This car was released nearly 2 decades ago, and captured my imagination back then. Even now, in my eyes at least, it's unrivaled...
McLaren F1
http://www.automotiveimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/McLaren-F1.jpg
http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/crop/200803/1995-mclaren-f1-lm-4_1280x0w.jpg
McLaren F1 vs Bugatti Veyron
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Watch the video - it's very dramatic. Then go ahead look up any discussion on the internet about which is the greater car, and chances are it'll drag on for days...
I feel rather annoyed when ignorant kids go on rants about how the Veyron claims supremacy because it can top 260mph and has over a 1000bhp, while the twenty year old McLaren F1 has to do with 600bhp and 241mph.
But the fact is, they miss the point entirely. The McLaren F1 held the title for the the fastest road car in the world for a solid 12 years (and still holds the record for naturally aspirated cars) - but that was never its aim. The aim was to create a purist's car, with no electronic driver's aid or turbocharging. Hell, the XP5 prototype that made the record was less powerful than the final production version, and the F1 itself could go faster with a higher gear ratio or a seventh gear. But they never tried to rectify that - because that was never the point.
On the other hand, the Bugatti was literally all about a dick-measuring contest, being created with only one thing in mind - to become the fastest and most powerful. It's absolutely one-dimensional. Breaking the record meant nothing to many people - the McLaren still had better power-to-weight ratio, lower drag coefficiency and a racing heritage of beating goddamned Le Mans Prototypes for God's sake. The Bugatti on the other hand just became a toy for spoiled Arab playboys and European Association of Man Whores football stars. Hell, this Top Gear episode had to be shot several times because the Veyron kept losing (its four turbochargers were choking in the desert heat, while the fifteen year old McLaren had no issues at all).
Automotive subtlety escapes so many people...
