The Guy in the M jacket taps the window with his finger and gesticulates in a rotary action - I oblige and fire the M5 up. A mechanical growl follows the whine of the rapid starter motor and I stab it to tempt it into that kind of king of beasts roar.

I edge forward to where the M chap has walked to an imaginary line as he shows the five digits on his right hand. I'm ready this time - the seven-speed SMG set in its optimal position and I'm pushing the gearlever with its illuminated knob gently forward with my middle finger (appropriately enough) to activate the launch control . And my heartbeat as apparent as that rough V10 idle.

Now he's showing thee fingers, two - its time to stab the pedal so the revs intercept the clutch release at the perfect point - one finger - let the lever go.

And we're off - oh my God - we're off...

The BMW M5 explodes into wild action - its rear hunching down as the scream of the tyres fight to out-shout the roar of that 507bhp (375kW) 500Nm quad-cam forty-valve F1-derived V10 boasting the tech brilliance the likes of 20m/s piston speed (compared to 25 in F1) and domed tappet faces (to ensure optimal following of the double-Vanos controlled camshafts) in a machine that's nowhere near its monster development potential.

I let it bounce bang-bang-bang-bang off the limiter as the wheelspin catches up with the engine speed, applying an armful of lock to try keep it pointing at the needed angle down the old military runway but I'm alert to click the steering-mounted SMG button at the right moment.

I switch to second and M5 responds with a mechanical bang that reverberates through the car as SMG robotically slams into second and releases the clutch in what feels like a ten-pound hammer shot, kicking the butt out the other way as those five-hundred horses look for the floor. Still, it settles quicker into second and gets down to the business of harnessing all the traction it can by now.

I watch the rev needle climb past those delightful mechanical white dots that rotate away as the car warms up and which are now sitting in their operational position, into the red and to just past 8200rpm and zap it into third. It's about six seconds since I let her go and 100km/h is long gone, but the ride is getting bumpier and the scenery's a blur.

200 is up in a flash as we're into fourth, 250 just as quickly - I'm now keeping an eye on the head-up display on the windscreen just below the view of the road to track progress rather checking than the dash readout, which requires you to re-focus - as it's asking for sixth and everything goes quiet as the speed limiter intervenes with about 400m left to fly along the runway in spite of the gale blowing from directly ahead.

I climb on those brilliant clamps - and, yes, they are brilliant, don't believe those wise-arse Pommies who'll try to tell you the two-piston callipers are not up to it - of course they are - and my jowls feel it as the huge rotors whirr M5 to a stop clamped by those brilliant monster callipers. We never even got into seventh on the runway - but this thing will run 320 if it were allowed to...

BMW's M5 is everything I expected of it and a hell of a lot more. The car Bavaria has built to reclaim the super saloon crown from Stuttgart's E55 has been worth every second of the wait for it and we're delighted to report hat it will be in South Africa midyear 2005 albeit in very rare numbers - only sixty a year are destined to come our way - set to sell somewhere in the bargain low R800 000 bracket, so you'd better get your butt down to your Beemer dealer now if you want one.

With the runway dealt with, a charming BMW driving instructor beckons me to lower the window as he checks I have it all set up for my next run about the finicky slalom they've set up at the end of the runway. Having already sworn at the life saving DSC and ESP at full intervention and moaned at the partially interfering setting, I'm ready to ride it bareback at last.

Let me explain: M5 has myriad settings. Start it up and it'll default to what BMW call P400 - that with that V10 jewel (described by the M-Reich as a pair of independent five-cylinders turning a common crank) churning out 400 brake horsepower (or 300kW to those fastidious metricists among us) with DSC and ESP ready to intervene if you dare step out of line.

But press the little M button on the steering and you unleash 507bhp (yes folks, that's 376kW...) as the most powerful car microprocessor ever built simultaneously switches to a semi traction and stability control set-up you can override completely. Then there is the SMG manual-six setting that provides you with lightning-fast robotic gear shifting, a launch control facility and zero electronic interference. My kind of driving? You bet!

So our pal gives us the three fingers, two, one and we're slithering away - sideways already into the left-right-left and second. A touch on the brakes and back to first and voet-in-die-hoek as the rear comes around the tyres obviously smoking wildly.

I lift a touch to gather the drift, steering into it and neatly - and proudly - out into the short straight bit although I need a touch more lock and I hit the wiper-washer instead of the up-shift paddle and ride it on the limiter into the next little twist with the wipers sloshing away the washer fluid. Not all that gloating any more...

And I brake a little late, but brilliant M5 responds with anger billowing smoke off the tyres as it slaughters the understeer into another huge drift, which somehow I catch and I'm able to attack the last right-left-right into the garage stop...

In short and in summary, I reckon BMW's M5 has to be the ultimate driving weapon on the road today. Back on public roads, we explored its huge tractability and broadly variable comfort or sportiness by exploiting it continually via iDrive and we were always cosseted in top-of-the-line BMW Five comfort as we turned heads everywhere we drove and answered a thousand questions every time we stopped. On the road, M5 lacks all the trivial bits the normal five can have - its conventional tyres (not run-flat) and steering (M5 has a unique direct and close ratio rack) further adding to its no-nonsense demeanour and pedigree.

So overwhelming was the experience that it took me a good couple of days after we left Munich to come to my final conclusion on M5 - was it really that good? But with a little time to sleep on it, I soon came to the conclusion that there was nothing at all wrong with my initial impressions.

No, it may not be the fastest saloon in the world (although it could well be), it doesn't look all that special (especially since BMW offers a similar body kit for common garden fives) and not everyone can tell me they like how it looks (although I love it) but as far as a package goes, M5 has to be the ultimate car on the road today.

In its exotic Jeckyll & Hyde V10 driving that seven-speed robot gearbox in a chassis that is to die for, BMW has used all its extensive M, F1 and sheer driving pleasure experience to put together something that is absolutely and undeniably incredible.

Yes, in my mind I have no doubt that the BMW M5 is the finest car ever built...