Some are incredibly expensive, like the Bugatiti Veyron 16.4 and the Saleen S7. Both are exceptionally quick. Whereas the Bugatti is intended to be a comfortable road car, the S7 is more of a track car.
There are also some very small and very fast cars. Like the Radical, which lapped the Nurburgring circuit in less than 7 minutes.
Or the new Caparo T1, which weighs about 1,200 lb yet has a 570 bhp engine – it has the highest power-to-weight ratio of any car in production, and will reach 100 mph in less than 6 seconds. the Caparo T1 is certainly a very fast car, but is really a trackday car that is legal on the road.
Is a top speed of 200 mph needed to qualify? If a car has good road holding so that it can be driven very fast round a track or on derestricted roads, it is a very fast car or very fast car. For example, the Noble M12, which has only 360 bhp and a top speed of 175 mph is a very fast car because it can be driven very fast round a track, and accelerates very fast to 100 mph.
Here are some examples of very fast cars that are in production:
Ascari KZ1
Caparo T1
Ferrari F599 GTB
Ford GT
Gumpert Apollo
Maserati MC12
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Pagani Zonda F
Porsche Carrera GT
Saleen S7
Although they are no longer in production, the Ferrari F40 and F50, McLaren F1 and the the Porsche 959 qualify for this exclusive label. You see a car doesn't have to be new to be very fast.
Nor does it have to be in production. Some cars built by tuners qualify as very fast cars, even though few have the handling to compete with any in our list.
A good example is the Gemballa GTR 750 EVO, which is based on the Porsche 911 Turbo. It is tuned to a very high level – more like racing car tune – to produce around 850 bhp at 6,400 rpm, which is enough to take the car to over 200 mph.
Porsche based cars
Another Porsche 911 based car is the Ruf R Turbo which is very fast. The engine develops over 500hp, and is claimed to have a top speed of over 210 mph. It reaches 60 mph in about 3.8 seconds, which is in the top supercar class.
Some German tuners also produce very fast cars. Alpina has a long history of modifying BMWs, and its Alpina B5 is another very fast car – the engine is supercharged to reach over 190 mph with very fast acceleration.
AMG, which works on Mercedes-Benz cars, produces the engines for Pagani and also for the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren – all which are among the fastest cars. The Aston Martin Vanquish S, which as a 6.0 liter V-12 is another very fast car.
Brabus is another top German tuner, which has improved the performance of many cars, especially Mercedes-Benz, including one which is claimed to be the fastest sedan in the world at about 225 mph.
As you can see, there are many ways to make a car go very fast, and exotic cars, some supercars and tuned cars can all qualify as very fast cars.
