Twist (throttle) and shout

Senator Leyonhjelm says he loves the awesome power of his BMW S1000R, but that he very rarely uses it.

“It’s fun, and it gives me that sense of freedom you can only get from bikes, and when there’s a gap and I want to get into it, I get into it,” he says. “I don’t use all that power, but I like to know it’s there, and I like knowing that there’s nobody on the road that’s faster than me. Sometimes I let them think they are, but I know they’re not.

“But in terms of speed, I can’t afford to do much of that. I’ve got nine demerit points already.”

His car, bizarrely, is a very different beast, a “not very exciting” diesel Mitsubishi Pajero.

“I’ve just always loved bikes, since I was 17, but I could never get girls to come on the bike with me. They much preferred a car and that’s the only reason I bought one in the end. A VW Beetle was my first, and I made sure one of the seats laid back. That seemed to work a lot better.”