It is probably time to admit that the 12-cylinder internal combustion engine, the envy of petrol-heads everywhere, is coming to the end of its line.

New energy sources and low-emissions are the order of the day and these new technologies are beginning to prove themselves as being much more than pipe dreams.

In five or ten years, the majority of us will be driving electric or hydrogen fuelled cars and will be getting the better end of 100 miles per gallon or whatever its equivalent in new-speak may turn out to be.

Geopolitics, which sometimes masquerades under the banner of green energy or climate change will force the issue and petrol will have had its day as the primary energy source for those of us on the move.

I may be a few years out in my time span, but the cat is out of the bag and change is certainly coming.

For those that still dare admit to liking and longing for the big engines of the past, perhaps the time has come to savour what we are about to lose. Perhaps to buy, but certainly to look and admire just how far the internal combustion engine has come it its 100-year history.

Enzo Ferrari, whose green credentials were pretty much non-existent, was a believer in 12-cylinder engines with, as he said, each cylinder as big as a Chianti flask.

These six-litre engines, revving at 9,000 rpm and making a noise to die for but with almost negligible vibration, are truly iconic even if they are now deemed horribly and politically incorrect.