Even in this company, the Veyron clearly stands out. » More Photos

For starters it makes a lovely noise, one that's almost as loud as the Lambo's blaring soundtrack but more textured in quality. It also steers beautifully and rides with way more sophistication than the Gallardo.

The Aston is also so nicely balanced and such a sweet car to drive that it feels game for anything you'd care to do with it, be that stroking it along at 40mph or scrubbing the shoulders off its tires drifting it at 60mph. But ultimately it's not in the same game as the others. It's a classic GT machine.

We invited it originally to keep honest the Ferrari 599 that was also supposed to turn up. As it turned out the Ferrari failed to appear, which meant the Aston had the playground all to itself. If that also meant it was an oddity on its own among a group of rear and mid-engined supercars, so be it. To a man, each of us adored driving the Aston, especially on the long slog back home to the United Kingdom.

The same goes for the Audi R8, which is genuinely the most civilized supercar the world has ever known. You climb into this car and somehow know instinctively where everything is and how it works. It has an amazing sense of logic and clarity to its design, and that stretches to the way it drives. If the fact that there are no surprises whatsoever lurking in its closet makes the R8 just a teeny bit plain and sensible in this company, then in the real world that's an enormous compliment.

Here is a genuine 187mph supercar that sounds and goes and handles very much like the real deal (because it is the real deal). But it's also a car you can jump into and drive for hundreds of miles in almost as much refinement and comfort as there is in the Aston. From most angles it also happens to look rather sensational. As a package, it's hardly surprising Audi can't build them fast enough.

Yet within the context of this particular group of cars the R8 is blitzed by at least three others. The Aston it can handle, but if you encounter and try to live with a Superleggera or a GT3 RS in your new R8, be warned: you will come very unstuck very quickly. And if a Veyron happens to appear in your rear-view mirror, it's best to wave a white handkerchief out of the window and pull over, if only to save yourself from the ignominy.

Even in this company, the Veyron clearly stands out. » More Photos

Playing catch-up
As it happens, I was in the GT3 RS and not the R8 when, finally, the Veyron appeared in the mirror. The deal had been that the Bugatti would leave the lot 20sec after I set off. Then we'd see how long it would take it to catch me and, when he did so, whether it would be possible for him to get past.

On the way down the mountain, the GT3 RS completely blew me away. I expected it to have explosive throttle response, fabulous steering, mighty brakes and fantastic body control. And it did, just like the regular GT3 I drove a couple of months back.

But I also expected it to ride like a rollerskate and be generally pretty evil to drive unless I was at 10/10ths, but no. The RS felt damn near as smooth and refined over the ground as the R8, only the 911 had a much bigger punch down the straights and a lot more bite at its front end. "Perhaps he won't be able to catch me at all," I started to think.

And then it appeared, hovering like a missile behind me, its xenon headlights burning two big holes in the back of my head. As the road got tighter and twistier I became aware that I was driving the GT3 RS about as hard as I'm prepared to drive a car on the public road, yet the Veyron would not go away.

It just sat there, watching me. Waiting. Then a shortish straight appeared, I caned the 911 as frantically as I could in third gear and, whoosh, the Bugatti just blew by me and the GT3 RS like we were standing still.
I will never, ever forget what that looked and sounded and felt like. It's some car, the Veyron, it truly is. And this was some group test. Cue credits, roll the soundtrack.