Are these the greatest supercars ever? | Top Gear Classic

0:01 Ooh, and look what we have here.

0:03 It's two ultra-modern supercars, the Ferrari Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT.

0:14 Flat out, they'll reach 210, maybe 220 mph,

0:18 where they'll be blasted to kingdom come by the 11-year-old McLaren F1.

0:28 [screaming] This can do 241 mph.

0:33 So, you see my point.

0:35 In a straight line, at least, the cars from the Blair era are slower than

0:39 the cars that were spawned during the reign of Mrs.

0:42 Thatcher.

0:45 As you would expect in these times of increased social responsibility,

0:49 these modern supercars are much safer for the people inside them and safer,

0:54 too, for the people they run over.

0:56 They're more reliable than the older ones,

0:58 and they're kinder to the environment.

1:01 All that comes out of the exhaust pipes on this Porsche are baby foxes.

1:08 These cars are like one of Mr.

1:10 Blair's speeches or a pensions commercial,

1:12 which amounts [music] to the same thing.

1:15 They're building a better future for our children and a safer cleaner tomorrow.

1:22 But, that's not the point.

1:27 [music] Supercars are supposed to run over Arthur Scargill

1:33 and then run over him again for good measure.

1:36 They're designed to melt ice caps, kill the poor,

1:39 poison the water table, destroy the ozone layer,

1:41 decimate indigenous wildlife, recapture the Falkland Islands,

1:45 and turn the entire Third World into a huge uninhabitable desert.

1:53 But, only after they've nicked all the oil.

1:58 This doesn't feel like it would do any of that.

2:02 I have a horrible feeling that if this could read a newspaper,

2:05 it would be The Guardian.

2:07 It feels like the Porsche Rust Bridger.

2:16 And as I sit here, I can't help

2:18 thinking that it could and should be even faster.

2:24 I mean, McLaren proved 15 years ago that man had the ability

2:29 and the technology to make a road car go 230 or 240 mph.

2:34 Now, Porsche had that technology.

2:36 They had that ability.

2:38 And yet, with this, for whatever reason, they held back.

2:46 This, then, ticks all the health and safety [music] boxes.

2:50 It's like an Airbus, very safe and very civilized,

2:53 whereas the old McLaren, that's like Concorde.

3:05 Unfortunately, like Concorde, it was flawed.

3:12 Even its biggest fans, and I'm not one of them,

3:15 admit the [music] gearbox is clunky,

3:17 the steering is too heavy, the front's too vague, and the back end is skittish.

3:26 Couple all that to this spectacular power,

3:30 and you end up with something truly terrifying.

3:35 You know that bit in Dr.

3:37 Strangelove where Peter Sellers is astride the nuclear missile?

3:42 That's what it's like.

3:45 YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING.

3:47 YOU'VE GOT NO REAL CONTROL.

3:48 You just know the journey's going to end very soon and very badly.

3:55 Despite this, there are those who say

3:57 that this was the greatest supercar ever made.

4:00 But, and this is a personal thing, I've always preferred this.

4:08 The Ferrari F40 had no door handles, no radio, and no carpets.

4:14 The interior was held together with what looked like green bathroom sealant,

4:19 and the paint was so thin,

4:21 you could see the weave of the carbon fiber through [music] it.

4:32 [music] All of this made it light, really light.

4:34 It's only a passenger away from a Lotus Elise.

4:42 The result is naught to 60 in 3.2 seconds,

4:46 and nothing you've seen here tonight [music] can match that.

4:50 The power comes from a twin-turbo V8.

4:55 It's only a 3 L, but my god, it goes.

5:04 And what I love is that when you're on the overrun,

5:06 just take your foot off the throttle, listen.

5:09 You get these huge bangs as it just dumps

5:11 great wads of unburned fuel into the exhaust for fun.

5:18 Oh, ho, ho, go back.

5:23 And because there was hardly any weight,

5:24 it just devours the corners, always hitting the apex.

5:29 And when you feel the back end start to go,

5:33 you can always catch it cuz this lady is not for turning.

5:41 Sure, it didn't have the amazing power or the sophistication of the McLaren,

5:46 but the F40 feels lighter and more agile.

5:49 It feels like a wasp buzzing round a rhinoceros.

5:57 In fact, I think it's not any better than the McLaren.

5:59 I think it's better than any of its modern rivals.

6:05 Now, at this point, you probably think I've gone completely mad.

