SO I was dropping the yellow (with some black on the bonnet) Corvette Z06 back to Hertz at Los Angeles airport. The check-in woman said to me, "Do me a favour, start the engine again."
Nothing subtle happens when you kick a Z06 in the guts. Put a 484kW supercharged 6.2-litre aluminium V8 engine at one end and four big exhaust pipes at the other and the sound that comes out has the depth of Darth Vader's voice on steroids, the rumble of a full drum on a concrete truck and the volume of an F-15 at 2400km/h. It scares the kiddies, frightens animals, deafens seniors and attracts car lovers like cheap aftershave attracts blowies at a barbie in Perth.
In fact everything about this car is scary. Put your hand to the right and turn the round knob to Track. The GM factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, says this mode is "exclusively for track driving". Those good ol' boys are right. The big yellow (and black) carbon fibre and titanium sex and speed machine hunkers down. Everything goes hard. Launch control is on.