Of big open single seaters...

It happened one afternoon when I was wandering down the paddock at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. I’d been treated that day to an array of swift single seaters, some hatchbacks straining to go as fast as their engines would let them, and even a fleet of GT3-spec cars barreling all at once through Rindt Corner. But none of those machines could have produced that deafening roar that I found myself listening to at that point.

From where I was standing, I couldn’t see cars going past the Armco barriers, which meant they were...