Start your engines: meet the star cars that took on our Tunnel Run challenge

Named after a mythical Norse maiden... made in Gaydon. Aston’s extreme, track-only version of the Valkyrie road car is as wild as track day toys get. With a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 co-designed with Cosworth, it revs to over 11,000rpm and screams like an old school F1 car.

Like any S-Class, the W140 was famously quiet. It even had double-glazed windows, so you could hear a pin drop in the cabin. But it also has the same V12 that powered the original Pagani Zonda. And thanks to a trick exhaust, this one sounds like an old Formula One car.

A full-fat, no-nonsense NASCAR racer that raced in the cup Series – that’s NASCAR’s top tier – driven by former champ Kurt Busch. With 900bhp from a 5.9-litre V8 in a car weighing about the same as a Ford Focus, it’s the real deal. Beware: its angry, bassy V8 vacuums the air from your lungs at full revs.

This is the BRM P15, and under that buckled-down bonnet are SIXTEEN CYLINDERS of supercharged madness. It’s one of the most complicated engines ever made, and also one of the most terrifying. Revving to 12,000rpm, this post-war monster sounds like a flame-gargling Godzilla.

Launched in 2013, the 620R is still the quickest Caterham you can buy, and the most powerful Caterham ever built. It does 0–62 in just 2.7 seconds... in first gear. But the exhaust pokes out right under the driver, sounds like a supersonic hornet and sometimes it spits fire.

This is the most hardcore Huracán you can buy. Think of it as a cross between Lambo’s Super Trofeo racer and a regular, road- going Huracán. Lamborghini’s big boss describes this car as a celebration of the combustion engine. And when Stig lets rip, you’ll know exactly why.

This isn’t just rallying royalty, it’s the king of the Quattros. Made in 1985, the E2 was the last of Audi’s Group B rally cars, and also the most ferocious. With fruity fuelling, a bucket-sized turbo and five cylinders, it also makes an orchestra’s worth of glorious, loud noises.