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Just_me · 01-20-2006, 01:49 PM

Answer:
Since I decided to form the Supercar Drivers Club, I have repeatedly been asked the same question. "What is a supercar?" At first I gave a rather simplistic reply, thinking that any bona fide vehicle capable of 150mph plus should qualify. How wrong can you be? The more I deliberated over the question, the more diverse the range of answers became.

The Motor Industry database suggests that over 150 different production models have achieved 150mph regardless of age. Do they all qualify as supercars? I think not. And what about that exclusive group of road going cars that top out at over 200mph? Maybe they can claim to be the only true current supercars and if so does that mean that a MkI or MkII E-Type was never a supercar because it could achieve little over 140mph? I'm sure of one thing; the real answer lies somewhere deep in the human psyche. Supercar status is almost as subjective as the emotion of love, in fact it is a similar combination of attraction, affection, respect and desire. Indeed owning and driving a supercar invokes many of man's basic instincts.

The term supercar is a modern buzzword but there is no doubt in my mind that such vehicles have existed since the early days of motoring. Witness the Bugatti Type 57C, built in the 30's it was every bit as much a supercar of it's era as the EB110 created some 60 years later. When the motor car first appeared at the end of the 19th Century, only the well to do could afford to own such a thing, but in time, the economies of mass production techniques brought car ownership within the reach of all but the very poorest. Yet, many affluent individuals still craved the fastest, the most exclusive and the most charismatic vehicles that money could buy and born out of that desire came the supercar.

And so it was then, in those early years, as it is today. There is no definitive answer to the question, "What is a supercar?", but if your heart beats a little faster and you feel a stirring in the old Marks and Spencer underwear department, the chances are you are either looking at a beautiful woman or a supercar!

01-20-2006, 01:49 PM	#1
Just_me Executive Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sweden Posts: 15,487 Thanks: 1,062 Thanked 3,722 Times in 1,583 Posts	Defintion of a Supercar? Answer: Since I decided to form the Supercar Drivers Club, I have repeatedly been asked the same question. "What is a supercar?" At first I gave a rather simplistic reply, thinking that any bona fide vehicle capable of 150mph plus should qualify. How wrong can you be? The more I deliberated over the question, the more diverse the range of answers became. The Motor Industry database suggests that over 150 different production models have achieved 150mph regardless of age. Do they all qualify as supercars? I think not. And what about that exclusive group of road going cars that top out at over 200mph? Maybe they can claim to be the only true current supercars and if so does that mean that a MkI or MkII E-Type was never a supercar because it could achieve little over 140mph? I'm sure of one thing; the real answer lies somewhere deep in the human psyche. Supercar status is almost as subjective as the emotion of love, in fact it is a similar combination of attraction, affection, respect and desire. Indeed owning and driving a supercar invokes many of man's basic instincts. The term supercar is a modern buzzword but there is no doubt in my mind that such vehicles have existed since the early days of motoring. Witness the Bugatti Type 57C, built in the 30's it was every bit as much a supercar of it's era as the EB110 created some 60 years later. When the motor car first appeared at the end of the 19th Century, only the well to do could afford to own such a thing, but in time, the economies of mass production techniques brought car ownership within the reach of all but the very poorest. Yet, many affluent individuals still craved the fastest, the most exclusive and the most charismatic vehicles that money could buy and born out of that desire came the supercar. And so it was then, in those early years, as it is today. There is no definitive answer to the question, "What is a supercar?", but if your heart beats a little faster and you feel a stirring in the old Marks and Spencer underwear department, the chances are you are either looking at a beautiful woman or a supercar!