15 Icons that Defined Supercar Driver — Group 3

This group, for us, is peak supercar. Let me explain. In the decade (there or thereabouts) since these five were released, we’ve seen cars with power figures to crush these in a straight line, and the latest chassis tech means they’re even more competent around a bend too, but going fast is just one piece of the supercar puzzle.

With these cars (perhaps with the exception of the sledgehammer SV), no piece of the puzzle is bigger than any other. They are a cohesive culmination of striking looks, more than enough performance for any situation bar a world-record speed run, unique and intoxicating soundtracks and superb driver involvement, with just enough cutting-edge tech to enhance their usability without detracting from the thrill, from a time just before the power race started to get out of hand.

Ferrari 458 Speciale

I said earlier that the 458 Italia was a huge leap on from the F430, and yet somehow, the Speciale was a huge leap on again. The Speciale built upon the 458 platform’s technical geekery by stripping 90kg of weight and generally turning the hardcore dial well up towards the upper echelons.

Power was up slightly to 597hp at 9,000 of the most spine-tingling revs you’ve ever heard, the shift times of the dual-clutch gearbox were slashed to make it even sharper, and the clever traction control and E-Diff systems were put to good use with a new feature called Side Slip Control to make almost any driver look like a hero whilst keeping you just about facing forwards.

I remember when I first drove a Speciale, it was back to back with a 430 Scuderia and I was expecting the newer car to be too refined for my liking. I was wrong, very wrong! Even at a cruise, the reduced sound deadening is evident. This is a surprisingly raw machine, but a much more modern one than a Scuderia.

First off, the extra 90hp is definitely felt and with a 1,400-ish-kg kerb weight, the Speciale is a fast car. The suspension is compliant in ‘Bumpy Road Mode’ and the steering is hyper-sensitive after the Scud, something I prefer about the older car, but there’s no denying it brings a more razor-sharp feeling to the Speciale. The dual-clutch ‘box is lightning fast but still thumps you in the back both on the way up and down, so even that doesn’t lose the Speciale any soul points.

I also had the pleasure of getting behind the wheel of one of 499 Speciale Apertas and I can hardly imagine a better all-round driving experience for the road, especially on a glorious day with the roof off, ears being battered by that flat-plane V8 bark. It was pure driving heaven, it’s just a shame they’re so expensive and most will therefore be living their lives as museum pieces.

Speaking of soul, the Speciale really doesn’t lose out much at all to the earlier 430 Scuderia and 360 Challenge Stradale we also have here today, but it made huge leaps forward in terms of performance, capability and usability. The 488 Pista that replaced it made equally huge leaps again with a massive increase to 720hp along with more refinement and clever aero, and there’s no denying it’s a superb car with many admirers, but for the purpose of today when we’re celebrating definitive supercars bursting at the seams with character, the turbocharged Pista doesn’t get a look in against one of the most exciting V8s ever put in a road car.

Adrian bought this stunning Rosso Fuoco Speciale in 2018 to replace his 430 Scuderia. He recently did our Wales tour and has attended many Secret Meets although we go way back with Adrian as he was a very early member when he had a Porsche 996 Turbo. Adrian has added some Novitec styling parts, including carbon fibre covers for the door handles, wing mirrors and rear lights and it is sitting lower than standard too.

Adrian is also a Porsche fan with a 992 GT3, 992 GTS and Taycan GT, but the Speciale is here to stay. “It’s a keeper”, he tells us, “But I didn’t buy it as a collector’s piece, more as a progression from the Scuderia. It’s the last of the naturally-aspirated V8 Ferraris and the engine noise is hard to beat. I’ve driven it on track at Anglesey and it really came alive”.

As Adrian says, being the last ever naturally-aspirated V8 to leave Maranello alone makes the Speciale an instant classic, but the way it employs cutting-edge tech while maintaining all the rawness you could ever want is masterful.

