8 Slightly Underrated Supercars That Deserve More Recognition #blogpost

No matter how much you may love your life at the moment, there’s no denial that whenever you’re with your old mates crowded around a BBQ or a corner table at McDonalds, you will always smile deeply in the thought of old memories. These were moments in which you laugh over and realise just how much you miss the past.

Take me for example: I can’t remember a single time while being at secondary school where I actually thought; “wow, this is great”. Years later however, I kinda miss it. I want to be taken back to that sh!tty cafeteria and not have to worry about things like finances or growing up. (skip my ex-girlfriend though, I don’t want to be reminded of her!)

College has finished for me as well - it went like the clappers, to say the least. And certain memories I had there really want me to travel back in time and enjoy those moments like they’ll never end. There was even a frigging field trip to Berlin: MANY cool relics of the Cold War, culture and cars were seen. I want to go back. I want to go back with the same people and the same attractions. The past just doesn’t leave me for some reason.

This swiftly brings me onto the topic of supercars: you see, they’re an expression of just how far man can engineer a machine on 4 wheels to the brink of becoming (effectively) a road-going SR-71 Blackbird.

But no matter how incredible the current offerings are, petrolheads of my generation will always remissness over the brutes of old. And because we probably remember certain oddball cars from nostalgic racing games or books stacked in the back of the attic, they did seem to go under the radar.

Nonetheless, since gits like me have memories of these upcoming cars. Let’s explore what they are and why they should deserve more recognition!

Mercedes CLK GTR

Gosh, I remember Project Gotham 2 on the original Xbox all those years ago. And one of my favourite ever cars on it was the beast in the form of a silver Mercedes Benz.

It was nothing like the mundane CLK 320 which my uncle had (and still has). No no no, this was something dripping with sex appeal and mad exotica. And with a 6.9 litre V12 churning 604bhp; it may not be that powerful by today’s standards, but back in the pages of Windows 98, that was some serious poke.

There was even a Super Sports version with the engine bored out to 7.3 litres and 655bhp. Top speed was 214mph and it was recorded as the world’s most expensive production car back in 1998 at a cool $1.5 million price tag…

Even so, I don’t hear that many people talk about it these days. This is a mad homoligation special that really deserves more recognition! There may be the Project One, but nothing beats the nostalgia of a big V12 and knowing it shares the same headlights as a dentist’s coupe.

Saleen S7 Twin Turbo

The first car made under Saleen Automotive’s own design debuted in the year 2000 and caused a bit of a stir: it housed a 7.0 litre Ford Windsor V8 kicking out 550bhp and the entire body was made from carbon fibre. Sounds great, right?

To top that off, in 2005, they simply strapped two Twin Garrett turbochargers to it and power was bumped to 750bhp. And in case that’s still not enough, you could also get a competition package which gave you a fairly generous… 1000bhp and well over 700 lb. ft of torque… wow.

And don’t think this isn’t put to good use. Because it’ll hit 60 in 2.6 seconds (competition) and go onto a top speed of an estimated 248mph - possibly even more than that. Suck it, McLaren F1.

If that doesn’t make the S7 viable of deserving more recognition, I don’t know what will. Because frankly, this was America’s answer to the supercar movement in Europe - a bloody big sledgehammer.

I actually had a 1/18th scale model as a kid - it was dark red and I always loved the shape of it. I just wish I hadn’t given it away to my dad’s friend’s son… I’d do anything now to get it back!

Jaguar XJR-15

The Jaguar XJ220 is on my hit list for the all-time great supercars, and funnily enough, is also high on the list of my personal favourite cars as a whole. It’s wasn’t meant to be delicate or have the flare of a Ferrari, but rather to be as crude as an iron smelter, but with extremely brutal rage. It may use the same switches and knobs as a Ford Sierra, but I love it.

Before that came along though, we had this: a Le Mans winning racecar built for the road. And that’s not an exaggeration!

That’s because the XJR-15 shared most of its inner workings with the XJR-9 LM - including the screaming 6.0 litre V12 tuned by TWR. Coupled with a 5-speed gearbox, the car was redesigned from the Le Mans car by Peter Stevens so it could just about meet the minimum road regulations.

Besides, many complained that the XJ220 didn’t have the V12 and AWD like Jag promised it would, but if any rich banker had any alternative to splash their cash over, this was it. And because of its crude nature and fascinating ethos, surely it deserves more recognition in the car community? I can barely believe it’s nearly 30 years old…

Bristol Fighter T

To give you an idea of how bonkers this car was, let me give you a small history lesson:

Bristol started making cars in 1947, and for over 50 years, various different models were no less than lazy, comfortable and extremely expensive gentlemen’s cruisers. Initially starting out with BMW straight six engines before shifting to Chrysler V8s, you could always tell a Bristol from the rest of the bunch (if you ever see one) and buyers assumed the 21st century would see the new one as a luxurious grandfather clock designed to rival the Bentley Azure.

Yeah… it wasn’t.

