The weekend where the Nissan GTR’s ruled the roost! “exept for one that gravitated towards a tree”
After last year’s event was rained out on the Sunday, the organisers decided to change the time of year to alleviate this potential problem again… and it worked! Sunny, mid-20 degrees, and mildly overcast days proved perfect weather conditions for spectators and competitors alike. The competition on the track however was hotly contested.
Work is under way at McLaren on a new flagship model that is intended to eclipse every supercar to date, combining blistering performance with ultimate agility and everyday usability.
Known internally as the ‘Mega Mac’, the new car is scheduled for a 2014 launch. The production run will be limited to just 500 units. The price is expected to be between £350,000 and £400,000 in today’s money.
Hovering one notch above Lamborghini and Ferrari on the automotive specialness chart is a gaggle of companies whose exotic names could just as easily be typos. Koenigsegg. Pagani. Gumpert. Spyker. Donkervoort. They come from faraway places like Sweden, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands and produce all-conquering, supercar-slaying hyperexotics that generate far more horsepower, carbon dioxide, and attention than they do sales.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to drive Lamborghini’s Murciélago and Gallardo models back-to-back. That experience, joyous as it was, also served to highlight the predicament most “full-fat” supercars still find themselves in – smaller, lighter and more high-tech rivals, sometimes from within their own stables, are nearly as fast, far easier to drive, and more practical. It was like that with the Murciélago… The smaller, cheaper Gallardo’s performance may appear less impressive compared with its bigger brother on paper, but in real life, on the road, the Gallardo’s performance potential was far more easily accessible. The Murciélago, by comparison, was exactly as the more extreme supercars have always been – fearsomely fast but unpolished.
The China syndrome
Just when you thought it was over, the Shanghai Auto Show is back in the limelight as Bugatti has introduced two special editions in China.
First up, the one-off Grand Sport is distinguished by a matte white exterior with blue carbon fiber accents. The latter color carries over into the interior as it covers virtually everything and is contrasted by white stitching.
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