It’s sad that so many Speciales have barely ticked over 1,000 miles at almost 10 years old because, for me, it is one of the greatest Ferraris there has ever been and likely ever will be, but you need to be behind the wheel, on a great road, up at 9,000rpm to experience that character to the fullest. It is a driver’s car, not an ornament, and the exhilaration you’ll feel after a spirited drive will far outweigh every penny of value it might lose.

Lamborghini Aventador SV

Car companies love to claim their latest model is ‘all-new’, but the truth is often much muddier. In many cases, the components you don’t see, from anti-roll bar bushes to entire engines, are carried over to cut costs.

Launched in 2011, the Aventador LP700-4 really was all-new. The Bizzarrini-designed V12, fitted to the first Lamborghini that wasn’t a tractor, finally bowed out after 48 years, replaced by a dry-sumped 6.5-litre V12 with variable valve timing. Further developments included a carbon fibre monocoque chassis, Haldex four-wheel-drive system, pushrod-based suspension, carbon-ceramic brakes and an ISR (independent shifting rod) automated manual transmission. Lamborghini confidently claimed its flagship supercar had leapt two generations beyond the Murcielago it replaced.

Reviews weren’t universally positive, however, with critics highlighting a propensity to understeer and the head-nodding hesitancy of the single-clutch ISR ’box at low speeds. Enter the SV in 2015, tasked with righting those wrongs and delivering a knockout blow to Ferrari’s scorching F12tdf. It duly elevated the Aventador to five-star status in the pages of EVO and CAR magazines.

The Super Veloce (literally ‘Super Speed’) badge has adorned some of the fastest, most exciting Lamborghinis of all, starting with the Miura P400 SV in 1971, then the Diablo SV in 1995 and Murcielago LP670-4 SV in 2009. For the Aventador, that potent suffix meant 50 extra horsepower and 50kg less weight, along with a raised 8,500rpm redline, updated gearbox software, magnetic fluid-filled adaptive dampers, a new aero package, reduced sound deadening and forged centre-lock alloy wheels.

Against the stopwatch, the 1,625kg SV could hit 62mph in 2.8 seconds and 124mph in 8.6 seconds, then keep going all the way to 217mph. It also dipped under seven minutes around a lap of the Nurburgring, and the 2019 Aventador SVJ would go even quicker, wrestling back the record from the Porsche 991 GT2 RS.

From the driver’s seat, the SV delivers a turned-up-to-11 supercar experience. Its Longitudinale Posteriore V12 is ridiculously potent, the dizzying rush of acceleration squeezing your solar plexus even as maximum-attack upshifts in Corsa mode simultaneously wallop you in the back. The soundtrack is suitably Spinal Tap as well — a primal roar somewhere between Italian opera and German heavy metal.

The Lamborghini’s carbon fibre structure provides immense torsional rigidity, which the Dynamic Steering and Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres of the SV seem eager to exploit. Turn-in is strident, body control is iron-fisted and the car’s balance — given enough road space — is exuberantly throttle-adjustable. If the LP700-4 was the cinema version of the Aventador, the Super Veloce feels like the director’s cut.

Then you park up, take a breather and just stare at it. As subtle as a Tyson Fury right hook, the SV is the embodiment of wide-eyed supercar fantasy — more stealth fighter or sci-fi spacecraft than mere road car. It looks extravagant from every angle and screams speed from its jutting carbon splitter to its manually adjustable, three-position rear spoiler. I’m not sure even Lamborghini’s new 1,015hp Revuelto can’t match it for traffic-stopping presence.

So, what’s even more exciting than an Aventador SV? The answer, of course, is a one-of-500 SV Roadster like the car pictured here, owned by James. A member of Supercar Driver for eight years, James couldn’t make it to Donington Park on the day of our photoshoot, so he — very generously — entrusted the SV keys to friend Simon instead, also a long-term friend of ours.