What we had instead was a 1000bhp, twin turbo V10 powered gullwing lunatic! Something which Bristol claim is capable of 270mph, that had to be limited to a more ‘adequate’ 225. To be able to match the terror this car delivers, you’d have to spend 2 weeks in a North Korean torture chamber.

What’s more, it’s not even mid-engined. None of the body panels were designed with aerodynamics in mind, or even to blend in with a typical supercar. You could be forgiven that the Fighter T is a GT car made for continental cruising.

Sleeper? Maybe so. All I know is that it really needs to be talked more about!

Ascari A10

I know what you’re thinking at this point. This is the big, yellow shouty car that Jeremy Clarkson compared with the Daihatsu Materia around 11 years ago. And what I want to ask is; clearly a lot of people remember this car, but why on earth didn’t anybody buy one?

I’ll tell you that: because they never actually got round to building it. 50 cars were planned to commemorate the Ascari company’s 10th anniversary, but they eventually went bust by 2010 due to financial difficulties.

That said, one car is said to exist and belong to billionaire Klaas Zwart who owned the company and probably sits somewhere in southern Spain.

A sad story from a car we all remember, but let’s not forget the sound of the dirty 4.9 litre V8 from the E39 M5. Only this time, it was tuned and upped to 625bhp and mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox. This therefore is a great example of a car that could’ve been. The forgotten car, we all seem to remember.

Cizeta V16T

Before Chrysler took over Lamborghini, this was pretty much what the Diablo was meant to look like. Mad, isn’t it? And to top that off, it even has a Lamborghini engine… two of them.

Yep, the V16T’s name needs no introduction: strapped together are two 3.0 litre V8s from the Urraco - to create a monstrous 6.0 litre V16. Oh, and it was mounted transversely. How quirky is that?

But the 204mph top speed isn’t the most astonishing thing about it. Nor the fact the designer, Marcello Gandini wasn’t impressed by the final design. It was the fact that despite production initially ending in 1996 after 20 cars were produced, they actually resumed production in 2006.

The most astonishing part? Production hasn’t officially ended from there, so you can STILL order one! Would you at the near-$900,000 asking price? That’s another story, but this insane supercar really needs to be acknowledged more in the car community.

Maserati MC12

In the times before washing machines became a thing and people were using coal scuttles, Maserati was one of the biggest names in the business. They churned out endless success stories in the pages of racing history. The 300S, the Tipo 61 Birdcage and the 450S: these fuel-spitting racecars were then followed by some of the most gorgeous shapes throughout the swinging ‘60s.

Don’t you ever just skim through car various car books and look at pictures of old Maseratis like the Sebring, Mexico or Ghibli and think; “ooohh, I want one of those!”. The original Quattroporte with yellow headlights makes me dribble like a kid in a sweet shop.

And once we heard in 1997 that this great brand was bought out by Ferrari, we assumed great things would happen. And it did - with the truly magnificent MC12.

The endurance racer was eventually homologated for the road - and used pretty much exactly the same underpinnings as the Ferrari Enzo. Yet, despite the throaty soundtrack and the brutal speed delivery, it’s not really talked about all that much.

Considering this may be the quickest, most brutal Maserati ever made - and probably will be in our lifetime - the MC12 undeniably deserves more recognition than it already receives (which if you ask me, isn’t enough!) It holds a place in my heart for being nostalgic alone…

Zenvo ST1

The vast majority of us will remember the mad Danish beast from that episode of Top Gear… when it became even more orange than it already was. But even after its moment of fame on the BBC, it was hardly ever talked about after the cameras were turned off. And that’s a shame.

Because this car offered so much more than a slushy wet lap and some condensation. Because this was one of the first ultra-rare hypercar of the last few years that properly caught my giddy attention. It looked completely outrageous, but without all the wings and aero kits. And boy did it perform!

The 7.0 litre LS7 V8 not only produced 1089bhp, but it was also supercharged AND turbocharged. It may be a bear-fighting handful in the wet, but it could really shift in the dry. 0-60 took 3 seconds and went onto an ultra-mad top speed of 233mph.

The ST1 was also pretty well equipped for an £800,000+ niche supercar: you had keyless entry, satalite navigation and dashes of lovely stitching and a home-built carbon fibre body (which was made in Germany, but entirely designed in Denmark).

Of course, there are many cars like it - most to which nobody has ever heard of. But I believe the ST1 will be looked back at for nostalgic reasons - and a reminder of where such a mad company started out before making the hardcore TSR and TS1s. (And believe it or not, Zenvo Automotive was started up by just 3 people!)

It may be prone to catching fire, but once upon a time, so was the Lamborghini Miura. The Zenvo ST1 therefore, is an old-school approach to making a supercar in a sea of modern electrification. Small wonder only 15 were ever made.

So, there we are

That’s it from me: 8 slightly underrated supercars deserving of more recognition. That was my list from my own opinion, if you think there’s any more worthy of this list, then get in the comments and add more stuff! Thoughts etc are also welcome :)

Hope you enjoyed reading nonetheless.

Thank you :)