Three-time Le Mans champion Klaus Ludwig once test drove a limited edition Mercedes-Benz SLR (hand-assembled by McLaren) at a secret Spanish racetrack outside Barcelona. Riding shotgun was Esquire's Chistopher Berend. "What I do not like about this track," Ludwig hollered as they entered a turn at something like 200 miles per hour, "are these guardrails at the top. They should be concrete. They would not hold us if we were to lose control. We would go straight into the trees."

Berend was horrified, particularly when he noticed that Ludwig was driving with his thumbs and forefingers lightly perched at the bottom of the wheel...