Working Class Hero

So this is it... where I am now. The working class man in England. You'd might be thinking my motoring interests do not reach beyond the boundaries of cars that are good enough for commuting only and you'd be right. In fact, I'd fall for a car that's reliable, takes me from A to B, that is a workhorse, a proper car in other words - for me, the working class man.
When you're enclosed in a space along with a bunch of Polish and Brazilian people among millions of eggs and a production line, you do not think about cars. Jaguars do not drift thgough your imagination sideways, nor Veyrons run flat out close to half of the speed of sound. You only think of a pint of beer to put you to rest and the scent of fresh air as you leave the premises of the factory. You do not care about the dent on the car's door, nor the dust on the floor carpet.
You want one thing only. To get your will established, to get to the next workplace and enjoy the ride while you're at it.
Your mind picks up a different approach about the whole sensation of driving, no matter what your car is. The B-road becomes a road course, the roundabout the Karussell, the indifferent humming of the l4 engine is replaced by heavy metal music on your laughable stereo, crystallizing a grin on your face as if you were commanding a V8.
With a left-hand drive car driving on the left, the proximity of the trees combined with the mild velocity you pass them transforms reality to warp speed.
You're wearing a different licence plate of a country anyone's hardly heard of, getting looks at the red light as if you were a madman tearing up your car to pieces just to put yourself to the wrong seat, blasting into the undisturbed, civilized world with all your shabbiness and still make things work.
You used your car to get here and stay for good, only to defy the rules of commodity that is represented by proper, sub-five-year cars in the streets.
The Escort.
The one with American origin, given birth in England, tossed to Germany, shipped to Hungary and now being returned to the place where it was concieved in the first place.
The underdog.
That's me in the traffic.
That's me at the red light.
That's me in the car park by the warehouse.
That's me when not paying enough attention at one point and almost causing an accident.
That's me through A4.
That's us, me and my car - the working class and the hero.

The 24 Words of Le Mans 2011

Street Find: Ford Focus RS

Only if I had my camera this morning when I saw the Audi R8

Top 10+1 Supercars Ever Made

*WARNING*
The author of this article has never driven any of these cars and most probably never will. Moreover he has not even seen most of them live. Selection and rank ordering are highly biased, though a huge amount of compromise have been attempted to be involved. Spit and swear at your own risk.
*YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*


Choosing the best supercars in the world is just a bit easier than choosing one of your kids not to die on a war field. You won't be forced into such situation with a great chance, but if you were, what would be your reasoning to save one of them?

Is it the one you love the most?


Is it the one you would spare for the future?


Is it the one you love the least so you can practice grace?


Is it the one you think is the fittest to survive, hence the ultimate son to show around?

These are just some of the many questions that would pop. The answer is in fact somewhere in-between all of these at the same time. I just love some of the cars, almost without no reason. Some of them are a bit of underdogs. Some of them are obvious, proud choices. And some of them are die-hard, hence successful wannabes.

Let's crank up our ordinals, shall we?

Here we go.

10. Porsche GT3 RS

The 911 has been with us since the dawn of supercars, and it hasn't changed a bit, it just stayed forever young. The most characteristic features have stayed and got perfected. I mean even Skoda dropped the rear-engine, RWD layout over two decades ago, the new Beetle got a front engine, FWD setup. Porsche, an ultimate supercar, has stuck with their initial, but long time outdated concept. It is widely argued that German cars are over-engineered, lack soul, but not this one. The 911 arrives with this design handicap, struggling to be perfect. And that makes it more human, more tangible than any other German sports car. Why the GT3 RS? The GT RS-versions still retain the purity the first 911s had with the performance. There was a contemplation whether to choose the GT2 RS, but turbocharging this car is a bit like racing an almost perfect swimmer in the now-banned Olympic swimsuit with the other ones not wearing it. It just doesn't feel right. So here it is.

9. Lancia Delta S4

I know - it should have been the Stratos or the 037 at least. That's why I simply didn't go for them. The Stratos is being remade and the 037 was just too beautiful to look at. This, and the unfortunate timing - arriving at the very end of the Group B era - along with the super-successful successor Group A Integrale it almost vanishes from common remembrance. The problem is, it was the best Lancia ever made, and the ultimate Group B car at the same time. Thinking back to the Group B era, the Audi Quattro would pop in as a first image, followed by the Peugeot 205 T16 and the Lancia 037. Let's make a brief timeline here: Audi starts to fight with 4-wheel drive and turbocharging. Renault takes a radical step with the R5 Turbo by putting the engine in the rear, making it a turbocharged, mid-engine RWD car. Enter Lancia, introduces supercharging with its mid-engine RWD layout. Wins WRC, a two-wheel drive car for the last time. Peugeot entwines the Renault and the Quattro idea with the 205 T16: mid-engine, turbocharged 4WD car. Lancia comes once again, finishing off the concept of every Group B cars, adding their own spice: mid-engine, turbocharged AND  supercharged 4WD car. There is no way you can top this. If Group B was the ultimate class in rallying and the S4 was the ultimate Group B car, then Lancia's monster IS the best rally car ever made that no one seems to remember. So I give it another chance.

