The Sunday Times InGear Supercar Run, which has cars running at full throttle up the hill twice a day, brings together the world’s greatest sports cars for a historic motoring event. Here’s a top-five taster.

Alfa Romeo 8C Spider

Alfa’s new car is heavenly to look at and sinful to drive, so get a good look at one. Only 500 will be built, which means the chances of catching sight of any V8-powered Spiders outside your local Sainsbury’s are decidedly slim.

Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS

It’s Aston Martin’s scariest-ever car, only one of which exists. The 600bhp V12 engine is a brute, its bellow a petrolhead’s opera, and the uprated sports suspension and brakes deliver race-car thrills for the road. There is a catch, though — a provisional price tag of £150,000, and only if Aston decides there are enough customers to justify building some 600 over three years. Still, it’s worth taking your chequebook to the festival.

KTM X-Bow

With its X-Wing fighter styling, you half expect Luke Skywalker to step out of the KTM X-Bow. Car enthusiasts the world over are waiting for KTM, a motorbike manufacturer, to launch the X-Bow, which is built around a carbon fibre monocoque — like a race car. With a four-cylinder, turbocharged Audi TFSI engine developing 240bhp and mounted behind the driver, the signs are promising. The fact that it won its maiden race at Silverstone in April is more promising still. By mid-July InGear will have driven it, so watch this space.

Mercedes SLR McLaren Roadster

Psst! Want to know what else Lewis Hamilton might drive up the hill on Sunday in addition to his F1 car? Look closely at the £350,000, 206mph SLR Roadster and you may well spot the superstar showing what he’s made of in this topless tearaway.

Tesla Roadster

If you don’t believe electric power has any place in a supercar, the Tesla Roadster could well change your mind. Far from being as unwieldy as a giant Duracell battery, the Tesla manages to shoot from standstill to 60mph in an electrifying 4sec, handles sublimely (indeed, like the Lotus Elise, with which it shares its aluminium underpinnings) and turns heads in a way that no G-Wiz ever could. The only snag is the price. At roughly £50,000, it’s not cheap — particularly not when you can buy a Lotus Elise for just £23,550.

But then, in view of the price of fuel these days, perhaps Tesla is set to strike oil (so to speak) and plug into a new generation of eco-minded, wallet-conscious sports-car drivers.