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We start in auto sport and smoke off to a lane-change manoeuvre. The getaway is instant; there's no auto 'box slurring here. This feels a wide car at first, but it dives into the flick precisely and powers out with easy, accurate control.
Now a long, fast bend. Lots of power pushes the tail out, but it's ultra-progressive and doesn't threaten to get out of hand. The bend leads to a box formed by cones, and I'm going too quickly to reach that destination if I carry on at this speed. So I brake and steer; there's no drama, just a tidy tightening of the line, steering staying in focus, complete control.
Next a slalom, through which this hefty dragster spears cleanly, tidily, with ultra-precise steering and hardly any discernible tyre scrub. It's all so easy; no sudden spins, no plough-on understeer, heroics for all. I repeat the above three more times. Then it's on to the high-speed circuit.
I can tell you that the sound at mega-speeds is surprisingly loud (not that anyone should complain much about such an animal V8's beat 'n' crackle - like an SL55's played through your biggest speakers). The steering initially feels worryingly light at high speeds, too. You must convince yourself just how connected it still is.
And then there are the carbon-ceramic composite brakes, with eight-piston front calipers and massive stopping power. Unlike the Enzo's or Carrera GT's discs, these are controlled by Mercedes' Sensotronic brake-by-wire system. That makes it easy to unleash huge stopping forces without much pedal pressure, and Goodwin admits there's still some fine-tuning to do on the pedal response.
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