We step back to 2006 to relive our road-racer group test with the Corvette Z06, Exige Cup, GT3 RS and Noble M400 -
, acceleration growing exponentially with each delicious rush of boost pressure, every gear more vivid and addictive than the last. What's more, despite the slick, chill tarmac and trackday-biased Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, the M400 finds a surprisingly firm footing, only breaking traction under genuine provocation, underlining the sense that so long as you don't get too greedy with the throttle the Noble won't bite.
Despite the disparity in power and torque outputs, both the Noble and Exige respond surprisingly well to less-than-gratuitous revs and deliver a satisfying swell of accelerative urge throughout the mid-range. Both have rapid, accurate, short-throw gearshifts too, the Exige's just shading the Noble's thanks to a tighter and more precise cross-gate feel.
We're also expecting Porsche owner Simon Butterworth to join us and, just as I'm about to climb into the Corvette, the car park fills with the dry, abrasive and unmistakable engine note of a 911 GT3 RS. He's earned a breakfast, so we send Butterworth in to join Draper, Tommo and Bosher for a plate of sausage, bacon and eggs.
Although the Z06 has a key, you don't actually need to use it. Simply having it in your pocket is enough to unlock the doors, disarm the immobiliser, prime the electrical systems and illuminate the starter button, which glows an inviting shade of green.Depress the weighty clutch pedal, finger the button and the 7-litre fires with a muffled thump before settling into a civilised idle.
In any other car such gearing would be absurd, but what's genuinely shocking is that the LS7 motor makes as much sense of its ratios as any of the other three cars here. Consequently on most roads, even quite twisty ones, you tend to find a gear and stick with it.
It's a trait rather than a mortal failing, for it requires nothing more than for you to accept it and ride it out, but it takes some getting used to. But then so does the Porsche. It's been well over a year since I last drove a GT3 RS, and clearly my memories of it have been corrupted by the countless intervening drives in various 997 models, for the 996 RS is shockingly busy, fidgeting over bumps you simply don't notice in the Corvette .
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