The Supercar Book: The Complete Guide to the Machines that Make Our Jaws Drop PDF
Preview The Supercar Book: The Complete Guide to the Machines that Make Our Jaws Drop
Copyright HarperCollinsPublishers 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB www.harpercollins.co.uk First published by HarperCollinsPublishers in 2014 © Martin Roach 2014 Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014 Cover photographs © front cover: Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S., back cover: Mercedes-Benz Classic A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book. Martin Roach asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green Source ISBN: 9780007578504 Ebook Edition © September 2014 ISBN: 9780007578511 Version: 2014-07-09 Dedicated to my two little supercar experts, A.B. and K.A. CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Introduction by David Coulthard Author’s Note A Prehistory of Supercars GAME CHANGER 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ Also in the 1950s The 1960s GAME CHANGER 1963 Porsche 911 GAME CHANGER 1966 Lamborghini Miura Also in the 1960s Muscle or Super? The 1970s GAME CHANGER 1974 Lamborghini Countach Also in the 1970s The 1980s GAME CHANGER 1986 Porsche 959 GAME CHANGER 1987 Ferrari F40 Also in the 1980s The 1990s GAME CHANGER 1992 Mclaren F1 GAME CHANGER 1999 Pagani Zonda Also in the 1990s The 2000s and Onwards GAME CHANGER 2005 Bugatti Veyron Also in the 2000s and Onwards GAME CHANGER Hybrids and the Future of Supercars Conclusion Afterword Index Quick Reference Glossary Photo Credits Author's Acknowledgements About the Publisher Introduction by David Coulthard MBE Mobility is a huge part of the modern world. One of the first expressions of independence for anyone, as a child, is getting a bicycle and learning to ride. That moment, when your mum or dad takes their hands off the back of the seat and you are cycling on your own, is a pivotal one for us all, because from that point you can propel yourself. The logical extension of that is moving on to four wheels, so getting to 17, passing your driving test and buying your first car is a big aspiration. You might not go out and get a supercar as your first vehicle, but that ultimate dream is not go out and get a supercar as your first vehicle, but that ultimate dream is often there. Of course, long before you can go anywhere near an accelerator pedal yourself, supercars might play a big part in your life. When I was a boy, I had a Lamborghini poster on my bedroom wall, as well as some pictures of racing cars (I was a big fan of Alain Prost). It was the typical lad’s room and, despite being strict, my mother respected the fact that it was my domain. My father was pretty much a Mercedes man and we tended to have family saloons, no supercars as such, but cars have always been a part of what my family was about. Obviously, because of my racing career, I have been driving vehicles from an early age. In terms of road cars, in the early days after my driving test I had a Renault 5 that I loved and, admittedly, occasionally drove quite hard! In a sense I am not your typical supercar fan because, at the age of 19, I went straight from Scotland to driving a McLaren V12 Formula 1 car. That machine kind of takes the notion of a supercar being powerful and blows it out of the water, I guess, but that didn’t stop me admiring supercars all these years. I live in Monaco and I cycle around here all the time, so I obviously see a lot of supercars on the streets around town. I absolutely love looking at them. They are beautiful creations and I can see why people spend so much money on them. The majority of people are touched more by how things look than by how they perform. Supercars have always been desirable, an admired and accepted blend of art and functionality. They are beautiful works of art. Someone else might buy a painting and look at that, admire the skill and creativity of the artist. A supercar is no different, except that it has function as well as form. You don’t need to buy a supercar, of course. You can buy a budget car that will take you to the same place, albeit more slowly and in less style than a million-pound supercar. You can also spend thousands of pounds on a bespoke home stereo system, or you could just stick your iPod in a dock and get the same songs played in your house to a very good standard. In that sense, why buy anything that is more expensive than what you might practically need? That’s not the point – everyone has their passion and if supercars are your passion, and you have the means to buy them, then that is your prerogative. You don’t need to justify a supercar. People wonder why you’d spend so much money on a car that often sits under a dust sheet. That to me is a pointless question. It is the individual’s right to live their particular dream. The person who questions the point of supercars will perhaps be more into steam locomotives or fly fishing, neither of which are for me, but we are all different. Supercars are also about brands, and about how owners and fans feel when they associate themselves with other people – are you a flamboyant Lamborghini they associate themselves with other people – are you a flamboyant Lamborghini type or a stylish Ferrari man? Or maybe McLaren’s technological excellence appeals more to your precise character? Every car marque has its own expression, and supercars are an extreme way of representing brand values. Supercars also affect us all in the same way that Formula 1 technology impacts on our lives. There are so many crossover synergies and drop-downs that naturally come with high-level technology. If you engineer something to go to the Moon, then finding something that can go to 35,000 feet is relatively straightforward by comparison. If you are engineering something that can do 200mph, and as part of your group you are also designing a family run-around, your understanding of extreme engineering naturally filters down to affordable engineering. So, supercars are a great example of the highest level of road cars affecting everyday cars. Supercars do seem to be an almost universal fascination for millions of people around the world, and that alone is sufficient justification for their existence. In this ever-changing world, where there are ever more green requirements for manufacturers to adhere to, supercars are growing more popular and commercially stronger than ever. This is not because people are rebelling against legislation and regulation, but because more people have the means to enjoy that refined mobility and complex engineering. Supercars are now as culturally popular as they have ever been. So I totally understand people’s enjoyment of supercars. If I decided to go out and buy a supercar today I’d have to buy several, so I’d want a McLaren F1, a Lamborghini and a Gullwing. The Ferrari 458 is lovely, too. I couldn’t just pick one, because I can see something wonderful in all these amazing cars. Supercars are mobile works of art, the ultimate expression of engineering, performance and style. They are highly subjective, too, and so what Martin tried to do in this book is to recount the history of these amazing machines while also highlighting the key game changers – as well as many other incredible examples of important supercars – in a way that reflects this subjectivity. He has used his own perspective to emphasise the personal nature of these engineering feats. Maybe reading this will encourage you to buy a supercar, or perhaps just a supercar poster or model. Either way, your world and all of our lives, too, are better off for having supercars in them. David Coulthard MBE, Monaco, April 2014
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