Similarly a few years ago, an Aussie forum friend of mine who happens to be a Drag Racing (and now his career has progressed to other more mainstream categories) TV commentator invited me to a Top Fuel demo meeting at a car show.
I duly attended and was absolutely blown away. I was literally within a couple of metres from a top fuel car being started and run as part of the demo. No ear defenders or anything sensible. Cockily I had thought, I have heard it all before with other race cars , racing rotaries etc....
How wrong I was. The noise was staggering, the ground shaking under me, the engine visibly twisting, car almost jumping as it revved. The fumes from the fuel had me by my throat , my eyes and nose were streaming, and my ears ringing. I was to say the least startled by the sheer awesomeness of it. It certainly left a lasting impression.
Less impressive was my friend was there doing the intro and a piece on the event in front of the cameras. As the engine was cut he walked over to me, without any advance warning, stuck a microphone in my face, a cameraman next to him doing same with a cTV camera and asked me what I thought. My 15 seconds of TV fame showed a startled me with eyes and nose streaming, coughing and spluttering, ears ringing, trying to get a couple of words such as awesome and mind blowing out, as he and others in the crowd laughed at the effect it had had on me.
A truly unforgettable experience