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By Ken Gross
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"What'll she do?" This has been the quintessential question for drivers of fast cars since the automobile's inception. "Doing a ton" is the British expression for exceeding the 100 mph mark on the road. A three-liter Bentley did it in 1921. It took another 66 years before a Ferrari F40 could double that speed, and a little more than a quarter of that time before a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 exceeded 250. Just a few months ago a new ride came along and set the bar even higher: 256 mph. In a truly fast production car, you'll need nerves of steel—not to mention a steady grip on the wheel and lightning-fast reactions—to get near 200 mph. If you make any corrections at that speed, you must do them precisely or you'll career off the road. The view through the windshield brings to mind a giant vacuum cleaner frantically sucking up everything in your path. The engine's scream is loud and shrill, and the road is suddenly much narrower. You can barely look at the speedometer. You don't dare… but you can't resist.
Over the past quarter century a few supercar builders have quietly competed for the unofficial title of the world's fastest production road car. I have been lucky enough to drive just about all of them. Their top speeds are debated, but what you'll see printed here is generally believed to be accurate. It isn't easy to get your hands on these wheels, but you can take a ride with us right now. Buckle up.
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189 mph: 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO
The 288 GTO hit the streets about the time Risky Business arrived in theaters and the first camcorders appeared. You probably never saw the GTO in person. Only 270 were built, and few arrived in America. The sticker was about $84,000—a princely sum in the early Reagan years but worthy of the fastest customer car in the world. On the track at Pocono in Pennsylvania, I couldn't believe this Berlinetta's belt-in-the-back wallop under hard acceleration. Sporting a deep-seated driving position and hyperfast steering, it was an astonishing performer. The piercing shriek of its F1-inspired midship turbocharged 394 bhp 2.9-liter V8 inches behind the ears is something a man can never forget. |
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197 mph: 1987 Porsche 959
Three years later Porsche stole the fastest production car title with the 959. Everything Porsche engineers had learned over decades of competition was built into this silver bullet. Originally designed for FIA Group B racing, a much modified 959 won the grueling Paris-Dakar rally in 1986. In 1987 the factory decided to make it available to customers who could muster up $230,000. I drove one at Porsche's Weissach test track in Germany. Flattening the pedal resulted in a moonshot-like blastoff, and the huge brakes instantly reversed the process. Engine: a twin-turbo air-cooled all-alloy 450 bhp 2.8 liter flat six. The swoopy lightweight body was made of Kevlar and fiberglass-reinforced plastic panels; the doors and hood were aluminum. Until a recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule change, this Porsche was unavailable stateside. Ralph Lauren is one of the few proud American owners. |
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