6:10 You're almost certainly wondering how an 18-year-old

6:13 car with see-through paint, no carpets,

6:16 and a top speed of only 201 could possibly be better than these two.

6:22 Well, let me explain.

6:28 You see, in a modern supercar,

6:30 every decision you make has to go through a kind of electronic committee.

6:36 You put your foot down, and the onboard computer says,

6:38 "Oh, no, hang on a minute.

6:39 You've got 16° of steering lock on there and too much throttle.

6:43 We're going to have to get Tofia Nanao or maybe bring Bono in on it.

6:48 See if we can work through some kind of compromise." Drives you nuts.

6:57 In this, there is no electronic overlord.

7:00 It doesn't even have power steering or traction control.

7:04 So, I've got Francis Pym on the brakes.

7:07 I've got John Nott on the steering.

7:08 I've got Keith Joseph on the gearbox.

7:11 Just a bunch of yes-men who do exactly what I [music]

7:14 tell them to do when I tell them to do it.

7:22 Of course, a modern supercar has ceramic brakes [music] and sticky, fat tires,

7:27 so you can brake later for corners and then go through them more quickly.

7:31 Round a track, a modern supercar [music] would be faster than this.

7:39 But, this is so much more fun because it's just road, seat, ass.

7:47 The end.

7:54 You're not seriously [music] going to tell me

7:56 that that F40 is a better car than this F60.

8:00 Well, it's better looking.

8:01 Are we all agreed on that?

8:03 The F40 is a better looking car than the F60.

8:05 I agree with you, better, but a better car.

8:07 No, look.

8:08 The F60 is astonishing, but there are too many computers in it.

8:14 I know what you mean, but there are I mean, computers do have their uses.

8:17 You pointed a few out.

8:18 Fuel economy, environment, all the rest of it.

8:20 No, they do have their uses, but which would you rather do?

8:22 Would you rather play football on a PlayStation

8:26 or get out there and play it for real?

8:28 On a PlayStation.

8:29 No, seriously.

8:30 Right, bad example.

8:31 I'd rather do that as well.

8:32 But, okay, let me put it this way.

8:33 Whenever you go karting, okay?

8:35 You know indoor karting?

8:36 Have you ever been in the kart and thought,

8:37 "I wish this thing had traction control"?

8:39 You never do, and that's what this is.

8:41 It's a go-kart with a twin-turbo V8 engine at the back.

8:45 And the best thing about it is is

8:47 that it gives other motorists at the traffic lights hope.

8:52 Cuz it's got turbo lag.

8:54 As you pull away, you can keep up with it,

8:57 and you can turn to your wife and say,

8:58 "We're keeping up with that Ferrari." And she'll look at you and go,

9:01 "A Ferrari, dear?" As it's just gone now.

9:05 It's a fabulous, wonderful, joyous experience to drive to drive one of those.

9:10 This I think is the best supercar ever made.

9:13 But, let's be honest, this one will be faster.

9:15 Round the track?

9:16 Yeah.

9:17 What?

9:17 Not just faster than the F40.

9:18 I have a suspicion it'll be faster, too,

9:21 than the Porsche Carrera GT, which did 119.8.

9:25 So, to find out, let's hand it over to the dark side of the Stig.

9:31 And away he goes.

9:33 Right, now this is the big one for the Stig.

9:36 Can he set the fastest time ever round our track with it?

9:40 Look how flat it is through that corner.

9:42 It's not rolling at all.

9:44 That's unbelievable.

9:47 He's having to fight it a bit.

9:56 And round Chicago.

9:59 Listen to that sound.

10:01 Right, breaking down into the Hammerhead

10:03 he's though twitching there under braking.

10:06 Keeping it tight, trying to correct the understeer

10:08 with the power of power and still no roll.

10:16 Right, here we go.

10:17 He's going to have to lift for the follow through.

10:19 There's no way he's going to go flat out through there.

10:21 Not in that, not in a million years.

10:23 Why is he moving the tires of the air?

10:25 That thing is displacing.

10:27 Right, fastest part of the track probably up to about 140,

10:30 150 as he goes into the second to last corner.

10:33 Very nice and tidy through there.

10:35 Going to cross the line.

10:38 [applause] Well.

10:41 Come on.

10:42 He's got 1:19:8 to beat.

10:44 That's what the Carrera GT did.

10:46 He did it in 1 Well, yeah.

10:48 It would.

10:50 [laughter] 19 dead.

10:53 WOW.

10:54 THAT'S IT.

10:55 THAT IS THE NEW fastest ever.

10:57 [applause]