Six of the best supercars at Geneva 2018
We watch the Geneva headlines closely here at Goodwood. Partly to get the news out to you and partly to plan for what new cars we should ask to grace the Hill at FOS. So, here’s our roundup of what we think are the six coolest supercar debuts from the show.
McLaren Senna GTR
It kind of had to be at the top of the list of supercars to dominate Geneva. The Senna has been the supercar of the moment for the past three months and the debut of the GTR at Geneva has only strengthened that momentum. Don’t let the fact it’s a concept fool you – 75 are earmarked for production and are probably all sold by now. At this point, we’re wondering whether Lanzante will get their mitts on one and fit numberplates.
Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro
Continuing with the “track-only version” theme, the AMR Pro Valkyrie sheds the relative frippery of road homologation in favour of track performance – of which the road car shouldn’t be in short supply anyway. Slicks, a shovel-load more downforce and more power are purported to take the eagerly-awaited Valkyrie to another level. Now we just need to see one in action…
Ferrari 488 Pista
At this point special series mid-engined Berlinettas are pretty much a supercar staple. There aren’t many better bloodlines than that which contains Challenge Stradale, Scuderia and Speciale. The 488 Pista should make for a worthy successor, with a 710bhp twin-turbo V8 and trick air-management to help keep the Mclaren 720S honest. Odds on an open-top version joining it before too long?
Bugatti Chiron Sport
No, it’s not going to ripple the road with slick rubber and air-bending bodywork addenda like a couple of the entries above. The new Chiron Sport is, however, Bugatti’s crack at the portion of its customer base with a penchant for lap times – albeit a much subtler take on the track car genre. The guiding principle is: shed weight and tune to taste. A loss of 18kg – 12kg of that in un-sprung wheel weight – re-tuned dampers and the addition of electric torque vectoring add up to an alleged 5-second drop in a lap time around Nardo. Yours for a mere £150,000 premium over a “standard” Chiron.
Rimac C_Two
Of course, if the Chiron is a bit pedestrian for you, the 1,900hp+ Rimac C_Two could be more to your taste. It does swap 16 cylinders and four turbos for an enormous bank of batteries and a set of electric motors but, means to an end, right? It’ll “fire up” through facial recognition, rather than through something as archaic as a key or a button, it’ll get you be to 60mph within two seconds of doing so and once you’ve drained the batteries, it’ll get up to 80% charge within 30 minutes. That last number is particularly impressive. The future of the hypercar? Time will tell. For now, we’re still getting our heads round those figures… A practical demonstration at FOS should do it…
Apollo IE
Bonus entry – one that doesn’t even have a show stand. If you find yourself staring at the Apollo Intensa Emozione parked somewhere round Geneva, we’ll forgive you for assuming this mad alien-looking thing is another baby of the electric age. You’ll be hilariously wrong as – if you linger long enough – it’ll prove when the vicious 6.3-litre naturally-aspirated V12 yowls into life for another jaunt around town. Given all you’ll hear around the Geneva Show halls right now is the sound of journalists sweating, having this thing getting vocal around town during GIMS week is a marketing masterstroke. Take a pic and post it with #FINDTHEIE and you might win yourself a passenger ride. Bring it to FOS, pretty please?
Geneva 2018
Bugatti
Ferrari
McLaren
Aston Martin
Rimac
Apollo
