Speed Read Supercar

The History, Technology and Design Behind the World's Most Exciting Cars

Basem Wasef

• Publisher: Motorbooks
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780760362921
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Automotive Transportation & Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

From Motorbooks' beautifully designed and illustrated Speed Read series, Speed Read Supercar guides you through every aspect of these imagination-capturing, eye-widening, land-bound speed missiles. When Lamborghini unleashed its Miura on an unsuspecting world in 1966, it set off a high-performance arms race that continues to this day. Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Porsche, and Lotus all accepted the challenge. Over the following five decades, numerous others stepped up, including stalwarts like Aston Martin, BMW, and Audi, as well as small-volume specialists such as Koenigsegg, Pagani, Noble, and Spyker. The result is a veritable smorgasbord of blazingly fast and delicious-looking land missiles available to anyone with several hundred thousand dollars to spare. Supercars are complex subjects that interest nearly everyone. Every part of a supercar represents myriad decisions informed by engineering, aesthetics, human interface, and emotion. Speed Read Supercar answers the hows and whys of these fantastic cars in sections divided by topic, offering an engaging review of history, engineering, design, key concepts, and key people. Each section ends with a glossary of related terms, and informational sidebars provide fun facts, historical tidbits, and mini-bios of key people in the supercar world. Sleek illustrations showcase the incredible designs. With Motorbooks' Speed Read series, become an instant expert in a range of fast-moving subjects, from Formula 1 racing to the Tour de France. Accessible language, compartmentalized sections, fact-filled sidebars, glossaries of key terms, and event timelines deliver quick access to insider knowledge. Their brightly colored covers, modern design, pop art–inspired illustrations, and handy size make them perfect on-the-go reads.

THE GROUNDBREAKERS

Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing”

Ferrari 250 GTO

Ford GT40

Lamborghini Miura

Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona

Lamborghini Countach LP400

Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera

Ferruccio Lamborghini

Glossary

THE GROUNDBREAKERS

MERCEDES-BENZ 300 SL “GULLWING”

More than a decade before the wild Lamborghini Miura earned unofficial designation as the world’s first supercar, Mercedes-Benz pulled the curtain off the 300 SL, an elegant and outrageously capable machine that some argue was equally worthy of the superlative. While Mercedes road cars conventionally focused on stodgy German priorities such as engineering and safety, the 300 SL used the brand’s racing experience to bring an extra shot of performance to the road. The resulting two-seater offered a level of exoticism previously unseen in a production Mercedes, elevating the brand with a moonshot of functional and emotional panache.

Key to the 300 SL’s identity are its trademark gullwing doors, which were developed as a packaging necessity, not a styling gimmick. The trick setup was employed because the car’s lightweight chassis, consisting of a complex lattice of alloy tubes, created unusually high side sills. Since a tiny door opening would have made cabin access all but impossible for normal-sized adults, the upwardly sweeping apertures offered a solution that was reasonably practical and entirely sexy.

The Gullwing’s curvaceous body is unequivocally attractive, but virtually every aspect of its form is derived from function. For instance, the gentle “eyebrow” arches over the wheels aid aerodynamics, while the engine is canted 50 degrees on its side to facilitate a low center of gravity and a sleek hood line. The 3-liter, inline six-cylinder powerplant was the first to incorporate an advanced direct fuel injection system, enabling an output of 212 horsepower—nearly double that of the carbureted race car from which it was derived.

Though tame by modern standards, the 300 SL had a combination of relatively high power and lightweight construction for the midcentury era that made it the fastest production car of its day. Costing over $7,000 new—a small fortune for the mid-1950s—the Gullwing’s notoriety came not only from its unprecedented doors and exceptional performance but for its many innovations. These inspired Sports Car Illustrated to proclaim, “Literally, the 300 SL is a car of the future that can be possessed today.”

FUN FACT

The 300 SL suffered from awkward entry and exit due to the body’s thick door sills and a notoriously hot cabin thanks to copious glass and fixed windows.

