April 07, 2009

What is the most powerful street car?

Sometimes I wonder what is the most powerful road running car, even Formula-1 racing cars can not match. 15 yrs ago I visited McLaren F1 "ultra-sports" car [not Mclaren Formula-1 car] showroom not far from Marble Arch, near speakers' corner at Hyde Park in London. I thought it was going to be the most powerful car already.
The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by Gordon Murray and McLaren Automotive, powered by 6.1liter V12 BMW S70 engine and uses gold foil as a heat shield in the exhaust compartment. On March 31, 1998, it set the record for the fastest production car in the world at 386.7 km/h ! 0–60 mph in 3.2 s

Only 106 cars were manufactured, 64 of those were street versions (McLaren F1), 5 were LMs, 3 were longtail roadcars (GT), 5 prototypes (XP), 28 racecars (GTR), and 1 LM prototype (XP LM). Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998. According to an article by Motor Authority, the Sultan of Brunei owns a total of 9 McLaren F1s. This includes a GTR race car, a GT "longtail," 3 LMs, and 4 road cars, making him the only person in the world to own at least one of every variant of the F1 ever produced by McLaren.

In 2005 Bugatti Veyron took over the title.*
Powered by the mid-mounted 8 litre W16 engine pumping out 1001 PS (736 kW) at 6000 rpm and 1250 Nm of torque between 2200 and 5500 rpm. Has 4 turbochargers. The gearbox is a seven speed sequential with a fully automatic mode channeling that power to all four wheels.
Bugatti claims a top speed of 407 km/h and the 0-100 km/h sprint under 2.7 seconds!
The probability of anyone having a Bugatti Veyron in Malaysia [costs 3x more expensive than McLaren F1] is less than one-in-a million.

There will be poor man's Bugattis though. One of them is Peugeot 308 RC-z, and that will be the most logical candidate for my neXt Peugeot, and that is the answer why I didn't buy a 308GT.... just dreaming on.

I'm pretty sure the 308 RCz will be one of if not the fastest affordable car [below RM175k] on local roads.
car_photo_222036_7car_photo_222038_25

*[Note: In y2006 Hennessey Venom Twin Turbo SRT Coupe claimed to be the fastest [410kph] and the most powerful car in the world but arguable due to its limited edition]
the-fastest-and-most_800x0wThe shape of this car reminds me of a Jaguar E-type with registration number T2 and probably it was the only one of its kind in this country - belonged to [just] an A.D.O @ Machang. I was still a primary school kid at then.[Jaguar E-type]

frequently visited pages:
|Home|Fuel Consumption|Performance|uncle's DIY|Car Size Comparison|

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah! How can I forgot the sight, sound and smell of F1 Silverstone GP '95. and McLaren F1 showroom in London..

Here in Dubai, Ijo saw some Maseratis on the road at least once while on the way to go to work.

Wan A. Hadi (one.D) said...

Here in Malaysia we only see lots of serati's only...

Last 7-day Most Viewed Pages

All-time Most Popular Posts