an option.

The cars? Precision honed efficiency machines: the five longest-range electric cars on sale in Britain today for under £50,000. Each will be staffed by a team of two drivers, one driving while the other takes the opportunity to sleep/eat/weep at Hertfordshire's glamorous South Mimms motorway service facility.

So, at 12.16pm precisely on a cold, grey, early spring Wednesday, the flag drops and five EVs roll silently onto junction 23 of the M25.

TEAM HYUNDAI (Sam Philip): Editor Rix and I are helming the banana-tastic Hyundai Ioniq 6, and frankly I'm not sure I fancy our chances. Firstly because, despite its streamlined profile and slippy drag coefficient, it has one of the shorter ranges of our five contenders, its 77kWh battery rated at 338 miles. Secondly because I have the bladder capacity of a harvest mouse. Thirdly because our tactical approach runs, basically, 'drive at speed limit until low on charge. When low on charge, recharge'. Others, it seems, have gone rather more detailed on the strategy front.