Wednesday Matinee: Chris Harris Hoons His Favorite Cars of 2014

The idea of picking the best car of the year – be it the one that’s just passed or the one about to begin – is hardly an original idea in automotive journalism circles. Perhaps that’s the main reason why when Chris Harris and a handful of colleagues and friends invaded Portugal’s Algarve circuit with seven high-performance cars last month, they decided not to pick an actual “winner.” On the face of it, that reeks of the sort of hand-holdy, kumbaya, participation-trophies-for-all line of thinking that has infected the American K-12 educational system like a cancer; on closer examination, though, the field of contenders – Porsche 918 Spyder, Porsche 911 GT3, Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, Ferrari 458 Speciale, BMW M3, Aston Martin V12 Vantage S and Renault Sport Megane Trophy R – made picking one over the other six would have been nigh-on impossible. And doing so would have made Harris Monkey seem a lot more glum for the cameras.