“James is a Lambo fan through and through”, explains Simon. “He’s also owned a Huracan LP610-4, Huracan Performante and Aventador LP700-4 Roadster, but this SV has really got under his skin.” In three years of ownership, James has driven the car around 10,000 miles, including several trips to Le Mans. It appears to be a keeper.

Temporary custodian Simon has evidently been seduced by the SV, too. “Driving it is like a theatrical performance”, he says. “The V12 engine is absolutely the centre of attention. This isn’t a car for sudden showers, though. Even with practice, it takes at least five minutes to unclip the two carbon fibre roof panels and stow them in the front boot, or vice versa. If it rains, you’re getting wet”.

McLaren 675LT

We’ve covered the 12C which reignited the fire of McLaren Automotive, and whilst it was a technical triumph, those used to Italian flair and fireworks were left a little cold. The 650S took a mooch to first base, but the 675LT hit a home run, finally challenging Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche’s hardcore offerings in more ways than just outright pace.

Based on the 650S and looking very similar too, the 675LT was a much more different animal than the modest 25hp gain of its 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 might suggest. Many engine internals were borrowed from the P1, reducing weight, giving a different character and a more hard-edged soundtrack from a titanium exhaust to accompany the LT’s namesake 675hp.

100kg was shaved from the 650S with extensive use of carbon fibre, bucket seats and even thinner glass. Believe it or not, trimming the interior in Alcantara instead of the leather in the 650S reportedly saved 3.5kg!

Suspension is stiffer than the 650S with components once again borrowed from the P1, and the adjustable hydraulic setup remains meaning great adjustability and a compliant ride for such a car. LT, as you probably know, stands for Long Tail, harking back to the legendary F1 GTR. The tail isn’t actually any longer here, but there’s more pronounced aero including an electronically adjustable spoiler which doubles as a very cool air brake when you stand on the carbon ceramics.

My first drive in a 675LT was right in the middle of winter, so it was a rather lively experience to say the least, but thankfully the weather gods had mercy and gave us a mostly dry day, and the car was on regular P Zeros rather than anything too deadly when faced with near-freezing tarmac.

In true McLaren fashion, outright performance was on another level to the 458 Speciale and Lamborghini Huracan Performante it squared up to in its day, and whilst it doesn’t have a biblically loud naturally-aspirated engine to compete with those two, the LT has character far beyond any McLaren before it (F1 excluded!). Acceleration feels so much more savage than 675hp suggests and simply takes your breath away as the rear end wiggles around looking for any traction it can find, and it just never lets up, its exhaust whip-cracking as the next gear slams home with a gentle thud from the excellent dual-clutch ‘box.

The accompanying sound, whilst it’ll never rival a naturally-aspirated V10, is unique and exciting, with whooshes from the turbo, a soundtrack of pure power on wide-open throttle, and cracks on up and downshifts that make you giggle like a small child.

Then you get to a bend, and the 675 sets itself apart from the competition with what may be the best power-assisted steering of any car, ever. It’s perfectly weighted, not artificially hyper so it just feels natural, and the front end of the LT darts in like it weighs as much as a Lotus Exige, then you patiently wait to chase the throttle and deploy all that power. Chase a bit too early and the back end loves to move around, and the way it dances is so exciting. From a pure driving point of view, excluding the influence of its rivals’ admittedly more sonorous engines, I think the 675LT might be the most involving modern supercar of them all — it’s that good.

Lee, the owner of this Napier Green 675LT, is an avid tour-goer, accompanying us on many trips to the Alps and Dolomites, and has been a member of Supercar Driver since the early days when he owned a Porsche 997.1 GT3 RS. Owned for three years, the LT sits alongside a Porsche 991.2 GT3 RS, Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale and Radical SR3 XXR in his garage.

”I was attracted by the very positive reviews and also its rarity, with only 500 coupes and 500 Spiders made”, he tells us. “I’m definitely enjoying it. For a 2016 car, it still looks very current and it’s incredibly fast, probably too fast! I love the fact that you can drop the roof down, too. For me, the 675LT and P1 are probably the twin peaks of McLaren Automotive”.