8. Lamborghini Countach

Obvoius question: why not the Miura? Simple answer: more of a classic than a super car. Lamborghini laid down the basis for every future supercars imaginable with the Countach. Its picture was put on every little boy's wall, its silhouette was put down in every maths notebook. The pushed ahead cockpit for the monstrous engine behind and scissor doors has been an inspiration for everyone attending industrial design school and petrol heads since then. There is no argument in this. You just have to have a look at it. Speaks for itself. The poster boy that rips your head off by surprise.

7. Honda NSX

The case of Japanese sports cars are very similar to the argument I gave at the Porsche. They are too perfect, too much functional and sometimes too boring to look at. This is the case with the NSX as well. It has the handicap of limited power due to a gentlemen's agreement between Japanese manufacturers. So they gave it everything to make it faster around the track. Perfect layout, perfect balance, perfect ride, perfect drive. It was all perfect in every means. The extra ingredient that makes it to appear on the list is one person: Ayrton Senna himself. The NSX was born in an age and in collaboration of Formula One's true legend in the making. The turbocharged McLaren Honda may not be the most legendary car in F1, but the most successful. And according to figures, Aytron Senna was not the most successful driver in the world (mostly due to his tragic death), but simply the best. The NSX was made in the spirit of Ayrton Senna. It had to be a most successful car in order for us to be the best drivers around the track. With Ayrton's approval. That makes the NSX different to the other perfect Japanese sports cars.

6. Ford GT

The Ford GT comes from one very simple, but brilliant idea: take a legendary racing car, copy it, and put it on the road. American cars struggle to get into the high class of supercars, but the GT nails it perfectly. The Corvette arrives from a too much of a street racing, tyre-burning background, and the Viper is just too raw and impertinent to qualify. Ford simply took its Le Mans champion car from a legendary age of endurance racing, the GT40, scaled up a bit to be a bit more consumer-friendly for normal-sized people, and left the rest of it untouched in their basics. There is no trickery or rocket science here. It is a demand-satisfying vehicle. Supercars being told pure and simple.

5. Lotus Esprit

I just love Lotus cars. Their philosophy behind their engineering is just so purem simple and attractive that cannot be passed by without a note. Lotus is the true hot rod company in racing. They let everyone else produce parts, choose the best of them, put a car together and throw out everything that would make it just a hint slower and then some. They add their own engineering experience from F1 and release the car almost as it is. The model that stood up for supercar standards the longest, was the Esprit. James Bond drove it too, and the basics of the car is just timeless. You would feel a little embarrassed to park an Elise near Ferraris, you wouldn't if you lined up with an Esprit. Cunning engineering, design and cheeky philosophy and its pop-cultural impact make it an awesome supercar worthy to be on the list.

4. Bugatti Veyron

An engineering miracle. Volkswagen at its best. Make no mistake, there is very little Bugatti in that car. Sure, it pays homage to the legendary maker every way possible and lavish exclusivity just radiates from its every part. But in the heart, it's cold, precise engineering. I cannot decide whether it has soul in its true sense. But there is just an unmistakable presence. Massive power, cold-blooded marching through space and time. It trespasses every figures, every single automotive achievement. Germany has taken over France building the 4th Reich, planning to take over the motoring world. Fearful machinery, coming from Bernd Rosemeyer's legacy.

3. Pagani Huayra

Yes, the car has not been out yet. But I believe we can trust it. A trust that it will be even better than the Zonda. The Zonda is a homage to Juan Manuel Fangio and the Sauber Mercedes C9. two legends from very different eras. Its V12 turbocharged engine comes from the endurance racer design and the whole mechanics and layout resembles the Group C racer. But again, in the same spirit as the Honda NSX, another real F1 legend is the inspiration behind it, summing up the legacy of the Argentine Fangio and the silver arrow Benz cars he was driving. Pagani takes it even one step further with the Huayra. Faster, better-looking and more exclusive. The best German supercar the Italians build. A mythical, unicorn car full of soul, merging two legends into one. Too large for life.

2. Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione

I have never made a secret about my affection to the Ferrari 288 Evoluzione. Almost any other Ferraris could be put on this list. In fact, all 10+1 positions could be held by Ferraris. But there is a special place in my heart for the Evoluzione. To make it short, it is the link between the best two worlds of Ferrari. It connects its most legendary breeds - the GTO and the F-cars. Coming from road racing, the GTO was and is an ultimate choice and pedigree for the task. The 250 may easily be the most exclusive car in the world, while the 288 is almost surely the most beautiful Ferrari. The Evoluzione is the missing link between the 288 and the F40. The F-cars were the Group B and F1 successor jaw-dropping track racing cars no other maker could match. Think of the Enzo FXX Evoluzione as the latest and supreme racing car from Ferrari. The DNA clearly came from 288 Evo, the latter still retaining its road-racing legacy. In one sentence, the 288 GTO Evoluzione sums up Ferrari's best moments. The car may have not turned out to be good looking. I even dare to say that it is ugly. But ugly in a beautiful way. Because it is Ferrari in the making. And creation is beautiful.

1. McLaren F1

You may have guessed it already. And you could come up with important argument points why it shouldn't be no. 1. The reason for it being supreme above everything else is quite clear, though. No other road car has come closest from Formula 1 as this one. And since Formula 1 is the ultimate form and pedigree of automobile racing and engineering, there is no argument left. I might have put something else on the top of my own list, but I just couldn't get around facts. The Veyron may be faster, yes. But it feels more like you're commanding WWII rather simply driving a fast car. The McLaren is the closest to F1 experience as you can get, straight from an F1 maker. Everything from the driver's position to the layout and the characteristics of the car screams its origin. And that root is good. The best.

+1. Brabus EV12 'Black Baron'

Without almost any sense, I almost dare to say it: the Black Baron is one of the best supercars ever made. Brabus takes the muscle car philosophy and applies it on saloons in creating supercars. It shares the engine with the Paganis, though Brabus replaced almost everything in it. It has got a top speed higher than a Zonda or a Huayra. In fact, with it's estimated top speed of 370km/h it is quite close to the Veyron's, making it the fastest saloon ever built. Just think of it: A Veyron-fast car with four doors and a proper-sized boot and all the luxury you can imagine. It does everything. You can take prime ministers and their wives along with with their luggage to their hotel from the airport, get on the Autobahn, hunt down Zondas and then go home taking the kids from school. This all for half the price of the above mentioned supercars. And there is the hideous rear-wheel cover. It is at least as bonker as the scissor doors of the Countach, making that extra strangeness necessary for supercars. In my view, it is a true supercar. But it's just too good to be on the list.

Would you argue? Do it here or on my Twitter account.

Rolling to an end of an era...

As with every giants in human history, the car industry will be brought down on its knees. As new winds and new breeds come along, the old one has to die to be replaced by a growing seed.

The thing is though, no giants have been forgotten, ever. In fact each of them hit the ground with thunder and earthquakes.

So let's just sit back for a moment with a drink in the hand and watch the last bits of anguish of the car industry... as it goes down in tyresmoke and flames...

Here.. we... GO!!

It all boomed in America and that is the place it will most likely to crumble for good.

For me, the whole phenomenon started with one little car with much fury and legendary pedigree of outland myth.

The Mustang.

The Mustang has always been out in the market. Young guys loved it, olders collected it. It was cherished by the blue-collar self-made men.

...and yet, the actual generation of the mid-noughts came in all retro, all in style. It resembled all the glory of an era when gasprice was not more of a question than the ingredients of a real 'merican burger.

But it was the first sign of the end.

You see, the message was already written on the wall: "You can not make wasteful cars anymore!"

So with a very last breath, all the manufacturers with a sense of pride did what a wounded fighter would do realizing the inevitable: stirking down once again.

The muscles were pumped up again. Then came the Charger, the Challenger, the Camaro. Their European and Japanese doppelgangers, the hot hatches were rolled out in the greatest glory by far.

The Civic Type R, the Focus RS, the Golf GTI and many-many more were just eager to take the roads with the by-then family men. Turbos, lightweight. They had all that.

But in fact these are just the footsoldiers I am talking about at the moment.

How about the real heroes? The true gladiators.

The supercars.

First, Volkswagen thought it would build the ultimate supercar ever without compromises, just to make a point about their capability of engineering. The Veyron was born and knocked down the ultra-rare McLaren F1 off the throne in almost all aspects. The idea was simple and worked, making all other manufacturers to get into the game: build high-speed cars and make them reminder of the uncompromised era.

Biref list: the Ford GT, the new Ferrari GTO, the Lancia Stratos, the Audi Quattro concept, the Alfa Romeo 8C Evoluzione, the AMG SLS, the constant Porsche GTs, the M1 resembling BMW concept, Astons  - all existing at the same time...

