One story catching the attention of British newspapers is the CityCab, a car which runs on compressed air. According to the story, a small cylinder compresses air and heats it. This hot air is then transferred to a second, larger, cylinder when the piston is at Top Dead Centre. The new air heats the air in the second cylinder which expands and forces down the piston. The whole process is set under way by nothing more than compressed air from an outside source.

The result is an engine with zero pollution since the only propellant is compressed air. According to the claims, the car can be 're-fuelled' from the air line in the forecourt of your local garage. Since your local garage will not put up with that for long, you will probably have to have your own compressor at home. Still, it is claimed, enough compressed air can be generated in four hours (while you go zzzzzzz) to give a range of 140 miles and that will cost you just one pound.

It sounds too good to be true. The only fuel needed, apart from air, will be whatever fuel is used at a power station to generate the electricity to drive the compressor. There is nothing going bang. There is no creation of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide. There is nothing smelly. Not even the smallest mouse will be disturbed. Are we talking green, or are we talking green?

We are talking green so green that pale girls who wear floral frocks and who listen to recordings of whale-song will be yours for the asking. You will be offered nut cutlets, horoscopes and aromatherapy and you may even receive personal introductions to very old, and wise, trees. Play your cards right and you might even be allowed to hug a poplar.

The inventor has found the backing to set up a factory in France. The parent company, Moteur Development International (MDI), claims that it has found a further 23 partners all over the world. To give an example, there will be a factory in Mexico producing zero-emission cars and cabs for use in Mexico City where the air is notoriously polluted. Vehicles will be made close to point of use so while the CityCab is an international project, it is not part of 'globalization' because local jobs will be created.

We speak here of a smiling face and what else would you expect from someone with a track record in Formula One?

The project, which invites further partners to invest money, emphasises that its founding genius has designed a successful Formula One engine. Who this great person? Keith Duckworth, mayhap? No. Mario Ilien? No. Brian Hart, John Judd? No. Step forward, Guy Negres.

The official website tells how Negres was involved in Formula One with a 'successful' engine which was let down by the fact that he could not find an investor because, so runs the story, M. Negres is an inventor and not someone skilled in marketing.

Twenty three paid-up partners to produce the wonder engine in 23 factories around the world when not a single CityCab has been observed to run under its own power, is quite a feat of marketing, I'd say.

Some of us can remember, just, the foray Guy Negres made into Formula One in 1990. The team was Life (the team's principal was Ernesto Vita and 'Vita' in Italian equates to 'Life' in English). Despite the claims of Guy Negres that his engine could not find an investor, his design was made by a company called Life Racing Engines, not Negres Racing Engines.

Okay, he did find an investor and now he says that he could not. Do you feel your nostrils twitch?

You cannot remember the Life F190? That is not surprising since, though the one car made was entered in all but two races (twice with a Judd V8 engine) and, in Gary Brabham and Bruno Giacomelli, had decent enough drivers, the Life W-12 did not get beyond pre-qualifying.