THE JOY OF SIX

One is loaded with hybrid technology, the other is a purist’s dream; but the mid-mounted, sixcylinder powertrains of Honda’s NSX and Porsche’s 718 Spyder are both cause for celebration

- ANTONY INGRAM

MOORLAND FOLDS OUT AHEAD, AN UNEVEN duvet of winter-ravaged vegetation glowing amber in the early morning sunlight. It’s broken only as it reaches the horizon, and by the irregular, paved evidence of humankind that follows its contours, dipping and cresting and occasionally twisting around some insurmountable natural obstacle.

Most of the time the moors lay silent, disturbed at this time of year only by the chatter of a landing grouse. Today though, another sound is breaking the air waves. It’s industrial and brash, stark in its contrast to the wind and wildlife. The source is somewhere behind my head, linked to my right foot through Matrix-like code, and sounds like the digitized bellow of a prehistoric creature.

Ahead is another sliver of artifice among the unspoilt surroundings. It dances across the surface in a way that seems much more at home here, as if there’s more to it than human hands. I can just make out its own call above the one I’m conducting: strident and mellifluous, rising and falling in pitch as it navigates the topography, occasionally reaching a crescendo before it’s punctuated and the chorus starts again.

I wasn’t expecting a third sound, though. This one doesn’t fit the landscape. It’s piercing and shrill, and increasing to painful levels, drowning out everything else. Is it one of the cars? Maybe something’s broken? Things are going fuzzy now. The moorland glow, the pastel skies, and the howl of internal combustion are fading to black…