Some supercars like the F40 or the McLaren F1 stayed in our minds for years and sure will be remembered for generations.. Some of them didn't have that special thing to make them so remarkable despite all the work that was behind.. And some others didn't even make it into production, sometimes it's due to high production costs, not enough potential clients or the impracticality for road use..
This post deals with some of the most interesting supercars that were abandoned before hitting production or weren't sucessful enough for whatever reason despite being revolutionary cars whether with their design, power or technology..
The cars are presented in no particular order..
TVR Cerbera Speed 12
year 2000
In today's economic climate, it's hard for a small sportscar maker to stay independent. Today, Lamborghini is owned by Audi who is owned by Volkswagen, Jaguar is owned by an indian company Tata Motors, Aston Martin was owned by Ford and now has been bought by new ivesters from the Middle East and as i speak things may be changing again, even Porsche has failed to buy Volkswagen and finds its self now the property of the same brand... The point is, these small companies are bought by bigger ones who start to control them and change their objectives so that models like the Speed 12 will never see the light...
The TVR speed 12 had astonishing capablities, and the reason for that was a 7.7 L V12 engine producing 811 hp! In fact, the road car was even more powerful than the race version.. In addition to that, it weighted only 1070 Kg.
The design of the speed 12 is very remarkable especially by the massive rear bumper and fenders. You can also recognize the classic Cerbera taillights with air extractors from each side.
Engine: 7.7 L V12
Power: 811 hp (at 7250 rpm)
Weight: 1070 Kg
Naught to 100 km/h (62 mph): 3.5 s
Top speed: 386 km/h (240 mph)
Vector W8
year 1989
Vector or more precisely "Vector Motor Company" is an american hypercar maker with ambitious numbers and ambitious design... However things don't always happen the way they were meant to be and that is indeed due to some of the reasons i cited in the introduction of this article.. As i speak, it is said that Vector is prepairing a 2000 hp plus hypercar with 275 mph (442 km/h?!) top speed. I have no idea if those figures are achievable and i have no idea if that car is going to make it to production. But i do know one thing, the crazy looking W8, with its astonishing performances did make it to production and that's the car i want to talk about now!
First of all, the name. Unlike some of you might think, "W" stands for the name of the creator and designer of the car: Gerald Wiegert, and not the cylinders' displacement. The car had actually a twin turbo V8 producing 625 hp.
One thing is sure for me, the Vector W8 had its own personality and a very unique styling. However, i think the interior could have been much better looking. It is said that it was inspired from the aeromotive world.
Finally, only 17 Vector W8's were made and i think that's the largest number that Vector produced of the same car until this day.
The following official video from Vector features the W8 and M12 supercars, enjoy!
If you are wondering about the name of the song, it's Joe Satriani's "Back to Shalla-Ba" from the album One Big Rush (2005). Great guitarist, great song, suits the video as hell!
Power: 625 hp (at 5700 rpm)
Weight: 1506 Kg
Naught to 100 km/h (62 mph): 4.2 s
Top speed: 353 km/h (220 mph)
Vlokswagen W12 Nardo
year 2001
The volkswagen W12, also named after the Nardo, the famous highspeed test facility in the south of Italy which features a 6 Km (3.7 mile) straight line, no matter how impressive it was, and no matter what it was capable of, ramained a concept.. But a very well fonctionning one that can reach a top speed of more than 350 km/h and can make the zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint in 3.5 seconds or so..
As its name says, it features a W12 engine which can be briefly be described as a more compact V12 (if you did not read the whole article, this isn't the case with the Vector W8 which features a twin turbo V8). The same engine was later used in the Phaeton which didn't meet great commercial success.
The styling of the car made it look a bit like a Le Mans racer especially with its long tale that reminds of one of my favourite race cars, the Mclaren F1 longtail, which isn't a bag thing.. The headlights however didn't give the car the supercar look it deserves.. but the design remains interesting as a whole.
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