The Supercar Elite

2 Saturday 15 October 2016 The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph Saturday 15 October 2016 3 COVER STORY Peerless: the Jabbeke in Belgium, making it the speed in excess of 240mph, the contenders fastest production car in the world. McLaren is a true one-off. Can include, anti- The XK120’s cramped cockpit you think of another road car that clockwise from doesn’t suit very tall drivers, but had to be detuned for racing – the front, the those who fit will revel in its sure- and still won the Le Mans 24 Lamborghini footed handling and instant Hours at the first attempt? Miura, Jaguar responses. On cross-ply tyres you When the F1 eventually lost its XK120, Mercedes can safely slide the Jaguar around speed crown it was to a vehicle 300SL, ‘Blower’ corners with a grin as broad as the that was not only dubbed the first Bentley and road itself – in the dry, at least. hypercar but epitomised the McLaren P1. You If the Jaguar looked like the last return to brute force, the Bugatti can vote for your of the sports cars, then the Veyron. Eight litres, four turbos favourite at the Mercedes-Benz 300SL was the first and more than 1,000bhp offers a Classic & Sports supercar aesthetically, especially in heady cocktail of power and Car website; all closed, “Gullwing” form. With a devastating pace, with 60mph in the finalists will low, menacing stance and a fuel- well under three seconds. It be on display at injected 3.0-litre straight-six, the simply has so much spare Alexandra Mercedes was introduced in 1954 capacity, extra capability, that no Palace, left and could be geared for 160mph. one is ever going to be able to tell The Lamborghini Miura was the you how it handles on the limit ultimate expression of the much aplomb as its Sant’Agata on a public road. optimism of the Sixties and, even rival, the last car personally signed The McLaren P1 is a worthy though it is not the easiest car to off by Enzo Ferrari (in 1987) is successor to the F1. Embracing drive, its power and top speed nothing short of feral. With a hybrid technology, the 200mph- (171mph) were unrivalled and it set lightweight shell and twin turbos plus ultracar combines a 3.8-litre the template for all that followed. helping to send 480bhp through twin-turbo V8 with an electric Then in 1974 came an even more the rear wheels, the F40 has an motor, although if you think that uncompromising Lamborghini – epic power-to-weight ratio, but the P1 heralds an all-electric era, the Marcello Gandini-designed little in the way of refinements. think again: its electric-only Countach, which incredibly lived No car better demonstrates that range is less than seven miles. on until 1990. Like the Miura it is a greatness is not always emulated All of these cars have either shatteringly good car to drive than the McLaren F1. A money-no- moved the game on or revised quickly, with its longitudinally object, clean-sheet-of-paper design perceptions of what is possible. mounted V12 good for more than by the company’s Formula One Which the public considers the 150mph, although it’s rather less guru Gordon Murray, it was so most important of all will be friendly at slower speeds. And pure in terms of engineering and revealed at Alexandra Palace at that’s not to mention owners so rarefied in specification that it the end of this month. having to open the scissor doors simply could not be replicated by a and sit on the sill to reverse. major car manufacturer. With a James Elliott is group editor of Just to show that Maranello’s central driving position, perfect Classic & Sports Car magazine TONY BAKER TONY Ferrari can do raw with just as balance and handling and a top modern age, but for its time this IT’S SHOWTIME Mercedes was sophisticated. With adjustable dampers and the engine Fast masters: the set back in a shortened chassis, the The Classic & results of a public ride and handling are superb, Sports Car Show vote to name the while the steering is surprisingly at Alexandra greatest supercar light and the gearchange easy. But Palace from of all time. it is all about the awesome power October 28-30 from this 140bhp monster that will feature more The finalists will supercar elite from a standing start covered 1,000 than 300 of the form a multi- feet in only 13 seconds in period. world’s finest million-pound The concept of brute force was classic cars, from display; the winner combined with engineering genius renowned dealers will be announced to create the defining car of the and collectors. at the show. Twenties. Ironically, Bentley ruled The star attraction the best part of the decade even is “A Century of classicand without the Blower, but when Supercars”, which sportscarshow. Of the many fast cars of the past 100 years, few achieve true engineer Amherst Villiers and will feature the com team driver Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin greatness. James Elliott reveals those you rate most highly supercharged a Bentley 4½ they created a legend. Just over 50 of they are anything but truck-like to t is often said that the something so far ahead of its the cars wore their Roots-type drive, except for the famously term “supercar” was contemporaries that it is literally “blowers” prominently in front of recalcitrant gearbox. Riding the coined to describe the “super” (from the Latin for beyond) their grilles. Simply put, steady wave of power delivered by Lamborghini Miura, and sets a new benchmark, supercharging means that rather a blown Bentley is one of the great which burst into the regardless of whether others than the engine being naturally driving experiences. motoring world exactly followed the trail it blazed or not. aspirated, the air that mixes with Bugatti may have prompted the 50 years ago, but that This year, Classic & Sports Car the fuel is pushed into the engine sea change from brute force to Ibelief is as incorrect as it magazine sought to identify those at a constant pressure, hence the light weight and engineering is commonly held. That very cars and asked enthusiasts to phrase forced induction. prowess, but the idea was is not to say that the Miura wasn’t pick their favourites from each era Thanks to rival Ettore Bugatti perfected in Milan by Alfa Romeo. a watershed, because it did set in order to trace the evolution of dubbing them the world’s fastest Like the Mercedes, the Alfa the template for every supercar the genre. Those finalists went into Feral: the V8 turbocharged Ferrari F40 lorries, Twenties Bentleys have a Romeo 8C came in a multitude of since. It wasn’t the first rear-mid- a poll to find the greatest supercar has an epic power-to-weight ratio reputation of being truck-like but guises, but in its day it was an engined sports car for the road – of all time. With 18,000 votes cast engineering sensation. With a that honour goes to the De so far (the voting is open until Vittorio Jano-designed straight- Tomaso Vallelunga – but the October 23), the finalists are set to eight engine based on Alfa’s combination of that sonorous, be displayed and the winner previous straight-six (or 6C), the 8C transversely mounted 4.0-litre unveiled at the Classic & Sports Car initially displaced 2,300cc and V12 and drop-dead gorgeous Show at Alexandra Palace, north later 2,900cc. Variants range from looks by Bertone seared the London, from October 28-30. elegant Touring Spiders to out- Miura into the public psyche. But But what were these cars and and-out racers, but all offer the the first supercar? Think again. what made them so special? same driving thrills. Even the word itself goes back According to the fans, the first A lack of resources and materials nearly 100 years, the first known true supercar was the pre-First meant that the motoring world was usage of “supercar” being in a World War Mercedes. Powered by slow to reawaken after the Second 1920 advert for an Ensign Six, four-cylinder engines with bores World War, but the first car to which really did not warrant it, like buckets and capacities from a make its mark was the Jaguar but the concept of building a mere 5.0 litres to touching 13, the XK120. Named numerically after its quicker, better car goes back to best of breed was the revised 1908 top speed, the 3.4-litre Jaguar the very dawn of motoring. And Grand Prix car. Any Edwardian car sports car grabbed the headlines not just a slightly better car, but is going to seem a bit hairy in the by achieving more than 130mph at .

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