This was one really, really hacked off California patrolman and, with hindsight, his home patch of small, picture-postcard towns, wooded hills and narrow, winding roads was not the best venue for the international launch of a car such as the Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG.

Unlike the hard-bitten Robocop of Arizona who only a few weeks earlier had revelled in his reflective dark glasses and swagger while ripping a strip off various wayward Euro-hacks on Jaguar’s XF saloon launch, this officer was making an effort to suggest that he, too, understood the lure of speed.