ON DAYS LIKE THESE

Porsche's dazzling new Cayman GT4 RS is the firm's most hardcore mid-engined car to date. So what better welcome than a rendezvous on one of Europe's greatest roads with a Huracán STO, 458 Speciale and Honda's intoxicating NSX-R?

- JETHRO BOVINGDON

MONZA, ITALY. OUTSIDE ONE OF THOSE anonymous business hotels that could be pretty much anywhere in the world, a time-worn single-car transporter lowers its carriage towards the ground.

The sides are opened up. The delivery driver is happy despite the fierce heat and cheerily walks to each corner, dealing easily with straps and ratchets to free the cargo. Seconds later the unmistakable sound of a Lamborghini V10 is tearing through the molassesthick air and visibly shaking the flimsy structure from which it's emerging. Now I'm smiling, too.

Any day you get to drive a Huracán STO is a good day. But today there's an especially heightened sense of expectation. Another delivery driver has already called to update me on his progress from Stuttgart to our meeting point in the south of France. He's bringing a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS. Speed Yellow, Weissach Pack. Oh, and a spare set of wheels and tyres. Magnesium, of course. Just a few minutes ago a new WhatsApp group, started yesterday and called 'Mid-engined Screamers', pinged with a picture of a Honda NSX-R leaving Switzerland.

Another owner replied: 'See you tomorrow, guys.