Why there are suddenly more sports cars

Menus

• Why there are suddenly more sports cars
• Is a diesel engine allowed?
• The moon racer follows the rainbow Porsche
• Why does the VW Scirocco belong to the middle class?
• The new Ford GT 40 has more than 600 hp
• Mainly Maserati
• Lambo with all-steel body from Bertone
• The definition of the supercar
• This is how robust the new Ferrari high-flyer looks

Why there are suddenly more sports cars

Crisp, compact and quattro: this new car is responsible for the upswing in the sports car segment

Source: Audi

Is that already the spring fever? The Federal Motor Transport Authority reports a significant increase in sports car registrations for March. But only one model is responsible for this.

W.hat is actually a sports car? You can ask this question if you look at the latest report from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA): The authority recorded a 13.5 percent increase in registrations when it compares March 2015 with the same month of the previous year.

The sports car category is not the only one that is developing so well. SUVs cannot be stopped by anyone or anything and were sold 17.5 percent better in March than a year ago. The compact class is also at the sports car level with growth of 13.4 percent.

In contrast to the other categories, it is possible to identify exactly which model is responsible for the growth in sports cars: the Audi TT. It only came onto the market in September 2014, so it’s no wonder that it sold better in March 2015 than its expiring predecessor did in March 2014.

Is a diesel engine allowed?

The only question is: sports car or not? So: real sports car or not? This status is supported by the fact that the TT looks like a sports car, has a very crisp set-up and is powerfully motorized. Nothing goes below 230 hp, the top model has 310 horsepower. On the other hand, if the TT is not called “quattro”, it has front-wheel drive. And then there is the TT TDI, a diesel. Although it has been given the nickname "ultra" and has a power of 184 hp, it is a diesel.

Racing cars with diesel engines have been around for a long time (they’re called Audi and always win at Le Mans), but anyone who thinks that a sports car needs a greedily high-revving machine should actually reject a diesel engine, especially a large-scale production engine from VW.

The moon racer follows the rainbow Porsche

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No Porsche has been more colorful than the rainbow Porsche that Rainer Buchmann refined in the 1970s.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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The car even made a big appearance in the 1980 film "Car-napping – ordered – stolen – delivered". One of the stolen cars was a rainbow Porsche.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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The car with the registration number F-TT 1 remained a one-off. The rainbow stripes were first glued on so …

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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… the car was able to advertise the color quality of the Polaroid cameras at the Photokina trade fair in Cologne in 1976. Even the then Federal President Walter S…cheel took a seat in the brightly colored sports car.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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But Rainer Buchmann not only refined cars, he also invented numerous things. For example the multifunction steering wheel.

Source: Thomas Geiger

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After the designer had been quiet for many years, he has now spiced up a new, old 911 for a customer.

Source: Thomas Geiger

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However, he seems to have said goodbye to the splendor of the rainbow Porsche. The 911 Targa "Moonracer" has silver linings.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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According to Buchmann, this car is the counterpart to the rainbow Porsche.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

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The value of the sports car with the wide fenders should be around 350,000 euros.

Source: BB-Frankfurt.com

If you did that at KBA, the sports car segment in Germany would be much weaker. It would not have been 5297 new sports cars registered in March, but only 4214 – the TT thus achieved a market share of 20.4 percent with its 1,083 new registrations and thus narrowly beat the all-time leader Porsche 911 (1,041 new registrations, 19.7 percent market share).

With the Porsche, there is certainly no discussion about the sports car status – even the basic model is beyond all doubt here, and all other variants are even sharper.

Why does the VW Scirocco belong to the middle class?

But if you are already discussing the Audi TT, then you have to question the suitability of a Hyundai Veloster for a sports car. The KBA leads the small Korean with 27 new registrations in March (0.5 percent market share), but ignores the much sportier VW Scirocco.

You have to rummage through the overview of mid-range cars to finally find the Scirocco, neatly sorted behind the Passat. Incidentally, with a March result of 313 new registrations (plus 41 percent).

The new Ford GT 40 has more than 600 hp

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The rebirth of an icon: Ford presented the new edition of the GT 40 in Detroit.

Source: Ford

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Motorsport fans should get wet eyes with the name alone. After all, from 1966 the Ford GT 40 won the Le Mans 24 Hours for four years in a row.

Source: Ford

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The new Ford GT 40 is slated to hit the market in 2016, and it’s instantly recognizable as a GT. The new edition crouches wide and flat on its 20-inch monitors.

Source: Ford

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When it comes to motorization, some motorsport fans are likely to be disappointed. Because instead of a V8, the new GT 40 is only powered by a V6 EcoBoost engine …

Source: Ford

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… which the car has on board in the middle. The biturbo with a displacement of 3.5 liters should, however, produce over 600 hp.