Lamborghini Huracan Performante

In the not-so-distant future, when new internal combustion engines have been banned and their definitive history is written, the Lamborghini V10 will surely be ranked alongside the Ferrari ‘Colombo’ V12, Chevrolet small-block V8 and Porsche ‘Mezger’ flat-six as one of the all-time greats. Frankly, you could shoehorn this engine into a Dacia Sandero and the result would still be sensational. In a car of the Performante’s talents, it’s heady stuff indeed.

Launched in 2014, the Huracan evolved constantly during its 10 years on sale, from sensory-overload Spider to back-to-basics Evo RWD, and track-focused STO to rough-and-tumble Sterrato. Initial road tests tended to favour the Ferrari 488 GTB or McLaren 650S, but that all changed when the Performante arrived in 2017. Suddenly, it seemed like the Huracan had fulfilled its potential.

How so? Well, that voracious V10 gained a new inlet manifold, titanium valves and a lighter exhaust system, boosting output by 30hp to 640hp at 8,000rpm. The suspension was 10 percent stiffer and more resistant to roll, the variable-ratio steering was re-calibrated and gear shifts were sharper in maximum-attack Corsa mode. Liberal use of forged carbon — a composite material that resembled black marble — also helped trim 40 kg from the Huracan’s kerb weight.  

The most radical revision, though, was a new ‘Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva’ (ALA) aero system. This used active flaps and ducts to increase downforce or reduce drag as required, and was even capable of ‘aero vectoring’ downforce onto either side of the car to increase stability and cornering speeds. Its effectiveness was showcased when a Performante, wearing optional Pirelli Trofeo R tyres, broke the Nürburgring lap record for road cars. Its time of 6min 52sec bested the 887hp Porsche 918 Spyder by a full five seconds.

The Performante talks the walk, too, particularly in eye-popping Verde Mantis. With its forged carbon bodykit, sawn-off tailpipes and 20-inch wheels, it looks like a de-liveried version of Lamborghini’s Super Trofeo racer. However, even this hardcore Huracan doesn’t take itself too seriously. Open the door (conventionally hinged this time) and there’s a Manga-style digital display and red ‘bomb switch’ cover for the start button.

Even at road speeds, the Performante feels instantly more effervescent than a base Huracan. It’s keener to change direction, then deftly poised and tenacious when you do, with enough compliance to hold its line even when the surface is suboptimal (that’ll be 95 per cent of British roads, then). Strada is the softest drive mode, Sport introduces more rearward torque bias and Corsa is manically intense. Never mind the 488 GTB and 650S, in dynamic terms this Lamborghini trades blows with the Pista and 600LT.

At the heart of it all is that V10. Redlined at 8,500rpm, it feels utterly incendiary, a controlled explosion of such sound and fury you wonder how it can be road-legal. It snorts and snarls, it hammers and howls. It propels the Performante to 62mph in 2.9 seconds and on to 202mph. It makes even the most mundane journey feel exciting, and we’ll miss it now it’s gone.

The car in our photos is owned by Supercar Driver member Kev, a lifelong Lamborghini aficionado whose collection also includes a Diablo SV. “I fell in love with the paint colour first”, he explains. “I saw an LP610-4 in Verde Mantis and had to have it, but it wasn’t quite enough for me. I wanted a Lamborghini with a wing, basically!”.

When a Performante became available (also in Verde Mantis, with the factory-fitted fixed wing), Kev traded in his first Huracan and hasn’t looked back. “The naturally aspirated engine is just fantastic”, he says. “It’s ballistically quick, and brutally responsive in Corsa mode, but it’s also a very easy car to drive — unlike the Diablo. If I need to travel from point to point in a hurry, I’ll take the Performante”.

