Speed

Mickey Thompson was a lot of things to a lot of people. He was a racer, a businessman, and a promoter, all rolled into one. He was also the man behind several off-road sanctioning bodies, including SCORE International, which sanctions the famous Baja 1000 race. Thompson, though, is mostly known for one thing: he was the first American to ever to hit 400 mph.

Such an achievement has been lost to history, particularly the younger generation. But those who know about Thompson’s legacy will attest that, on top of his achievements, he remains one of the greatest American race car drivers in history whose impact on the sport remains to this day. Motor Trend saw fit to produce a short documentary of Thompson’s life and career, and if you didn’t know who Mickey Thompson was before this, go watch the documentary. You’ll know everything you need to know about one of the best racers to ever put on a racing helmet.

Mankind’s obsession with speed and going faster is deeply imprinted in its DNA. People have raced anything from horses, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and drones over the course of history, but few endeavours are more impressive than gunning for the world land speed record.

You might have heard about successful attempts from Gary Gabelich and his Blue Flame, or Richard Noble in the Thrust II, a well as the current Outright World Land Speed Record holder, the twin-turbofan jet-powered monster of a car going by the name of Thrust SSC.

The list of the 10 fastest cars in the world is a list of excess. Where else can you find a list where the "slowest" car can still carry a top speed of 217 mph, enough to melt your eyeballs and rearrange your facial features?

This list contains the fastest and most powerful production cars to ever roam our roads. Some have reached mythical status, owing to the impact they had in creating the supercar industry. Some aren’t as influential, but they can still destroy any car they line up with, either in a drag race setting or just a complete top speed run. Feel free to check out these models. Just make sure you have something to wipe the drool off your faces.

Here at TopSpeed, we’ve got a closely guarded secret, but we’ve finally decided to spill the beans. See, for the last 10 years, we’ve been on Santa’s advisory board and are tasked with helping him plan his annual trip around the world. Usually, we advise him of what new vehicles are best for transporting presents and help him plan out his trip. However, this year, he asked us to kick it up a notch and help him design an all-new sleigh that will not only give Rudolph and the rest of the gang a much-needed rest but will also get him around the world in style and luxury. It took us four months just to decided which model to start out with, but in the end, we developed the GTC4Lusso Sleigh 2.0.

Santa is more than happy with the sleigh we’ve come up with, and it’s already been through extensive testing in preparation for the big day. Based on the 2016 Ferrari GTC4Lusso, you know the big man is traveling in luxuriousness, and he can obviously get there quickly too. But, there’s a lot more than what meets the eye. See; this isn’t your everyday GTC4Lusso – this baby is loaded to the gills with the type of magic that only Santa can make possible. So, this thing carries a considerable amount of power over the standard 6.3-liter V-12 and, despite appearing small, has enough cargo room to haul enough presents to hit half of the world in one trip.

But, before I get too far ahead of myself, Santa’s already hard at work navigating his way to the homes of kids all over the world. So, let’s dive on in a take a look at the GTC4Lusso Sleigh 2.0.

Besides being as American as hot dogs, the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 and the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 sit at the very top of their respective makers performance pyramid. Sure, the Blue Oval also has the Ford GT muscle to flex, but for now, we’ll focus on the two, specifically how quick ar they to 60 miles per hour from a dead stop. Turns out, the mid-engined C8 is the nimbler of the two, despite holding an obvious power disadvantage. How’s that possible? Bear with us to find out.

An additional workforce of 400 workers could have some severe ramifications on the production output of the Corvette C8 at its Bowling Green plan. Now with 1,300 workers in total, the plant is ready to achieve record production numbers and enable the Corvette C8 to make record-breaking sales. I will remind you that back in 2014, GM flipped more than 34,000 units of the Corvette C7. With the mid-engine layout, and, I hold my hopes, an affordable price, the C8 could topple that easily. To show you the sheer importance of the new Corvette C8, I will tell you how its production stack up compared to the most significant mid-engine cars in the world.

