Words and photos Manny N. de los Reyes
Supercars. They are, to our everyday cars, what Superman is to the rest of us - worlds apart.
Breathtakingly fast, mesmerizingly beautiful, stupendously expensive, these cars are at the very
pinnacle of motoring evolution. They are not race cars, but street cars that are at the very top of
the automotive food chain.
But in a world confronted by environmental concerns, skyrocketing fuel prices, and gridlocked
highways, one wonders just how relevant these fascinating cars are. To cynics, they are ridiculously
overpriced, are guzzlers of obscene amounts of precious fossil fuels, and are inordinately uncomfortable
and impractical for such big cars that ironically can accommodate only two passengers.
But therein lies their charm. Like a handcrafted cost-is-no-object Swiss watch that single-mindedly
aspires to be the ultimate in timekeeping accuracy, a supercar aims to deliver superlative performance in
every conceivable vehicular dynamic. And they offer no apologies for the fact that only a select few will ever
be able to afford them.
Be it in acceleration, braking, cornering or top speed, a supercar will embarrass even the most accomplished
sports car. Porsche 911 Turbo or Ferrari 360 Modena? They won't hold a candle when compared to their
overachieving brethren, the Porsche Carrera GT and the Ferrari Enzo. Then we've got two surprising newcomers
to the supercar fold: the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and the Ford GT. Let's take a look at these four fine
examples of the supercar genre, each of which I had the extreme good fortune to have seen in the flesh, or more
appropriately, in the carbon fiber in the 2003 Detroit and Tokyo Motor Shows. Just don't ask what their prices are.
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