Everything about Supercars totally explained
Supercar is a term generally used for a high-end
sports car, whose performance is highly superior to that of its contemporaries. It has been defined specifically as "a very expensive, fast or powerful car with a centrally located engine", and stated in more general terms: "it must be very fast, with sporting handling to match," "it should be sleek and eye-catching" and its price should be "one in a rarified atmosphere of its own." but the proper application of the term is subjective and disputed, especially among enthusiasts. The use of the term can be dependent on the era; a vehicle that may have been considered a supercar in one decade may not be considered the same in another decade. The term supercar may refer to factory-built,
street-legal sports cars. Some supercars include some of the features required for
race cars, like the roll cage, while other supercars are in general race cars with only the minimum legal required modifications made (for example meeting emission regulations, legal tires, limited exhaust note) to be street legal.
Origin of the term
An advertisement for the
Ensign Six a, high-performance car, similar to the
Bentley Speed Six, appeared in
The Times for
November 11 1920 with the phrase "If you're interested in a supercar, you can't afford to ignore the claims of the Ensign 6." The
Oxford English Dictionary also cites the use of the word in an advertisement for an unnamed car in
The Motor dated
November 3 1920 "The Supreme development of the British super-car."
and defines the phrase as suggesting a car superior to all others. However, the phrase didn't enter popular usage until much later and is often said to have originated with the
British motor journalist
L. J. K. Setright writing about the
Lamborghini Miura in
CAR Magazine in the mid-1960s. The magazine still claims to have "coined the phrase". although it was also used in the American magazine
Car Life in May 1965 in a test of the
Pontiac GTO. By the 1970s, the phrase was understood and in regular use, if not precisely defined.
Top speed
Many vehicles referred to as supercars have attempted and succeeded at breaking the top speed record such as:
Jaguar XJ220,
McLaren F1,
Koenigsegg CCR,
Bugatti Veyron and
SSC Ultimate Aero TT; with the latter example, currently (as of 2008) the fastest production car in the world.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Supercars'.
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