HISTORICAL TIDBIT

With only 1,400 300 SL coupes produced between 1954 and 1957, the model commands seven-figure values. Rarer still are the alloy-body models, of which only twenty-nine were built. Intended for competition and certified for racing, these special 300 SLs shaved off around 200 pounds .

KEY PERSON

Chief Engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut who made his inimitable mark on the car thanks to his background as a hands-on racing engineer, supervised legendary wins such as Stirling Moss’s record-setting 1955 Mille Miglia victory.

THE GROUNDBREAKERS

FERRARI 250 GTO

If mystique and rarity are the measures of a supercar, the Ferrari GTO might just claim ultimate status among its peers. Short for Gran Turismo Omologato, the most famous GTO of all was originally intended as a homologation special to satisfy the Federation Internationale de L’automobile (FIA’s) requirement of building 100 street cars to qualify the model for competition. Enzo Ferrari only built 39 GTOs, allegedly skipping serial numbers and shifting locations of cars in order to elude FIA inspectors.

The 250 GTO, at least initially, claimed a dream team of Italian masters behind the scenes: engineering development was led by the brilliant Giotto Bizzarrini, and the curvaceous bodywork was designed by the legendary Sergio Scaglietti and his team, who hand-hammered the aluminum body into shape using wooden forms called bucks.

Virtually none of the first thirty-six cars produced between 1962 and 1964 were identical due to the vagaries of hand craftsmanship and constant modifications made to the vehicle’s setup. But they all featured a tubular steel frame and an uprated V-12 that was the stuff of legend: the 3.0-liter engine produced a bellowing 300 horsepower at a screaming 8,400 rpm (the 250 model nomenclature referred to the 250cc displaced by each individual cylinder, though three four-liter cars were built and referred to as 330 GTOs). Linked to a new five-speed synchromesh gearbox, the GTO was remarkably reliable for its time, which might have had something to do with its participation in more than five hundred races, where it scored victories in everything from outright victories in the Tour de France to class wins at the Targa Florio and Le Mans.

Rarity and desirability have also played a key role in the 250 GTO’s stratospheric resale values: the GTO has become the holy grail for Ferrari collectors, breaking its own record in 2013 as history’s most expensive car with a sale price of $52 million.

FUN FACT

The signature styling feature of the Ferrari 250 GTO is its lengthy nose, which is tipped with distinctive air intakes. Due to production variances, the configuration of these intakes varied from car to car.

HISTORICAL TIDBIT

Ferraris are archetypically red, but the most notorious 250 GTO was, in fact, green. Stirling Moss’s verdant GTO was built for him prior to his career-ending crash in 1962; it sold for $35 million in 2012.

KEY PERSON

Enzo Ferrari was a famously mercurial leader, shifting his alliances at the drop of a hat. A notorious mutiny of key collaborators in 1962 (later known as “The Purge,” “The Palace Revolt,” or the “Ferrari Walkout”) turned the tables on Enzo with the departure of 250 GTO impresarios Giotto Bizzarini (who defected to Lamborghini) and Sergio Scaglietti.

THE GROUNDBREAKERS

FORD GT40

Among the most epic automotive rivalries is the Ford/Ferrari feud of the 1960s, which spawned the creation of the Ford GT40. The contention began when, after expressing interest in selling his company to the Ford Motor Company, Enzo Ferrari balked upon learning that his cars would be banned from the Indianapolis 500 race to avoid competing against Ford’s Indy cars.

Henry Ford II, outraged by Ferrari’s snub, responded by saying, “All right, if that’s the way he wants it, we’ll go out and whip his ass.” Ford plotted his revenge at the highest profile motorsp...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Section 1 Groundbreakers
• Section 2 Eye for Design
• Section 3 1980s Renaissance
• Section 4 Tech Revolution
• Section 5 Modern Milestones
• Section 6 Sacred Ground
• Section 7 Indie Spirit
• Index
• Copyright