Mean Machines: Porsche 911 GT2 RS v Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series

Okay, so they’re not quite contemporaries, but at a distance of 10 years removed we can, I think, forgive the fact that one ceased production the year before the other began. It must be quite rare that two such opposing routes are taken to the same destination because, make no mistake, when you drive them hard and fast, their shared intentions are as easy to see as the grinning loon in the mirror.

But it’s what they don’t share that makes this particular comparison so fascinating. And it’s not just the obvious. Of course it is easy to point to the fact that one has a vast naturally aspirated engine mounted in front of the driver, directing its drive through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox while the other puts its twin-turbo motor as far into the other end of the car as it will go, yet uses a clutch pedal and a six-speed transmission to get its enormous output from there to the tarmac.

But actually? I’m more interested in the conceptual stuff or, to be strictly accurate, the preconceptual stuff, the baggage which both cars have carried from their creation to the present day.