Source: Ford

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Too many details are not yet known. However, it can be assumed that the new GT 40 will be very light. For example, there is the monocoque with integrated Sitzsc…shells made of carbon.

Source: Ford

Further glimpses of the KBA list reveal that an Aston Martin Rapide (four-door coupe limousine) is listed as a sports car, but not a Porsche Panamera and neither is a Mercedes CLS. Perhaps you can understand a bit, the Porsche is possibly too massive and the Mercedes too much Mercedes to pass as a sports car.

But why then does the E-Class Coupe count? My God, you can also get that as a 220 diesel, then this car has nothing like a sports car. The BMW 4 Series and Audi A5 could just as easily be elevated to sports cars, but they can be found where they belong: in the middle class.

Mainly Maserati

Incidentally, the Maserati Ghibli should also be there, a notchback sedan of the purest water. But no, the KBA lists the car that competes with the BMW 5 Series and Audi A6 and not with the Porsche 911, loyally and well-behaved as a sports car. Maybe because the name just sounds like a sports car.

At Maserati, they haven’t built a real, i.e. somewhat uncompromising, sports car for a long time. And as long as they belong to Ferrari, they won’t do that anymore.

Lambo with all-steel body from Bertone

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The Urraco was shown for the first time as a prototype at the Turin Salon in 1970 and went into series production in 1973.

Source: RM Auctions

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The name goes back to a Spanish breed of fighting bull.

Source: RM Auctions

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It was supposed to compete with the Ferrari Dino 246 and the Porsche 911.

Source: RM Auctions

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The body of the Urraco is made of steel.

Source: RM Auctions

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Unlike the previous models, which were powered by twelve-cylinder engines, Lamborghini used an eight-cylinder engine with a cylinder angle of …90 degrees.

Source: RM Auctions

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The Urraco is a so-called 2 + 2 seater with two emergency seats behind the driver and front passenger seats.

Source: RM Auctions

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The design comes from Bertone, who drew the 2 + 2-seater Ferrari 308 GT4.

Source: RM Auctions

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The mid-engine initially developed 220 hp.

Source: RM Auctions

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Later there was a version with 265 hp.

Source: RM Auctions

At the end there is the realization that it is not that easy to define. Maybe if you agreed on the following ingredients: two doors, not four. Petrol, not diesel. 200 hp and more, not 150 and less. Rear-wheel drive, not front-wheel drive. If possible, two seats, not four – but what do you do with the Porsche 911??

And even if you ignored the number of seats: an Audi TT would still be a borderline case. The diesel TT would not be a sports car, the gasoline engine would be. So can the entire TT be called a sports car? Or is he left out because of the Diesel Fall?

The definition of the supercar

It is easier in the harder category, Ferrari, Lamborghini and above. They are commonly referred to as super sports cars, even if that is not a KBA category. Super sports car usually means: a lot of power, no diesel engine far and wide.

Lamborghini boss Stephan Winkelmann once defined the super sports car category as follows: two doors, more than 400 hp, more than 100,000 euros.

This is how robust the new Ferrari high-flyer looks

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The California T convertible showed the way: Ferrari is now also using turbo charging for the successor to its mid-engine sports car, the 458 Italia.

Source: Ferrari

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Thanks to the forced ventilation, the V8 of the new 488 GTB has an output of 670 hp with a relatively small displacement. The super sports car will celebrate its premiere at the Geneva Motor Show (March 5th to 15th).

Source: Ferrari

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Outwardly, apart from the additional air inlet ducts on the rear fenders, the new one is similar to the 458, but behind both of the seats comes the one from the front-engined convertible…3.9-liter biturbo gasoline engine was used.

Source: Ferrari

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Please get in: The sprint to 100 km / h will take just 3 seconds instead of 3.4 seconds, and the 200 mark should be reached another 5.3 seconds later. The top speed is… indicated with beyond 330 km / h.

Source: Ferrari

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The 488 GTB is also a response to new competition in the person of the McLaren 650S, which has a very similar engine concept with small displacement and two turbochargers …650 PS but remains just below the maximum performance of the Ferrari.

Source: Ferrari

Then there are no more discussions – but hardly any cars either. According to Winkelmann’s definition, only the following models belong in the circle of super sports cars: all Aston Martin except Rapide, Audi R8, all Ferrari, the more powerful models of the Jaguar F-Type, all Lamborghini and all McLaren (which the KBA does not even list among the sports cars, but hidden under "Other"). This is followed by the Mercedes-AMG GT, the most powerful models from the Mercedes SL, Nissan GT-R and the more powerful models from the Porsche 911.

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