Supercar of century

WITH more than 17,000 votes, the quest to find the greatest supercar of all time has been whittled down to just 11 remaining contenders, representing each decade from the very beginning of the 20th century.  The public now have until the end of September to cast their vote for their favourite before the greatest supercar of all time is announced at the Classic and Sports Car Show in October. 

Mercedes 300SL Gullwing

Beginning from the humble origins of the pre-1914 era, the finalists are as follows: The Mercedes 1908 GP which could hit 100mph more than 100 years ago; the Bentley 41/2 litre Blower which defined the glitz and glamour of the 1920s; the Alpha Romeo 8C which could easily take on 120mph in a streamlined engineering wonder; the Jaguar XK120 known as the classic of the post-war years; and the famous Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, a space-age 140mph-hitting mind-boggling machine. 

Bugatti Veyron

From the 1960s onwards the design and capacity of emergent supercars escalated dramatically and contenders from then until today include the Lamborghini Miura which could outrun aeroplanes on the 60’s tarmac; the Countach which embraced the V12 engine and could go well in excess of 170mph when duty called; the Ferrari F40 of the 1980s which was the last model to be signed off by Enzo himself; the McLaren F1 which essentially revolutionised the entire notion of the supercar; the Bugatti Veyron which roared across 2005 in a 100bhp quadruple-turbo eight-litre W16 engine to claim the ‘fastest car in the world’ title; and of course this decade’s McLaren P1, a hybrid hyper-car which could smash 62mph in just 2.6 seconds and costs more than €1 million.