Well, it’s been 60 years of Porsche and what a journey.  Few cars have managed to sustain such a motoring evolution through their history, rather than a revolution.  Even fewer have the same setup as Porsche – that being the rear drive, rear engine setup that is a peculiarity to the German automotive giant.

Mentioning evolution, these new Carrera models (the standard and the S respectively) are a perfect example of just that.  Things have been improved both under the bonnet and above, providing an even better reason (not that you need one) to own one of the most iconic cars ever built.  But what’s different for the extra £1,500 across the range (now priced at £63,070-77,650)?

Well for the body you get a lovely reprofiled front bumper and grille.  There’s also xenon headlamps, indicators and taillights that use LED bulbs.  You’ll still get those lovely (and exclusive I hasten to add) coloured alloys as well as the funkily chosen brake calipers (if you buy a blue for instance you’ll get these in yellow).

Of course it’s the engine that’s the real pull in a Porsche and the Carrera is no exception.  Expect to be flung from the rear to sixty MPH in only 4.7 seconds, or an Aston equalling 4.5 seconds if you buy the more expensive S variant.  These great performance figures are down to the reworked powerplant at the back that has 345BHP – 20 more than the previous incarnation.  The S has 30 more, so that’s where you’ll get your extra kick.

The technology itself is somewhat improved, with direct injection technology being available for the trademark flat six engine.  This has allowed, apart from the power improvement, a lowering of the emissions from the car by 12% - don’t think however that this is going to be an eco-friendly model.  The taxman will still love you for buying it.  Your bank manager might still wince at fuel consumption too.

For the first time in its range, Porsche is offering a new slick-shift in the form of a wonderfully named Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe.  This is, funnily enough, the german for double-clutch gearbox.  It’s a great development and offers (as with F1 cars) seven gears and the opportunity to change ratios with the paddles on the steering system.  Shifts are apparently much faster than the old Tiptronic – but then things have moved on significantly since then.

Should you buy it?  Well that depends how you feel about cars.  Purists still love Porsches, and if you’ve driven one then you’d understand why.  The handling is superb, easy to push to the limit and the engines are really, really sweet.  However, do modern racers expect more?  No doubt they want more space, less drama and arguably a much lesser price tag.  They’ll no doubt look at the new Subaru Impreza WRX or the Mitsubishi Evolution X.  Do they have the same pedigree though, the same level of history?  You pays your money you takes your choice.

This is the second part of an article devoted to my trip to Knockhill’s Official Scottish Motor Show.  To read the first part click here.

So, what did the afternoon bring?  Well, quite a number of delights as it happens.  They included: a bird of prey demonstration, supercar versus superbike (the highlight of the show really), an air show with a biplane, cheerleaders, more car stunts, a Morgan parade, a lap for the winners of a competition in a Maserati and more cheerleaders!  So, let’s tackle these in order.

The birds of prey were in one tent, and quite menacing they were too.  Not as menacing as the Koenigsegg mind you – that car is supreme.  They weren’t sharing a tent, but for some reason one popped into my mind as I saw the other.  The display was actually quite good, but not enough to keep me engrossed.  That being the case, off I went back to the supercar tent to see an Aston Martin Volante, a Pagani Zonda (arguably one of the best looking cars around), a Spyker and even a James Bond DB4.  Classics all of them.

In terms of engineering, the Ariel Atom 3 (with a speed of 0-60 in less than 3 seconds) just amazes every time I see it.  I’m yet to have a go as it were, but it looks like a real blast.  It was a treat just seeing it again and made my mouth water even more to feel the force of that supercharged madness.

One of my favourite parts of the show was the bike versus car showdown (even the lady liked this bit, even if she wanted the bike to win).  This featured a superb bike rider – I think it may have been a Phil Giles but I’m waiting for confirmation of this – versus Gordon Shedden.  The bike rider had the excellent Honda Fireblade with 1,000 CC of power, whilst Shedden, of the BTCC, had a 750 BHP Subaru Impreza.  This uprated monster made one hell of a noise and was slightly delayed to the track.

The format of the race between the bike and the car had two sections.  First of all was a drag race, a simple race up the straight from the bottom of the Tri-Oval.  This would be driven three times, with the victor being the best of the three.  The next part of the race was the full track time.  Well, the drag race was superb with both the car and the bike giving it full beans and with some banter between.  Seeing the Fireblade pulling wheelies as it tried to tear from the line was superb – only matched by the raw aggression and noise of the hugely powerful Impreza.

Unfortunately, the car was simply too heavy to move off the line as quickly as the bike and so the bike won the drag.  However, on the actual lap the car took it, being a full second ahead.  Maybe things would have been a bit different after a few more attempts, but luckily Shedden managed to pull this one off and stopped when it was declared a draw.  It was fabulous entertainment and clearly it got the crowd going.

Sadly, there weren’t too many promotions girls to get snaps of, but as the next section of the entertainment was to be the cheerleaders at the Peugeot Hardie stand then perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much.  They were extremely good at what they did and managed to get the crowd worked up a bit – they had been surprisingly quiet most of the day!  Perhaps they were noisier on the Saturday.

Before the last show, I wanted to make sure I’d covered everything so I did a last full tour.  There I saw an actual F1 car driven by Alonso, as well as a Seat BTCC car that I wanted to have a sit in (but wasn’t allowed).  I also saw a rally car in bits - though this was on purpose.  The amount of engineering and parts involved is simply staggering.

The Morgan parade was simply fantastic.  If you love cars that look classic (even if they were only made a few years ago) then you would have taken a lot away from this.  The parade was led by the amazing looking AeroMax – frankly there aren’t many cars that look like this one alone, so to see it out on the track was a real treat.  Granted, I’d probably have gone for one of the older, more stylish Morgans if I was buying one, but each was special.  Not only that, but they made a fantastic noise as they went zipping around the track.

There was one lucky programme buyer – that’s for sure.  This winner was allowed to slot themselves into the incredibly posh Maserati Quattroporte (a beautiful saloon that fuses power, style and comfort) along with their guests and be shuttled around the track by Gordon Shedden.  I was extremely envious I must say as it would have been a great one for the photo album.

So, let’s sum up The Official Scottish Motor Show.

Good: Meeting Gordon Shedden, Being there for the official unveiling of the Koleos, getting a scoop on the Beira (that’s in another article), seeing the cheerleaders, being up close and personal with some of the fastest, meanest cars in the world.

Bad: Sometimes it wasn’t very clear where to actually go, the track parking was ample but the ‘road’ to get there was terrible, there weren’t enough pit girls, there definitely weren’t enough freebies going around.

I’ve thought about this question before because I would like to quantify exactly what makes them special. The area of the car market I’m talking about is the really top end - not the things mind that are just expensive cruisers (such as the Rolls Royce range) but stuff with scary, balls-to-the-wall performance to go with it.

Impracticality
One thing I’ve noted during my search for the ‘essence of supercar’ (it could be a well nice aftershave that, though granted it would have a whiff of the high octane stuff about it) is that the car has to be completely impractical. It has to really offer barely any room at all, whether you’re a passenger (real supercars rarely offer room for more than one of these) or a piece of baggage.

This is one of the reasons why you could call cars such as the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution incredibly impressive and fast - but they aren’t supercars. There’s just too much space, a bit too much ‘well I could help you do the shopping run too’ about them. There’s a place for that, but it’s not as a supercar.

Looks to die for
Supercars, invariably, look different from all other cars on the road. I was recently driving to work and there was a Lamborghini Gallardo driving on the opposite carriageway. It caught my eye and made my stomach feel light. The sheer looks of the thing made me gawk.

A car cannot be called a supercar unless it looks a bit special. I’m not just talking about a bit of carbon fibre as the bonnet either - it must have something that screams ‘I will eat you if you do something I don’t like’. This can be a rear diffuser; a bonnet bulge or intakes that make the car look like it has miniature caverns. Whatever it is, it must catch your eye. Cars that are trying the same trick (but aren’t supercars) will frequently paint their machines in traditional supercar livery such as bright reds and yellows.

Power and performance
A supercar should be super in every way - whether it is the looks or the performance. This being the case, such a machine cannot carry the moniker unless it is flying the flag for pointless, over the top performance. If your current car can do a higher top speed then you’re either rich or kidding yourself.

Cars such as the new Nissan GT-R are genuine sports cars - simply because it will do the 0-60 run in 3.6 seconds. Truly breathtaking. A bit scary as well no doubt. That’s another purpose of a supercar. Unless you’re a racing driver, it should have the ability to make you wet yourself. Repeatedly.

Costs
This really is something particular to supercars (well okay, you’ll suffer some of this if you get a performance car of the non-super variety). The cost of an initial purchase can be just about as high as you want to go, given how much you can customise your chosen vehicle. Your dealer can give you an options list longer than your arm and if you’re a real supercar buyer you’ll tick more than a few.

Cars you might like which won’t make your bank manager cry
These days, there are some cars that you can get for a very reasonable price that are either supercars or have genuine heritage. The Honda NSX is one such car. You can pick one of these bad boys up for just up from £20,000 and you’ll have a high revving V6 howler to your name that will put a lot of other cars on the road to shame.

Whilst some complain about TVR, if you haven’t got the Earth to spend then I’d recommend one. Look for a good model though, as reliability is a known issue (tell me which ’supercar’ doesn’t come with this feature though). I found a TVR Chimaera (4.3 litre convertible monster) for only £8,650 - a real bargain that will go like absolute stink.

My favourite supercar
As a car enthusiast, naturally I have a preference for a vehicle - should I happen to win the lottery or get an inheritance I wasn’t expecting. My choice is for the Ferrari F430. This two-door coupe is a fantastic vehicle. You can get it in manual or ‘F1′ style paddle shift and it’ll go from 0-60 in less than four seconds and will naturally cost you the Earth to run. I found one however for only £100,000.

I guess the point of supercars really is just that - to be super, in the same way that Superman is. They are unattainable. The height of mechanical and automotive genius. They turn heads. Perhaps though the only sign of a true supercar is whether a boy will have a picture of it on his wall. In that case, make mine a Lamborghini Diablo. This analogy highlights perfectly what a supercar represents - emotion, excitement and power all rolled into a beautiful package.