TVR Cerbera Speed 12, 2000, £auction
Perhaps no TVR is as famous as the Cerbera Speed 12, the car that came to define the audacity and outrageousness of the brand as the 21st century loomed. The full Speed 12 tale is too long to tell here, but essentially involves both GT1 and a GT2 race programmes, a V12 so powerful it broke the dyno and a cancelled customer car project because Peter Wheeler deemed it too scary to drive. Even by TVR standards, the Speed 12 was insane. This car, due to go under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions next Saturday (May 20th) is the only road car that ever existed, sold originally in 2003 but never actually finished until 2005. Now it’s for sale for the first time in more than a decade, all 850hp, 900lb ft and 7.7-litres of it. It’s British hypercar royalty that promises exhilaration (and intimidation) like nothing else - get that bidding hand ready.
Lamborghini Sian FKP37, 2021, 273 miles, £4,000,000
When Lamborghini takes on new technology, it never does so in the conventional fashion - it’s part of why we love the brand so much. The supercars out of Sant’Agata are nothing if not distinctive. The Sian FKP 37 was undoubtedly one of those, and a car of additional significance now its style and tech had influenced the Revuelto. It’s fun to see ‘MHEV’ next to a car like this when it’s normally found on ads for small SUVs, but the Sian was a hybrid hypercar - albeit using supercapacitor technology, which could power a 34hp electric motor for less weight than batteries would require. It was replenished solely by kinetic energy, too. All very space age, which was appropriate for a car that looked as the Sian did. This is one of just 63 coupes ever made, has less than 300 miles and isn’t the priciest car here - even at £4m…
Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, 2016, 2k, £4,684,950
The third and final V12 in this list, it’s crazy to think that the LaFerrari’s epic 6.3 is the smallest 12-cylinder engine in the group - quite some company to keep. On its own, that 800hp heart-stopper would have made for a sensational supercar (see various 812s and Monzas, for example), but that was never going to be enough for a Ferrari flagship, and so it also gained 163hp of hybrid help. The result was a Ferrari and a hypercar experience like nothing before, with a familiar noise but otherworldly speed. Then Ferrari whipped the roof away for something even more spectacular: the LaFerrari Aperta. There were only ever 200, all spoken for before the reveal, and seldom ever seen. So this is extremely special indeed, a UK-supplied car that looks sublime on FXX K wheels. A new owner will need more than £4.5m for the privilege - but then it is a £26m jackpot tonight…
Koenigsegg Agera R, 2013, 2k, £2,895,000
There are some obscenely fast cars on this list, and the Koenigsegg Agera R should be the fastest of them all. Yes, seriously. Its twin-turbo 5.0-litre V8, a Koenigsegg-designed engine from the ground up, produced 1,140hp at 7,500rpm, enough for 0-186mph in 14.5 seconds - faster even than the LaFerrari. Indeed, the Agera R set a new world record in 2011, reaching 186mph and then coming to a stop again in just 21.19 seconds. As well as being a phenomenally powerful car, the Agera R is super rare as well, with only 18 ever made between 2011 and 2014. This stunning BRG example was built in 2013 for a static collection and came to the UK in 2017, where it has since accrued a couple of thousand miles and some useful factory-installed upgrades. If you really want to stand out in a supercar, there can’t be much better.
Lexus LFA Nurburgring Package, 2012, 36 miles (!), $2,500,000
Proof that mad power isn’t needed to create an icon, the Lexus LFA’s 560hp looked modest even at launch in 2010. The naysayers liked to point to how much less Nissan GT-Rs and even Lamborghini Gallardos with the same power cost instead. But that was missing the point of the LFA entirely; it represented the obsession of the world’s largest carmaker to create the very best supercar it could, and the Lexus V10 nailed that brief unequivocally. The LFA was blessed with one of the finest engines ever, some gorgeous details and an absorbing driving experience. Then it got even better still, the Nurburgring Edition further refining the concept - quicker shifts, better aero, a smidge more power - for a still-staggering-now 7:14.64 lap of the Nordschleife. Getting one of the 50 will require more effort (it’s in Hong Kong) and more money (it’s $2.5m) than some others, but a more desirable car has never left Japan - fact.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722, 2006, 11k, £599,950
After some time in the supercar doldrums (all things being relative), the Mercedes SLR McLaren is now being recognised as a bonafide exotic. It certainly ticks a lot of the right boxes, including a carbon monocoque, ceramic brakes (one of the very first cars to use them), a monstrous engine and the engineering influence of one Gordon Murray. At £300k - when so many of its early 2000s contemporaries are seven figures - any SLR arguably looks more appealing than ever. But this isn’t any old McMerc, it’s a 722, named in honour of that legendary Mille Miglia win (Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson setting off at 7:22am in their 300SLR). Power was boosted to 650hp, 40kg was shaved, and more carbon made it looks mean as hell. One of 150, this EU-supplied (but UK-registered) SLR has been driven just 11,000 miles in 17 years and looks fit to thunder through many more - it’s yours for a trifling £599,950.
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