...embracing decades of pride, fame, deathtraps. All being ugraded clones of a past self. Bringing together old-school and the latest technology. The ultimate barinchilds of the internal combustion powerplant.

And when these vhicles gather in time and space that will be the final fight where neither of them will be spared.

...and the day will be remembered 'the day the engine died'.

Cheers!

NOTE: Powered by Ford

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NOTE: Car Simplicity

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NOTE: Being Cool

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Supercar Mayhem

OK, here's the fact: there won't be any supercars in this post. I mean there will be, just in case someone was to sue me othervise, but this article is all about dreams.

There's a budget crisis going on in the world right now but I'm pretty sure this won't mean the end of supercar-manufacturers. Maybe they will sell one less a year because some businessman got so overwhelmed by the fear that he would lose everything that he chose committing suicide in the meantime. RIP.

Now, us, "normal" people generally just dream of ownership of either of these so we start putting posters on the wall or ridiculous spoilers on our family car in which we normally carry around our relatives, pets, furniture, anger and misery. If we get rid of all these we may step some away from the car closing one eye and start thinking. After around 17 minutes the fortunate ones come up with the conclusion: "Hey, my vehicle IS a supercar!"

Actually this is a personal experience and I am convinced about my hypothesis for about 43% so I am ready to share this revelation with you if you are prepared mentally and spiritually in order to make your life happier not seeing an ugly brick in the parking lot anymore but the shiniest red car ever built... Just like the Hot Wheels or Matchbox models you used to carry around everywhere you went.

Deep breath and here we travel into Zen!

So let's take my car. It's a 1998 Ford Escort CLX. 1.4 liter engine, silver color, completely stock hatchback outfit and front wheel drive. Now, Ford is one of the greatest car company ever, they invented mass production, durability and the color black. They also participate or participated in every motorsport that has been on Earth, just to mention some: Formula 1, NASCAR, WRC, GT car racing, Le Mans, touring car, etc.

Now have a look at my triumphant car: it is just a bloody boring chariot! I mean, no wonder that this was the last year of the Escort and was replaced by the highly exciting Focus. There is just no way to emphasise the designers absoulte lack of ideas any further than this (however this is not 100% true). And it does not have power. 75 bhp with 1100 kgs mass does not sound that tragic, but it feels more like 55. There is no sense of torque inside.

So what is so good about it? Take a closer look. The first two generations of the Escort were a legend in Europe. One of the best handling cars ever produced. Or I should put it this way: the most exciting one, making rally history. You got the same, basic experience as in a Lada just in a much more sophisticated way. But let's return to the current model: "it's an FWD so the thrill is gone for good" you might think, but that is not exactly true. Obviously it's not a race car, but it has quite stiff suspentions, at least it is handier in corners than it's contemporary rivels. Take it into a roundabout or a 180 degree turn and you'll see!

Does it make it a supercar? Yes! Most supercars are known of great handling and grip in corners, the rest of them are called dragsters without appeal.

Moving on to the engine you don't get great sound or exciting power. What you get is much different: the motor inside is called "CVH", which stands for "Compound Valve angle Hemispherical combustion chamber". Said what? Hemispherical? Meaning H-E-M-I? Yes, it's a HEMI, for all holy cows' sake! The perfect muscle car engine! The engine that made American car industry immortal since the 60s. Coming straight from the ovals of NASCAR from Chrysler actually, it dominates all American motorsports. You can find these in NHRA Top Fuels as well. It's all Dodge. Whether it is painted as a Toyota or Chevrolet, it has the Dodge engine underneath. But this one comes from Ford. Half a muscle car engine concerning the size of cylinders, otherwise it would be just one-fourth of it...

And there is more: the 1.6 liter version was put into the Morgan 4/4, which is a classically stylished, handcrafted British luxurious roadster. I mean, the greatest supercars come from Britain and they are all handcrafted.
So a muscle car's engine in a classic roadster still makes the Escort a supercar again. But it's not over yet!


Come closer to the back: what's underneath the window? It is a rear spoiler. A wing! Of course, other cars have these kind of spoilers as well, but which family hatchback has such a beautifully designed rear wing?

It's like you were looking at the rear of the Ford GT or a Mustang Fastback.

Moreover this car has a Cosworth version as well. Cosworth! Engine supplier to WRC and Formula One! How can you top that?

So in the end I have to say, this car is the ultimate supercar ever produced! Starts as a muscle car, ends as a supercar and in between it's a family hatchback, and the hole thing together is one of the greatest rally cars.

Any appeal, Mr. Racer X?

"You are pathetic, kid!"

Oh, shut up!