NO SOONER THAN the ceiling switches from open summer sky to dark claustrophobic tunnel does the raspy note of a flat six-cylinder engine morph into a deep rolling burble. Tickled with the loud pedal, this deep woomp grows sonorous, dial in more throttle and it screams. At the 7400rpm redline the sounds – like a million metal wasps that have been shaken violently and released into a spittoon – reverberate off the adjacent walls. I’m sitting hunkered closely to the ground, skimming over the Catseyes of the Huguenot Tunnel, in a Porsche Cayman R – the spicy meat in a petrolhead sandwich with an Audi RS3 and BMW 1 Series M Coupe doing their best impressions of the proverbial slices of bread. Traffic slows from 120kph to a mind-numbingly slow 90kph, then trundles painfully at 75kph. I snatch at the left shift paddle to summon the cog below fourth. Third gear frees up another 2000rpm and this sound too is deliciously liberated overhead into the sandstone chambers of the Du Toitskloof mountain we’re penetrating. A turbo whistle is released from the manual shift BMW ahead, with a whooshing waste gate alerting me to the presence of the Audi’s nose hot on my rear bumper. Each engine note is distinct, each able to excite and motivate its driver to explore the limits of their car. The Audi shifts up a gear behind me via its smooth seven-speed DSG transmission and the emphatic turbo five-cylinder beneath its bonnet does another impression, this time it’s rolling thunder. If the wide-eyed stares from our fellow motorists are any clue, this is a sight (and sound) they will never forget, a sleek train of orange, red and steely grey glinting manically in the light from the overhead lamps.

IMAGE GALLERY VIDEO

Our three-piece juggernaut ultimately explodes out the Worcester-end leaving Paarl far behind. The road clears and accelerator pedals are immediately pinned. The result is a flurry of petrol-powered explosions and rubbery mayhem on punished Tarmac. These are three very special cars, with very different DNA, albeit from the same country of origin. Germany – not exactly the type of nation to shy away from a fight, is it? Especially when the battle for dominance involves getting as close to the 250kW mark as possible with the BMW nailing it spot on, the Porsche falling short by 7kW and the Audi overshooting by 2kW. Less than a tenth of a second separates them in a 0-100kph sprint time, that only reinforces what we already suspected. In a battle for ‘driver’s car’ supremacy, it is not going to come down to firepower. No, this one’s all about handling. So we’ve properly evaluated them on an 1100km round trip from Cape Town to Oudtshoorn taking in as much twisty R62 and N2 as possible - including five of SA’s best mountain passes. Testing began immediately.