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Top 50 Sports Cars of the World- Part 4

We start were we had ended in the previous article on Top 50 Sports cars of the world. Again we present you the list of 10 sports cars which have held their esteemed place in the annals of history of sports cars. Watch out for the complete list of 20 more sports cars in the successive articles here in Carazoo.com.

NISSAN 300ZX

Nissan's performance credibility cannot be certainly questioned at any point of time. After producing the 240Z and 280ZX, Nissan begged to differ and came up with the 300ZX which was aided by a strong 222 bhp, 3.0L V6, and the Twin-Turbo edition churned out an incredible 300 at the crank, making the 300ZX one of the fastest accelerating cars in its day in the 1990s. This beauty combined the brute strength of American Muscle with the sex appeal of an Italian exotic, and the performance of the Japanese cars. This car was featured as one of the “100 Greatest Cars of All Time” and one of the “25 Most Beautiful Cars in History”.

HONDA S2000

Honda S2000 was one of the reasons for which V-Tec has a fan-following. The S2000 sported a high-revving 240 HP 2.0L inline 4 known as the F20C, an engine which was recognized as the International Engine of the Year from 2001 to 2004. This car featured a six speed-transmission combined with a smooth handling and Japanese good looks for a sports car. At $ 30,000, this sports car was a steal and became a rage in its heyday. But strangely this car also had its own share of problems like that of the cost of ownership which was quite high since the maintenance cost also reached the sky.

LANCIA STRATOS HF

There was a time when mid-engined cars were not cool. That time was anything before the year 1971, when rising young designer Marcello Gandini (famed for the Lamborghini Miura and Countach) revealed a stunning masterpiece-the Stratos Zero concept-a car that would revolutionize the way we saw mid-engined cars, not to mention the world of rally car racing. The Stratos was the first car designed from scratch specifically for rally competition, and it won three straight FIA rally manufacturer's championships before Fiat pulled the plug in 1975. Sporting a 190 HP Ferrari Dino V6, the Lancia is a brass-knuckled no-nonsense lone wolf in designer clothes that still looks just as wild and lustworthy as it did nearly forty years ago.

PORSCHE 959

You are looking at the future of sports cars via 1986. Starting life as a Group B rally car, 200 street cars were produced to comply with FIA homologations. It was one of the first high performance cars to use an all-wheel drive system, and the success of the 959 convinced Porsche to make AWD standard on the 911 Turbo beginning with the 993 model. During its illustrious three year production run, the 959 was the most technologically sophisticated road car ever produced, and was without performance equal during its lifetime. That is, except for the Ferrari F40.

KOENIGSEGG CCX

This car is a personification of the word is a car so extreme-it almost killed the Stig! Midway through a lap, the CCX lost control, slid off the track, and crashed into a tire wall. But thanks to its carbon fiber construction, the car survived unscathed (same goes for the Stig, and for the same reason). Later on, at the Stig's request, Koenigsegg fitted the CCX with a nonproduction spoiler and performed suspension tweaks, both of which helped the CCX become the fastest car around the Top Gear track at the time. The CCX is the Swedish mid-engine successor to the CCR with a twin supercharged V8 capable of an unconfirmed top speed of 259mph, which theoretically makes it potentially the fastest car in the world. The ethanol-powered CCXR was voted the 2009 Best Performing Green Exotic by DuPont.

ARIEL ATOM

The aforementioned rise in the performance thresholds of late-model cars has corresponded with a similar rise in girth. Technology allows us to make heavy cars fast, but at the expense of driving purity. Well, here is driving purity in its absolute purest pureness. The Ariel Atom is indeed a street car, sans doors, roof, and body work. By using a super rigid exoskeleton design, the Atom benefits from exceptional chassis rigidity while tipping the scales at a touch over 1000lbs. This featherweight, then, with the help of a supercharged 300HP 2.0L Civic engine, is capable of embarrassing exotics in roll-on and braking tests, and as of now, is the third fastest accelerating car in the world, behind only the Bugatti Veyron and the Ultima GTR.

TOYOTA SUPRA MARK IV

Based off the Celica platform, the Mark IV Supra was a more performance oriented car than previous versions. Utilizing a Sequential Twin Turbo configuration similar to the RX-7, the Supra was capable of 0-60 runs of 4.6 seconds and a top speed in excess of 170mph, all very impressive stats for the mid-'90s. What was most impressive, though, was the durability of the 3L 2JZ-GTE Inline 6. These cars were capable of pavement-pealing 800 to 1000 horsepower figures without major modifications, and as such the Supra developed its own cult following within the tuner market, and remains one of the most highly sought after Japanese sports cars in history.

SALEEN S7 TWIN TURBO

Steve Saleen is a cult icon of the highest order amongst aftermarket aficionados, especially those with Mustangs. The S7 was the first original Saleen design, and went it appeared in 2002, it was the only mid-engined American exotic and the only car with 500bhp. But in the next few years, with new competitors on the streets stealing his cred, Saleen was unwilling to hold the status quo, so the S7 was upfitted with two jumbo Garrett Turbo chargers which boosted output to 750HP, making the S7 Twin Turbo the fastest car in the world in 2005, with a recorded top speed of 248mph. The S7 has also enjoyed substantial racing success since its inception, winning 50 poles and more than 40 races, including seven GT Championships. Most impressive amongst these is the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring, setting a new track record at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and posting a victory in round eight of the 2004 FIA GT Championship.

FORD GT40 MARK I

After a failed merger between Ferrari and Ford, Henry Ford II demanded a win at Le Mans in '66 for revenge. After years of development and racing failures, three GT40's took the top three podium positions at the 1966 Le Mans in a controversial finish. The GT40 went on to win the next three years in Le Mans, giving Ford II the racing dominance he had desired, and giving Enzo Ferrari a tremendous case of post-merger-rejection-remorse. Long, lean, and low (the nomenclature is derived from the 40” roof height) the GT still looks fresh after forty years. While technically 31 street cars were produced to qualify Ford for racing, they were 15x the price of a entry level Anglia, making the GT40 the “most expensive Ford in history” in its day and a relic of the racing circuit-unlike the Ford GT homage which would follow four decades later.

ASTON MARTIN V8 VANTAGE

In 1977 the V8 Vantage was hailed as Britain's first supercar because of its 170 mph top speed. While it shared an engine with the Lagonda, the Vantage made use of high-performance camshafts, increased compression ratio, larger inlet valves and bigger carburettors mounted on new manifolds for increased output, which allowed a 0-60 mark of 5.3 seconds, one-tenth of a second faster than the Ferrari Daytona. There were many distinct features that set the Vantage model apart from the V8 model, including the bulged hood in place of a hood scoop, as well as driving lights in the grille and a rear spoiler. And, as per any good Aston, a Volonte version of this car appeared in the Bond film The Living Daylights.