Our top 10 supercars combine a blend of exotic metal, exceptional performance and breathtaking dynamics
The definition of a supercar may have changed over the past two decades, but that fact hardly makes the metal content that makes up this class any less sensational.
Here it’s the world’s greatest mid-engined, high-level performance machines that we’re celebrating: not the top echelon of the performance car market, but rather the kind of cars you think of when you imagine a Ferrari, McLaren. or modern Lamborghini. If it weren’t for a lucrative club, players like Maserati and Aston Martin wouldn’t be lining up to enter.
Leading this class, you must demonstrate that your designers and engineers can master an inherently delicate dynamic brief, withstand particularly intense competition, and satisfy some of motordom’s most demanding customers.
1. McLaren 720S
The McLaren 720S succeeded where its two predecessors (the 650S and the MP4-12C) failed in our supercar class chart: outright, by overtaking it.
There are few more direct or efficient ways for cars in this layer of the performance car market to demonstrate their superiority than by accelerating faster, turning faster and stopping harder than any rival. The 720S does all three. In many performance benchmarks that road testers are used to measuring, in fact, this 710 horsepower blockbuster is a closer match for a contemporary hypercar than for any of its mid-engined opponents.
Yet it’s also unusually communicative and easy to ride, it’s a supreme ergonomic achievement, and it flatters a rowdy track style that’s more rewarding than any of its predecessors.
McLaren released a lighter, faster, and generally more track-oriented version of the 720S, the 765LT, in 2020. Horsepower and torque were increased to 754 horsepower and 590 lb-ft, respectively, while engineers increased reduced their weight by 80 kg. It is indeed a very special car and itself also a Top Ten Autocar Top Ten, being ranked separately in our ranking of hardcore sports cars.
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2. Ferrari SF90 Stradale
This successor to the LaFerrari hypercar is the most powerful road car in Ferrari history. It was also the car with the fastest lap time on the firm’s Fiorano test track. Oh, and it’s a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 15 miles on electricity alone. The SF90 Stradale is therefore a very different type of Ferrari.
It uses a heavily reworked version of the 488 Pista’s twin-turbocharged A 3.9-liter V8, complemented by a trio of electric motors that crank up the Ferrari’s total power to 986bhp, allowing a 0-62mph time of 2.5 seconds. It’s a technological tour de force for sure, despite the extra weight the powertrain brings, it’s still as sharp, intuitive, engaging and blazingly fast as you might expect from a powered Ferrari. central.
The fact that this makes a comfortable long-distance cruiser is an added bonus, and the fact that you can theoretically run it as a zero-emission commuter car is a fun prospect to consider. As a model for Ferrari’s electrified future, the SF90 is extremely encouraging. Stay tuned for a full Autocar test drive later in 2021.
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3. Ferrari F8 Tributo
Ferrari will tell you that its new F8 Tributo is a replacement for the excellent 488 GTB, but in reality it’s more of a heavy facelift. That said, it’s a facelift that uses a lot of reworked engineering know-how from the stunning track-focused 488 Pista and 488 Challenge race car, so we can probably cut Ferrari down in that regard.
Either way, its twin-turbocharged V8 now puts out 710 horsepower and 568 lb-ft and, surprisingly, it’s as blazingly fast as ever. Some of the aural drama of the old 458 Italia’s naturally aspirated V8 may still be missing, but the introduction of a new hot tube resonator helps channel more noise into the cabin. Variable boost management also increases torque gradually, so that not only does it feel more like an “ atmo ” engine, but also almost eliminates turbo lag.
The main attraction, however, is the chassis of the F8 Tributo. Not only does this make the engine’s stratospheric performance accessible, it also gives the car otherworldly levels of agility, balance and handling. Make no mistake, this is a sensational supercar.
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4. Lamborghini Huracán Evo
Only the makers of the world’s rarest and most expensive hand-crafted exotic automotive vehicles can now compete with Lamborghini to create cars of pure combative drama, traffic-stopping looks, and a wild, unfettered soul.
The Huracán may be the company’s entry-level model, but it’s not a second-rate offering when it comes to its sensational styling or fantastically wild naturally aspirated V10: an engine that …
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-12 14:30:00