Sport Cars

The original BRZ was a story of unrealized potential. This time round Subaru has nailed the brief.

If you were going to build a single seater, you probably wouldn’t start with a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. But this unlikely old warhorse recently won its first race.

‘From its eyelashed headlights to its slatted engine cover, the Miura must have looked like something from outer space’

With its V6 hybrid powerplant, the Ferrari 296 GTB marks a whole new approach from Maranello. 830hp and a short wheelbase lead Ferrari to claim this is the most fun-to-drive car in its range. But is it? We’re about to find out – on road and track.

What would a 1980s sports car have been like with radical carbonfibre construction, Alfa Romeo turbo power and racing push-rod suspension? We drive the one and only Michelotti Puraprototype to find out.

We try a 2010 example to discover if ‘Goodwood’ models share the old Rolls-Royce charm

‘Unrelenting, mesmerising, frightening amounts of power are deployed with an almost serene mechanical indifference’

‘It would take a tough cynic to deny that bringing the Veyron to market did justice to marque legends Ettore and Jean Bugatti

‘The original target had been for around 550bhp, but in its final form the astonishing BMW V12 made 627bhp

And so we arrive at a notable benchmark on this journey: the Ferrari F40 was the first production car to exceed the magic ‘double-ton’. You could argue that the F40 owes its existence to healthy opportunism rather than a well-planned marketing strategy. Ferrari’s sales had faltered in the early 1980s, with fears that its products were turning ‘soft’ under Fiat’s corporate blanket.

In the BB’s earliest form there is a simplicity and purity to the shape that later derivatives were never quite able to match’

With a nod to hippy psychedelia, Porsche’s colour palette in the late 1960s and early 1970s was as wild and edgy as they come, complementing evolutions in the 911’s styling and engineering. This early Carrera 2.7 ticks all the boxes. What’s more, it could be yours…

Celebrating the 944’s fortieth anniversary, we get up close and personal with this rare survivor: a recently restored Maritime Blue S2 coupe…

Swedish winters are cold, dark and long, so how do you fill the time? Get your brother to help you build yourself a supercar, says Per Ajdén.

Debate will rage over which is the best of the super saloon dynasty but the E34 must be a standout candidate in both 3.6- and 3.8-litre guises. Words: Bob Harper. Photography: Jason Dodd.