There are many strata of performance cars, but the highest, and the most controversial, among them is the so-called “racecar for the road.” Cars that feature so much competition technology, power, and performance that it’s hard to believe that they even have a license plate.
The thing is, though, that kind of car is rare. Most performance cars start out as a regular production car, and have parts added on to make them a little speedier and a little rawer. But today we’re asking, have any of you owned one of that rare class of car that can truly claim to be a racecar for the road? More to the point, what was it like?
The question is inspired by two cars, videos about which were published this week. The first is the most recent attempt to put license plates on a car that features F1 technology and design, the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
A remarkable car that uses an electrically-assisted, naturally aspirated V12 engine, and bolts directly to the carbon tub, Chris Harris complained that the car was so intense and featured so much tricky technology that it was actually difficult to drive, and he wasn’t sure it would make a very good road car.
Read: Chris Harris Apparently Overwhelmed By The Aston Martin Valkyrie
The second, meanwhile, is the BMW M1, a car so disastrously expensive that despite impressing with its performance, Hagerty’s Jason Cammisa argued it could be credited with turning the M brand into an adder of stickers, rather than a maker of racecars.
The argument goes that consumers didn’t really want a racecar for the road whose pedals and steering wheel pointed in different directions, and whose price tag could only be described as obscene.
In my own experience, there is such a thing as too much. A few years ago, I spent a week in a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 with the optional bucket seats and found them so uncomfortable that I had a migraine for almost the entirety of my time with the car. And the thing you need to know about me is that I avoid excruciating pain, so my experience with the car was less than ideal.
But what have your experiences like? Have you owned a Lotus Super 7 and been disappointed? Have you driven an Ariel Atom and had a bee fly up your pant leg? Or am I and the consumers who refused to get the BMW M1 all a bunch of cowards who wouldn’t know a good car if it ran us over?
