You always wondered what the 9 coolest supercars were before the Bugatti Veyron came along, right?
This week the Ferrari Enzo of our great friend Fernando Alonso passed by. The Spanish driver has put a very special copy on sale. This is the first copy ever built.
It’s a bit ironic of course. You don’t want the first of the series with a largely hand-built Italian young timer. But, these are limited supercars and then it is different.
But the Enzo also reminded us of a special period. In the 1990s, most supercars were equipped with a 400-500 hp V12, whether or not as a Le Mans GT1 homologation model. Then there’s the McLaren F1 that made short work of everything, until the Bugatti Veyron came along, of course.
That’s why we’re looking at the period after the turn of the millennium, before the Bugatti Veyron came to disrupt things. These supercars are still a bit mythical. They come from a time when not everything was recorded and uploaded on a mobile phone. It is also a period when the cars were still somewhat analogous. The occasional sequential transmission, ABS or traction control, but that was about it. In that respect too, the Veyron has changed or ruined everything.
But without further ado, these are the coolest supercars of the 2000s. We look specifically at the supercars produced in the period from 2000 to 2010.
Ferrari Enzo (Type F-140)
2002 – 2004
The Ferrari Enzo is the most valuable in this list. That is remarkable, because it is not the fastest, not the rarest and not the most beautiful. That doesn’t seem to matter, because it says Ferrari.
However, it is a special device, an atmospheric V12 with 650 hp, coupled to a sequential gearbox from Graziano. Compared to the F50, the Enzo got a serious amount of street cred back. 399 plus 1 (for the Pope) were built. We do not count the FXX models, because we only go for street legal models today.
Porsche Carrera GT (980)
2002 – 2006
How can you still earn money with a completely failed project? Leave that to the gentlemen of Porsche. The Carrera GT is in fact a remnant of a failed Formula 1 project. That failed F1 project then led to a Le Mans project, which was canceled because Audi started to focus on Le Mans.
So what do you do then? Exactly, you take that carbon fiber chassis, huge engine, suspension and such and turn it into a road car. Initially, the V10 would deliver 550 hp, but because road cars do not have a restrictor, the power was higher: 612 hp. The sound is perhaps the most beautiful of any road car ever built.
Lamborghini Bat 40th Anniversary
2001 – 2005
It is crazy for words, but in this overview the Lamborghini is the least insane. The Lamborghini Murciélago is equipped with only 580 hp. The car received several minor changes throughout its career, but it took a while for the LP640 to arrive. In any case, according to @jaapiyo, the original model is a lot nicer and he has a point: it’s a bit cleaner, those rear lights are a nice hat to the Countach. The fact that the engine got stuck at 580 hp does not mean that nothing else happened.
Every year the model was slightly improved and finely ground. The Anniversary models can be recognized by the special paint color Verde Artemis (it’s called green, but looks more like blue / turquoise), the two-tone interior and the anthracite gray rims. A total of 4,099 copies of the Murciélago were built, of this 40th Anniversary only 50. Nice detail, the crackling stereo! If you have a naturally aspirated Bizzarini V12, why pay attention to the infotainment?
Ford GT
2004 – 2006
Does the Ford GT fall under this category? Cars like the Ferrari F430 and Lamborghini Gallardo are not included in this overview. But the Ford GT is more special than those two Italians. Without shorting those Lambo and Fezza, because they are great cars. The Ford GT is even more special.
The great thing is that Ford made the car because they could and so they could celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company. The car was developed in record time with help from Aston Martin (steering), Lotus (chassis), BBS (wheels), Ricardo (transmission), Saleen (assembly), Shelby and Ford Performance. 4,038 were built, making it a very successful car of its kind.
Koenigsegg CCR
2004 – 2006
Before the Bugatti came along, this was the fastest car. In fact, the Veyron probably still has a lot to do on the Autobahn. From a standstill, the Bugatti is faster, but once it rolls, there’s little faster than a Koenigsegg. The engine is still somewhat related to a Ford unit, but you can exchange few parts. With 806 hp, the power was bizarre. Within 25 seconds you drove 300 km/h.
