Badged as a ‘daycruiser’, the 25-foot tender is constructed from lightweight aluminium (with a sprinkling of teak), making it not only extremely robust, but also ensuring usability and ease of maintenance – two of the most important aspects of modern yacht ownership. The SDC25 is offered in several guises, each with its own colour combination: modern, classic, racing or art (exclusively designed by Nora Linn Visconti).

Arosa in late summer. A place familiar to me, as it was here that – almost exactly a year ago – I introduced myself to the 76 corners of the Arosa ClassicCar hillclimb. As before, Porsche kindly invited me to tackle the event in one of its own sports cars from the museum in the Swiss canton of Graubünden but, for 2013, things have moved up a gear.

A 1934 car, the winning Dietrich Victoria was one in a small series of ‘semi-custom’ Packards, but stood apart from its brethren thanks to its cherry-picked features. Not only is it one of the rare ‘Vee-windshield’ cars, but it also has the distinctive twin-strip fenders of the LeBaron Dual Cowl Phaetons, making it unique. Enthusiasts consider 1934 to be a vintage year for Packard production: the mighty V12 had matured, and 1935 was to see a downturn in quality standards.

Without doubt, Audi wouldn’t be where it is today without the original Quattro of the 80s (and a healthy dose of capital from the Volkswagen Group, of course). At the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the firm paid homage to the car's 30th anniversary by showing a slick conceptual tribute.

Not even the most prestigious marques could ignore the cultural swing of the early 60s. With many brands (automotive or otherwise) targeting the youth of the day, changes were required not only in terms of marketing, but in styling, too.

The transition into the ‘Space Age’ was a challenge for the costumed superheroes: Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman had to grapple with new sci-fi worlds, where technology was developing at light-speed. Taschen will soon publish the second instalment in Paul Levitz’s series exploring the history of the DC Comics characters, this time focusing on ‘The Silver Age’ of 1956 to 1970.

Of all the historic brands resurrected and adopted for limited-edition production runs, few have the kudos of Bluebird – the name on the land speed record-breaking cars of Sir Malcolm Campbell and his descendants. The new 360bhp Bluebird DC50 has two, electrically operated ‘scissor’ doors and a range of up to 200 miles, but don’t bother ordering one in red; it only comes in Bluebird blue.

There will also be an electric race car – the Bluebird GTL – designed for the forthcoming FIA Formula E series, an all-electric global race series that is scheduled to start in 2014.

You can read all about the Mercedes GP car elsewhere on Classic Driver, but once Lot 320 was safely despatched to the record books (and an anonymous telephone bidder) there followed more – sometimes record-breaking – prices to come. The previous record price of £2.3m for a historic Maserati was comfortably eclipsed by the £4,033,500 paid for the ex-Briggs Cunningham 1955 300S.

The example shown here is one of only 2,000 factory-produced Rover Mini convertibles. Equipped with everything that a Mini driver desires, the smart Brit has the sort of likeable appearance to make sure it’s always a welcome guest. Its short wheelbase also gives it a priceless advantage in the Festival’s crowded car parks. Who said Mini couldn’t be mighty?