2009’s greatest supercars

Supercars: love ‘em or hate ‘em, you've got to love ‘em. 2009 was another magnificent year for very big, very fast, very loud supercars, and we've cobbled together the best of them in this gallery. Enjoy...

It's what a supercar should be: utterly enthralling. You can't take your eyes off it, in case it does something amazing, like explode, or transform into a helicopter gunship.

It drives beautifully. Where a Merc SL is so much better in its latest guise, it still can't hold a dynamic candle to the Ferrari in the feel stakes.

These few chaps from Norwich have managed, not for the first time, to build a car that does the very hardest things with transcendent brilliance.

We're used to stupendously fast supercars nowadays, but even they need to be wound up before you really feel the speed. However, the Turbo's power is as instant as an arterial crack hit.

The noise is epic. We found a long tunnel and it sounded like we were sat slap bang in the middle of an F1 car because the exhaust baffles open at 2,500rpm.

The magical, predictable, transparent handling of the V8 car isn't messed up by the extra power. This is a car that always seems to be on your side.

You get a sense of the purpose of this car even before you hit the accelerator. There are no rear seats, the front seats have a manual adjustment and carbon fibre adorns the dash.

Roof down, rebounding off drystone hedges, you're jammed in the centre of an orchestra pit, a bassy growl at low revs, climbing to a full-strings-and-woodwinds crescendo as you pummel the V12 towards 7,000rpm.

Scrap mechanical sympathy and keep the revs up over 6,000rpm, where the supercharger starts to blow hard and propel the Exige towards the horizon with wild-eyed eagerness.