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November 18th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Posted in Article Submissions
What is a supercar, and how did the term supercar originate? It was probably the Jaguar XJ220 that led people to look for a new word to describe really fast sports cars. Up to that time, Ferraris and Aston Martin were seen as very fast fast cars or super sports cars. The Jaguar XJ220 was so outrageously fast that the word supercar came into use, although that type of car is now called an exotic car or exotic supercar, but not a supercar. Performance has moved on in the past 20 years, so now cars like the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Bentley Continental GT, Ferrari California, Lamborghini Gallardo and Porsche 911 Turbo are definitely supercars. Supercars are very fast cars that can be driven fast anywhere They are not just fast cars, but cars that can be driven fast on twisty roads, whether they have hump backs, poor surfaces, steep inclines or not. But supercars are only suitable for driving on metalled roads – don’t imagine you can drive a fast car like a supercar on gravel roads like those you can find in Australia and elsewhere. Bumpy tarmac is OK, although fast cars like Ferraris are not at their best on very bumpy roads, and they definitely don’t like potholes! However, they can be fabulous on a fast twisty road which undulates up and down, so that lesser cars crash through their dampers, hitting the bump stops. There is also a big difference between a supercar and a fast car. A big, tin box with a big engine or even a hot hatch can be a fast car, but it cannot be a supercar. Supercars are fast cars that are specially designed to be fast in all circumstances, including on the track, not just in a straight line. Supercars are at the very top of fast car technology these days, being built from exotic materials by craftsmen. If you own one, you are indeed fortunate, although you no probably made your own good fortune. No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time. |