Niiice. When I have the time/space/$$$, I'm gonna do one of these:

 

Cobalt SS

 

troll.

 

Anything but! Someone had to say it, that's all.

 

It's always been a hard choice for me to choose between the F40 LM or the Mclaren F1 LM. If I really had to pick between the two for whatever reason, there would be many sleepless nights to decide the winner. On one hand, the F40 is Enzo's last car, the first car to break the 200 MPH barrier, a true race car that is barely road legal. On the other, the F1 is the absolute best driver's car and comes with a company that still holds a strong focus on their customers and adjusts almost anything you'd like to make it yours even if it's second hand.

If it were a modern supercar, it would be a battle with the Pagani Zonda (any high HP iteration) and Konigsegg Agera R. The Zonda is almost a driving art museum, one that drives rather well according to various testers. The Konigsegg is almost in a world of its own regarding its unique character.

 

If we're talking ultimate supercars here there is no way I could consider a middle rung exotic (or supercar depending upon who you ask) such as the F430/360/458, any 911, Guillardo, Ford GT, or an Audi R8. It would have to have to be at the top of the food chain. However, at some point they all kind of blend together in terms of the marginal performance differences. Therefore I would have to drive them all and figure out which one fits me best. But for the sake of this conversation, I think I would have to go with the Porsche Carrera GT since it strikes me as the only hardcore supercar that is the perfect blend of racecar parts, elegance, sophistication, and world beating performance.

 

Winning!!

 

How do you define an exotic as being top rung vs. middle rung, price? B/c IIRC the 458 can pretty much hang w/ the Enzo in many aspects, and the same applies to the 911 GT2 vs. the Carrera GT.

 

I'm glad you asked. I would say that performance alone is not a good benchmark for a couple of reasons that I'll save for another post. The middle rung, if you will, exotics or supercars are all a couple of clicks more extreme than most production cars but they are still pedestrian by comparison to the top shelf, if you will, super cars or exotics.

I think that there are two main areas where you can find stark contrasts that generally will serve as a characteristic befitting the vehicle's respective "class," if you will.

Chassis:
A Ford GT, Audi R8, Guillardo, 458, etc. all have pretty advanced aluminum chassis (the 911 being the exception, to which I would argue that the only thing that puts the 911 in the company of these middle rung super cars is its performance, so I could argue that it doesn't really belong), but these chassis pale in comparison to the carbon fiber chassis of the Pagani Zonda, Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari F50, Mercedes Benz CLK GTR, Koenigsegg whatever, McLaren F1, and so on. Certainly there are exceptions such as the McLaren MP4 12-C which seems to straddle the line between middle rung and top shelf or the 911 whose components and chassis seem to straddle the line between middle rung and lower sports cars.

Suspension:
In the Ford GT, Audi R8, etc. you are going to have a suspension setup that is very much so inclined toward track driving but there is also a fair amount of rubber bushings, reasonable suspension travel, and just general compliance that betray the fact that it is a road car first and foremost. Certainly less compliance than a typical car and the greater use of aluminum in the suspension components than a typical car, but a far cry from what you find in top shelf supercars. On the contrary, most of the top shelf supercars have inboard suspension, copious use of aircraft grade bearings, and a great deal of direct mechanical linkages that are anything but compliant. The top shelf supercars are really more closely related to what you'd find in a Group C type prototype than the middle rung cars. In the case of the homologation special cars such as the Mercedes Benz CLK-GTR, they quite literally are.

Additionally, in your Carrera GT, Ferrari F50, Pagani Zonda, etc. you are likely to find engines that are just this side of being a legitimate racecar engine. The Carrera GT's flywheel is something like 4 inches in diameter. A minor detail perhaps but certainly not a hallmark of a lesser supercar. You also have to consider aerodynamics. Typically, the top shelf supercars will have absurdly large venturi tunnels that require equally absurd ride heights, whereas your Ford GTs, Guillardos, 458s, etc. all have respectable aero packages and purpose-built underbody systems but they are still quite tame by comparison. Are there exceptions? Again, sure there are. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the 458 with it's rather understated aero package makes just as much or more downforce as a Carrera GT with it's huge venturi tunnels, spare-no-expense underbody system, ingenious integrated front splitter/ radiator ducting, rear aerofoil, etc. But anyone can look at the two vehicles and see that the Carrera GT takes a more conventional racecar-esque approach than the 458 which certainly leans in that direction but it more so the product of technological advances than racecar know-how.

Also, as extreme as the vehicle dimensions of a Ford GT or 911 GT2 may be, there's no question that when you see one parked next to a Ferrari F50 that you're looking at two different classes of vehicle.

 

I would daily this without a doubt assuming I had the $$$ for maintenance lol