We PHers know what we like and it's quite often powered by a big V8. No surprise then that a good number of the nominees for keeping it real in 2012 are centred around such engines, hailing from both sides of the Atlantic. That's not the only way to earn yourself a nomination to this category though - as you can see below with our nominations. Have a read, take your pick and then vote!
Corvette V8
While the rest of the industry embraces downsizing, diesels that drive like petrols and petrols that drive like diesels - not to mention electric power in all its many forms - it's good to know someone is out there keeping it real. And where else but America, a land where a 6.2-litre V8 can still, with a straight face, be referred to as a 'small block' motor. US carmakers have always been able to build a good V8 of course and now it begins to look like they're getting the hang of the rest of it too, meaning anticipation for the new Corvette and the hope it could be a standard bearer for the kind of straightforward, back-to-basics sports cars we love is high. Fingers crossed, eh? Yeehaw, and all that. (Dan)
AMG
Of all the big German three and their respective performance divisions AMG has managed to keep it real better than most, even with the prevalence of 'Engineered by AMG' derivatives of everything from the A-Class upwards. 'Proper' AMGs have, like everyone else, had to (vaguely) confront green concerns and adopt smaller engines and turbos. But AMG's starting point was the wonderful 6.2-litre V8 that lives on in the SLS, the all-new 5.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 the kind of downsizing PH can get behind. Only AMG has successfully embraced this new tech while managing to maintain a sense of drama and charisma in its engines and for that it deserves a nomination for keeping it real. (Dan)
Caterham
Next year marks 40 years since Caterham bought the rights to the original Lotus Seven, and it's 40 years in which the company has operated on the principle of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Instead, the company has honed and refined its product, and today it's still producing the same uncompromised driving machines it always has done. Caterham's cars are raw, loud and utterly unsanitised - and as a result, they are superb, offering a driving experience that's hard to beat. Bravo, Caterham - keep it up! (Alex)
Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
That Ford is still producing this brazen slab of relatively unsophisticated muscle is a real breath of fresh air. The premise is simple: a 5.8-litre V8 with a huge supercharger, a hefty six-speed manual 'box and an old-school live rear axle. The result isn't the last word in chassis refinement, but it's bloomin' good fun: 650hp, 0-60 in 3.5sec, and 202mph. Yes, sure, there are token nods to the modern day, in the form of traction control and a few cursory electronics. But beneath it all, the GT500 is an unreformed, unrepentant muscle car. As provenby Mr Harris here. (Alex)
Pagani (...but not Koenigsegg)
Several people got all hot and bothered because I didn't apparently show the Agera R enough 'respect' in a magazine article a while back. I'd always thought it was a motor car, not Mother Theresa, but there we go. I don't take a word of it back. It was matt white with a ski-box on the roof. That's just crass. What emerged during that day was actually a surprisingly talented car, one which was fast enough on the public highway for me to need new underpants every time the boost kicked-in. That alone has to make it a worthy hypercar. The big difference between Pagani and Koenigsegg is how far they've come in the past decade. The first Zonda S I drove was a near faultless combination of AMG V12 and carbon fibre - it genuinely felt like the whole car had been engineered and built by a major car company. The Koenigsegg I went in was frankly horrible: it felt like a fast kit car. Hugely loud and all that, but I like to think some of us can see past such basic attributes. The gap is much, much closer now. Personally, I'd take a Huayra over any other car of that type. The obsessive attention to detail is addictive, the performance may not be in the Agera R league but it's ample for me, the whole car feels more finished and it is Italian - and I like my ostentatious supercars to be Italian. That way they don't need to have a paint-job by Aquafresh and a roof-box. Others will see it differently, but as someone who's driven both, I suppose I am vaguely qualified to pass an opinion. To drive and to observe, I'll take the Pagani every time. (Chris Harris)
PH awards 2012 categories:
