Michelin's Supercar Gathering

At the circuit end of the spectrum, Chris Hoy’s Ginetta-Nissan from the 2015 European Le Mans Series, in which he won the LMP3 title, sits on pure racing rubber.

Next up is the KTM X-Bow, a road-legal but very much track-biased car, from the Austrian motorcycle marque. This two-seat, mid-engined sports car comprises a carbon-fibre tub and a turbocharged, 2.0-litre TFSI engine from Audi. It sits on PilotSport GTs, an off-the-shelf tyre designed for the road, with track in mind.

Next along the stand you’ll find the Arash AF8, a 550bhp British supercar, with a dry-sumped, 7.0-litre Chevrolet V8, built in Newmarket, which sits on Pilot Super Sports, developed with Porsche, BMW M and Ferrari. These are the reverse of the GTs – they’re biased 80 per cent towards track, 20 per cent towards road. Technology comes from 15 consecutive Le Mans 24 Hour wins for Michelin.

Next up is a tuned BMW M3 from AC Schnitzer also sitting on Super Sports, and then, hanging from a wall, an Audi A4 wearing Pilot Sport 4 tyres, a compound that is born of Michelin's involvement with its road work in Formula E. The tyres have low rolling resistance and a similar tread pattern to the Formula E rubber.

Finally, revolving slowly for the crowd, is a concept from GreenGT, a company founded in 2008 by Jean-Francois Weber, which designs, develops and builds sustainable vehicle propulsion systems, with a focus on competition.

The H2 Speed concept, which sits on the Michelin stand, is a Pininfarina design for a hydrogen fuel cell car, and the quickest zero-emission car ever designed. Needless to say, it sits on entirely bespoke tyres.