Would Kev consider another trade-in, this time for an STO? “I did look at them, but the ‘cofango’ front clamshell means there is only enough luggage space for a crash helmet. The Performante has a far more practical boot, so you can take it on proper road trips, and during four years with the car, I’ve attended quite a few Supercar Driver events. I’d love to buy a manual Murcielago next”.

Porsche 991 GT3 RS

The 991 generation GT3 started life quite controversially, losing both its defining Mezger engine and manual gearbox whilst facing some flammability concerns, but Porsche being Porsche, we should never have been worried, should we?

The RS came along with a slightly bigger four-litre engine and a way bigger wing, and its reception was outstanding. So incredible were its direct-injection flat six and PDK gearbox, no one really mourned what they were initially so concerned about, and performance was a noticeable move on from the 997.

The 991.1 RS had 500hp and a redline of 8,800rpm, just shy of the 9,000 of the GT3, but if you missed those extra 200rpm, the 991.2 came along in 2018 with a new engine derived from the RSR giving back the 9,000rpm redline along with 520hp. The Weissach package later became an (expensive) option, including additional carbon fibre body and interior parts and stiffer suspension settings, with gorgeous BBS magnesium wheels a further (also expensive) option. A Weissach-equipped car set a lap of 6:56.4 around the Nordschleife at the hands of Kevin Estre, which is marginally quicker than the 918 Spyder’s official time. Sure the RS was on sticker Cup 2 R rubber, but that’s still mighty impressive for a near-400hp deficit!

So performance around a circuit wasn’t an issue, but what about that raw, mechanical, involving nature we loved so much of the 997? Well, it’s certainly more refined, but it is by no means lost. Obviously the manual ‘box is no more so the involvement of that rifle-bolt shifter isn’t there, but the speed with which PDK can slot gears home no matter how much you try to confuse it isn’t far off as satisfying, and I have to admit it just works with the Cup car character of these newer models. The engine, well, we should have never worried! It still has a mechanical character and when you push it up towards 9,000rpm on a winding road, it morphs you into a Carrera Cup driver attacking the Craner Curves at Donington Park — it dominates and defines the whole experience.

Along with that engine, all I need to say about the handling and braking are that they are every bit as face-bending as you’d expect when you look at the thing and read its lap times. It is a magnificent machine to drive, and thanks to the character of its engine, it’s incredibly exciting in more ways than just its physics-bending capabilities.

The car we have here today is a 991.2 GT3 RS with Weissach package owned by Rob and Molly and you might remember if from issue 36 of Supercar Driver Magazine which delved into the couple’s love of Porsches, having owned six GT models over the years. The car was originally GT Silver, but it has been resprayed with nine-layer peelable plastic paint by Litchfield in Ferrari Blu Corsa. Apart from the paint, the only other modification is a Brooke Race exhaust which sounds absolutely incredible!

They bought the car four-and-a-half years ago with 45 miles on the clock. They’ve added a further 22,000 since then including many Supercar Driver events including our Isle of Man tour in September this year. “We both love the car. It’s always up on its toes, and feels so alert and alive”, Rob enthuses.

The 991 RS deserves its spot here because Porsche made a brave move away from the more back-to-basics 997 to the concern of its purist customers, but it ultimately paid off and the GT3 RS was more popular than ever. Go to any high-end track day and you’ll almost get fed up of seeing them thanks to the attraction of driving it there in the morning, giving it hell all day long and driving it home again without worry.

Thankfully Porsche has kept the naturally-aspirated flat six alive with the 992 GT3 RS, and it’s even nice to see them keeping power modest in the face of the ever-rampaging power racing, because that level of power is what makes the GT3 RS so exploitable. You have the most fun when you’re pushing a car hard, not when you’re short shifting at 3,000rpm because it’s too damn fast! There’s no doubt the 992 RS is an incredible piece of engineering, but there’s some concern it might be a little too extreme for some people, and with that said, perhaps the 991 might remain the sweet spot between new and old for years to come.

Written by: Matt Parker & Tim Pitt