The top speed was ‘more than 395 km/h’. They tried to achieve the record for production cars at Nardo, but they got stuck at 387 km / h. The consensus was that it could be achieved on a straight track. The problem, the only test track long enough was Ehra-Lessien in Germany. And coincidentally that job belongs to Volkswagen and coincidentally they themselves were busy reaching 400 km / h with their own supercar. Fun fact: the Veyron, Zonda and Koenigsegg CCR were tuned by Loris Bicocchi. 14 units were built.
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 (C199)
2005
Does the SLR really belong in this list? It has a V8 in it, the engine is in the front and it is a Mercedes, so many of them were built. The answer is yes. This is not a chipped SL55 AMG. The car sits on a unique carbon fiber chassis. The engine of this Mercedes. has been boosted to a whopping 626 horsepower, making it one of the fastest cars in this roundup.
The 722 took it a little further with 650 hp and 820 Nm. More important were the hardware upgrades, such as extra light rims, tighter dampers and shorter springs. Oh, and even more powerful brakes. The top speed is 337 km / h, but that was a kind of minimum guarantee. 150 units of the 722 were built.
Pay Zonda C12 F
2005
Of course, we all knew that Paganis were very special. But with the F (from Fangio, a friend of Horacio Pagani), the brand broke into the elite group of boutique supercar builders. The cars were unique in terms of build quality, driving characteristics, sound and performance.
The Zonda F is the highlight of the Zondas anyway, because after this they switched to sequential gearboxes instead of the specially reinforced manual gearboxes to handle all the power of the AMG V12. 25 copies were made, later another 25 Roadsters were added.
Saleen S7 Twin Turbo
2005
They can also do something about it in the United States. The Saleen S7 is perhaps the most imaginative supercar. See, first there were the Vectors and things like that: a lot of show, a lot of power, but no one knew if it really worked. The Saleen S7 was a very successful racing car both in the United States and Europe. The standard Saleen S7 was already good for 550 hp from a 7 liter Windsor V8 (actually an ancient design), but with two turbos the power increased to 750 hp.
In many cases it is of course pure overkill, because the Saleen S7 is very light. So you didn’t need more power, but it seems the car could handle it well. Which indicates how good the base was. After that, Saleen tried it with the S5S Raptor, some Tesla body kits and tuning items for Mustangs. Not much is known about the exact production numbers, people are betting on about 100 copies, racers and street cars together.
Spyker C8 Double 12
2005
It sounds stupid to say, but we still think that Spyker was very close to eternal fame. Unfortunately, Maarten de Bruijn left the brand. Muller managed to turn Spyker into a beautiful brand, but those loss-making practices such as buying Saab and running a Formula 1 team were pointless. Complete nonsense, because the attention had to go to the cars.
The Spyker C8 Double 12 proved that. That car had to be a tribute to the Le Mans racers, a project that we can understand. The Double 12 had a longer chassis, which certainly didn’t look out of place. In this case not an Audi V8, but one from Mader. It is the engine we also saw in the M3 GTR and Audi TT-R DTM racer. The idea was great, but the Dutch supercar still needed 20-25% development work.
BONUS: TVR Cerbera Speed Twelve
2000
And then the ultimate bouncer. That’s the TVR Cerbera Speed Twelve. The car was born from a funny idea with a few liters of gin in the shot, probably. TVR knew they had to differentiate themselves from all other small sports manufacturers and wanted to do so with their own engine: the AJP6 (a six in line, found in the Cerbera, Tuscan, Tamora, T350 and T400 models) and an AJP8 (a V8 , only for the Cerbera).
But there was room for more. The six-cylinder had a stroke volume of 3.5 liters, but could be easily increased. Thus, one V12 was forged from two six-in-line with 7.7 liters and more than 800 hp. Then it was hung in a race car chassis and a Cerbera body was placed over it. The result? The car that we are all very afraid of. One example was sold: the buyer had to sign a statement from TVR boss Peter Wheeler that he knew it was an underdeveloped racing car with flashing lights.
Read more? These are 11 twelve-cylinder with manual gearbox!
This article The 9 coolest supercars after the new millennium appeared first on Ruetir.
