European exotic supremacy THREATENED

European exotic cars have been known to be the fastest, the better built and the most exotic looking sport scars to ever hit the market and that's because of the quality and engineering that goes into these super cars is what keeps them on top of the line since the late 1960's

However for the first time the reign of European exotic car supremacy is in jeopardy. Over the past several decade's countries like the United States and Japan have both followed the technological advances and the engineering aspect of these Super cars especially during the years of the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarosaa. The overwhelming success of the Mclaren F1 at lemans highlighted the inherent inabilities of rival super cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette and the Toyota Supra. Since then there has been a global revolution to modernize the super car. At the heart of this threat is the transmission. Both the united states and Japan have developed state of the art transmissions giving super cars like the Nissan GTR the ability to perform as precise as the mighty bugatti veyron.

Other area's include weight reduction which results in better power to weight ratio. You can see this in the numbers found on the Corvette ZR1 and Dodge Viper ACR being able to maintain speeds with such super cars like the Pagani Zonda at the nuringberg ring surpassing the legacy super car likes of the Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche. Today they are being out matched by the lesser more expensive super cars built by GM, Dodge and Ford. America is at the forefront of advanced with their Corvette, Viper and Ford GT replacement. Japan also is developing with a follow on Nissan GTR, Lexus LFA and a possible return of the Toyota Supra. With a bang for the buck goal and over time they will continue to over take as the technology improves and the aftermarket builds Tuner specials.


In top speed they have always held the higher ground with 200+ MPH today that has all changed. The united state's begun developing super cars capable of higher top speeds than even today's Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

Mclaren F1 (242mph)

Bugatti Veyron(268mph)

Hennessey Venom GT (270+mph)

Shelby Super Cars Ultimate Aero II (275+Mph)

Vector WX8 Twin Turbo (300mphEst)

with the aftermarket producing follow on performance upgrades we have seen cars like a Twin Turbo Ford GT run as high as 268 mph at the Texas standing mile with goals to try and run beyond 300mph. They are out pacing them in the top speed specification and can directly challenge any record one might hold.

America, China and Japan's next generation super cars are on the horizon. America's will be like's of the Hennessey Venom GT, the Freedom X designs "Have Blue" and China now acquiring Spyker motor's that will likely under cut price's of the Lamborghini Aventador. Future clients will be purchasing very advanced super cars with near Bugatti Veyron capabilities in quantities rivaling Ferrari F458 estimates.

Bringing it all together European exotics have challenges across the board. When taken in total the new and improved American and Japanese super cars can produce an inpenatrible box at any race track around the globe that the legacy super cars cannot enter thus denying them full supremacy. Without supremacy they will lose the most important edge they hold in modern racing heritage today. These challenges will only grow as qualitative and quantitative edge continues to end.

Remember there is no prize for second best.

Jay Lopez with Acceleration Media.