The year was 1969. The “Skyline” name had already been introduced 12 years prior, first by Prince Motor Company, and then by Nissan in 1967 after the two companies merged. Two years after the merger, Nissan introduced a sports car based on the Skyline, and, among other things, it carried a three-letter nomenclature that has arguably become one of the most famous names in the entire industry: the GT-R. Fifty years later, the GT-R is still used today as the name of Nissan’s all-conquering supercar. It’s fitting then that the Japanese automaker that created the line of performance cars wearing the GT-R name is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the model with a special edition version, appropriately called the Nissan GT-R 50th Anniversary Edition. In line with its stature, Nissan debuted the GT-R 50th Anniversary Edition at the 2019 New York Auto Show.

Pretty much every rally highlight video in existence includes some hero pinning it over a crest, engine bouncing off the rev limiter, all four wheels spinning through the atmosphere. It doesn’t get much more dramatic than jumping a car, but as Team O’Neil explains in this 6-minute video, there’s a bit more to it than planting your foot and death-gripping the steering wheel.

Chevrolet recently confirmed that the much-speculated and awaited mid-engine avatar of the Corvette is not a myth. The Chevrolet C8 will officially debut on July 18th. Since then, people have kept a keen eye on the proceedings of the C8. Now, Chevrolet has announced that it will add a second shift of workers, more than 400 hourly jobs, to its factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Although GM has added the additional workforce by speculating an unprecedented demand for the C8, will this strength be restricted to the C8 only?

Style, speed, power, beauty - these are the words often associated with the Prancing Horse badge. For more than seven decades, Ferrari has been a guiding light in the performance segment, bringing race-derived innovation to the street and drool-worthy posters to bedroom walls. Few marques bring the same level of respect as Ferrari, and to celebrate, Budget Direct put together the following 4-minute, 25-second video chronicling its evolution. As an added bonus, we’ve also included four images that perfectly capture Ferrari’s history in poster form.

Aston Martin just unveiled the 2020 DBS Superleggera Volante! Framed as the convertible version of the brand’s hugely desirable DBS Superleggera coupe, the Volante pairs all the usual grand touring awesomeness with endless drop-top fun.

Mounted in that shapely frontend is the same engine as the hardtop DBS Superleggera, namely a turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12 producing 715 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. Routing the power to the rear axle is an eight-speed automatic transmission from ZF.

Top speed clocks in at 211 mph, while the sprint to 62 mph takes 3.6 seconds. Keep your foot down, and the Volante will go from 0 to 100 mph in 6.7 seconds.

You’ll have eight body colors to choose from, as well as six headliner colors. Quad exhaust pipes are in the rear, while up front, the reworked aero blasts the brakes with cold air, while also reducing lift and enhancing stability. Interestingly, the new bodyworks produces up to 390 pounds of downforce at speed, just 6.6 pounds less than what you get with the coupe model.

The fabric roof takes 14 seconds to open and 16 seconds to close, but we’d recommend keeping it open to make it easier to hear that V-12 wail. Leather, carbon fiber, and metal accents make it nice inside the cabin.

Pricing for the 2020 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera Volante starts at $329,100. Look for deliveries to kick off in the third quarter of the year.

It’s no easy feat to stand out in the high-dollar world of custom Ferraris, but the P80/C manages exactly that with a unique style that has us staring. Mixing old-school inspiration with cutting-edge go-fast technology, the P80/C manages to shuck the constraints of both competition homologation and street legality, and the result is bold and gorgeous.

The Lamborghini Huracán was introduced in 2014 as the Italian supercar maker’s next-gen entry-level model, following in the footsteps of the ever-popular Lamborghini Gallardo. In January of 2019, Lamborghini revealed the second-generation Huracán EVO Coupé, and now the Raging Bull is dropping the top with the Huracán EVO Spyder at the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show. Slotting in as the second entry in Lambo’s modern V-10 stable, the Huracán EVO Spyder is equipped with the same go-stuff as the hardtop, including a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter powerplant, adaptive suspension components, and eye-popping aerodynamics. However, as an added bonus, the Huracán EVO Spyder adds in unlimited headroom, all without compromising the Huracán EVO’s impressive performance capabilities.

Update 03/15/2019: We’ve updated this review with fresh images of the 2019 Lamborghini Huracan EVO Spyder that were taken during the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Check them out in the gallery at the bottom of this page!