Contents The US Home of the Super-Muscle Car 4 6 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 8 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 10 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat 12 Dodge Viper ACR 14 Falcon F7 16 Ford GT 18 Hennessey Venom GT 20 Shelby Super Snake 22 SSC Tuatara 24 Rossion Q1 26 VLF Force 1 V10 28 Other American Supercars 30 Historical American Supercars 31 Glossary and Index 32 Further Information Words highlighted in bold can be found in the glossary
THE US HOME OF THE SUPER-MUSCLE CAR The United States long straight roads are perfect for powerful cars with really big engines American car companies build muscle cars that are super-fast super-sporty and SUPER-powerful In 1963 Chevrolet released the Corvette Stingray It had a revolutionary fiberglass body and a 6997 cc V8 engine that ran on race fuel only Its overall height of 40 inches 102 cm gave the car its name it is a grand-touring GT car that is 40 inches high SUPER-MUSCLE CAR Many people feel the Ford GT40 below was the first American supercar It was based on a race car but about 30 of the cars Ford originally made were adapted for the road Weighing just a ton the GT40 was extremely lightweight but had a massive 4 7 liter V8 engine based on the one used in a Ford Mustang Main body panels made of reinforced fiberglass the carbon fiber of the time for lightness JUST WHAT IS A SUPERCAR There is no definition of exactly what makes a supercar But most of them share some of these features Expensive Made in tiny numbers High-performance in every area of their design Very fast and probably very light Tricky to drive Not that good for daily driving 4 What’s it like to drive We have never driven a car that attracted so much attention People would stop dead in their tracks drop their jaws and stare open-mouthed The driver feels completely safe at speeds upwards of 120 mph and it keeps on pulling long after most supercars have quit 1968 review of a GT40 in Car and Driver magazine
Price Tag 338 km h TOP SPEED 210 mph 0 60 MPH 5.4 seconds est MAX POWER 250 kW MAX TORQUE 456 Nm 335 bhp 6,000 rpm 336 lb ft 4,500 rpm Max RPM Engine not known 4727 cc V8 2,380 lbs 17 6 liters Fuel use per 60 miles est Weight Gearbox Drive Main body 5-speed manual rear wheels fiberglass steel steel Braking Frame steel roof 1964 Pontiac GTO a classic example of a muscle car GT40 TIMELINE 1963 1965 1966 9 Ford and Ferrari work together to produce a Ford GT race car but the deal falls apart and Ford decides to make a Ferrari-beater on its own The GT40 wins four Le Mans titles in a row Carroll Shelby see page 21 starts to help Ford turn the new car into a race winner Front-mid engine for balanced weight distribution Good luck These are rare cars and some extremely wealthy people dream of owning one This means the prices are staggeringly high in 2012 a 1968 GT40 was sold in an auction for 11 million
