Features

Some vast and malevolent force has passed through here recently.

The remains of pulverised palm trees are scattered about like freshly laid compost, the blown-in windows of multi-billion dollar financial institutions are crudely covered over with plyboard, and yachts are lying crumpled at the roadside where they've been plucked from the sea and then discarded like cheap plastic toys.

With the clean-up still going on scarcely three months after Hurricane Katrina glanced past Miami, a minor maelstrom of an altogether different nature is about to take hold.

This time the magnitude will be registered on an alternative scale of violence, one that's entirely man-made in origin. Incoming is a low-level, precision-aimed sensory onslaught, one of vivid colour, noise and speed.

Of a shade of blue seemingly mixed to blend seamlessly with the art deco facades of the buildings that line Ocean Drive. Of the explosive sound of a five-litre V10 engine as it revs past 8,000rpm.

And of the potential to hit 60mph before you can even count to four, and then to reach a barely drag-restricted 191mph should you dare to keep the hood down.

This, then, is one of just two Lamborghini Gallardo Spyders to have arrived in the States, flown in on a cargo plane from Bologna and jettisoned straight into the mid-winter Florida sunshine.

As it prowls along the intersections, freeways and sharply spiralling exit ramps of Miami, every eye is turning in its direction.

There's no point in hiding. Just drop the top, wind the aircon right up and prepare to bask in the intrigue. Lowering the simple canvas hood couldn't be any easier.