How fast is fast enough?

Since the eighties, the race for the fastest production car in the world has reached new heights. In this second instalment, Francisco Mota takes us through the last four decades of the fastest 1/43 scale model cars.

Francisco Mota concludes his look at the fastest road cars.

Last month we looked at the early efforts from car manufacturers to be officially recognised as having the fastest production car in their back catalogues.We started with the 1949 Jaguar XK 120 and ended part one in 1982, with Lamborghini's Countach LP 500 S.The fight for the fastest production car record got even fiercer from then onwards.

However, the lead cars and manufacturers changed from famous and prestigious brands to some lesserknown outlets that used the record to increase their credibility. That was not an easy task for a small manufacturer like RUF, from Germany, as it still had to fulfill all the criteria applied to much larger brands. Just as a reminder, to be eligible for this record, a car has to follow some strict guidelines.

It has to be constructed for retail sale to consumers and for their personal use on public roads.The example used to measure top speed needs to be the same specification as cars available for commercial sale. It also needs to have a VIN number that identifies the manufacturer. It has to fulfill the homologation tests required by the law in one of the following markets: USA, EU or Japan. Finally, it has to be on sale in more than one country.

Now, imagine all the paper work needed for a small manufacturer like RUF, or even McLaren, in the early days of building streetcars. Obviously, all the speed measurement procedures were the same as followed by bigger companies - top speed is the average of two runs, one in each direction, to eliminate tail wind effect.The car can be tested without the rev-limiter on, but the homologated top speed will be the value achieved by the car when reaching the standard engine speed limit.

Measuring technology evolved with the passing of time, of course - analogue stopwatches giving way to digital chronometers and then to GPS signal and video footage. Somehow, this made it easier to ‘police’ and prove the veracity of a speed run.

RUF CHALLENGES THE GREATS

German Porsche tuning house, RUF, started servicing and restoring Porsche models in the sixties and its first complete car was launched in 1977. RUF would take delivery of plain white 911 unmarked chassis from Porsche and built cars incorporating several new parts. Under German law, this allowed RUF to have its own VIN number, starting with W09, whilst Porsche started with WP.

In 1983, the RUF BTR was tested by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport and reached 190 mph, beating the Countach by 8 mph.The BTR was built as a production run of 30 cars and featured a 3.4-litre turbocharged flat six, good for 369 bhp. Spark launched a resincast some years ago, painted a very discreet black, with black interior. The car was based on the 930 series 911 body, however it featured several differences, like a deeper front spoiler with a large radiator, enlarged wheel arches, much bigger wheels with RUF-spec rims, aerodynamic mirrors, wide rear wing and quad exhaust pipes. Spark took notice of all of this and made an excellent scale model.The model sits very low on its large wheels and there are RUF logos where Porsche shields would be on a standard 911. The rear wing might look like the standard issue from Porsche, but it’s not, having a much higher vertical ‘fence’ around the edges.

Maybe because of RUF’s record achievements, Porsche became interested in this matter and, three years later, had a go too.The weapon of choice was now the brand new 959, a 911 taken to the limit in every possible way.The twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre flat six delivered an official 444 bhp through a fourwheel drive system.This was the most sophisticated car Porsche had ever built, and the fastest road car also, reaching 198 mph in the hands of US magazine Road & Track testers. In total, 337 cars were made, including a batch of 29 special versions with 508 bhp that reached 211 mph when tested in 1998 by Auto Motor und Sport. However, this was not enough to be the fastest production car in the world anymore.

Minichamps modelled the standard 1986 Porsche 959 as a diecast several years ago, and it still looks great.The rounded shape with low waistline looks perfect, the slanted headlamps are at the perfect angle and all the front bumper air intakes are painted

black, as per the real car’s.The unique wing mirror shape is perfectly reproduced and there are two more air intakes ahead of the rear axle, and the wheel rims are very nicely modelled. Integrated rear wing looks very good and there are even more air scoops in the rear bumper’s corners, plus oval tailpipes.Windows are left open, letting us see inside and find integral seats, a detailed dash and all the features a 959 owner would have at his disposal.

Of course, RUF wouldn’t let go so easily. One year later, the company was back with a new car, this time based on the 964 generation 911 body. Officially named the RUF CTR, it would become known as the Yellow Bird. Its colour had something to do with it, the rest was due to the speed the Auto Motor und Sport testers reached at the famous Nardò speed ring, in southern Italy, in 1988.

The car was powered by a 3.4-litre twinturbocharged flat six delivering an impressive

463 bhp and all sorts of body improvements had been made to ensure it would be fast - RUF engineers changed to a narrow body to lower drag, the same for the rear wing and front spoiler. Even roof gutters were removed to get a cleaner shape. After a few laps, the measurement machines reached a veredict: 213 mph.A production run of 29 CTRs was made.

Spark wouldn’t miss this one for the world, probably one of the most sought after RUF replicas it has ever modelled, particularly among German scale model collectors.We’ve photographer the BTR next to the CTR, and the differences are obvious.The shape is completely different, with a narrower body and rounded front spoiler, with extra rectangular fog lights and indicators in a different position.

Wheel rims are similar in design, but tucked inside the body. Over the rear wheels we can find NACA ducts with black mesh, the rear wing is slimmer and the rear lights positioned at an angle, just like the donor 964.The German registration plate replicates the car that broke the speed record.As in the BTR, the CTR also features a nicely detailed interior, however, being painted black, does not make it easy to enjoy in full.

HALF A DECADE LATER

So fast was the Yellow Bird that it took several years for another manufacturer to break its record.This time, the trophy came back to Britain, for the first time since the late fifties, when Aston Martin held it for a while.

From 1983, the new fastest production car in the world was now the McLaren F1.There’s not much that needs to be said about this glorious hypercar. Carbon-fibre monocoque, mid-mounted 6.0-litre V12 engine sourced from BMW and good for 618 bhp - this was the most incredible car on the planet in the early nineties.There is a story behind the top speed test.American magazine Car & Driver reached 221 mph in standard specification, at the rev-limiter. McLaren raised the rev-limiter to 8300 rpm in the XP5 prototype and went even further, reaching an average speed of 240.3 mph, but this was not the standard specification.

To cover the entire story we have a trio of McLaren F1 scale models.The yellow and dark blue ones are standard street versions made as diecasts by Minichamps, in period.They look very good, from the low nose and faired in headlamps, to the big windscreen, that affords a great view inside the cockpit, with that peculiar central driving position. To the rear, the engine cover is extensively detailed, with several air scoops, quad rear lamps and exhausts look like the real car’s - even the asymmetric tyres are perfectly reproduced.The dark grey car

is the XP5 prototype, a resincast model by TSM Model.The body is covered in carbon-fibre effect decals and looks astonishing for it.The shape and details look even more crisp and real than on the Minichamps diecast, as expected.The front bumper has a slightly different design, including a pair of extra spotlights, while the rear grille has a single lamp each side.There are less air scoops in the engine bonnet and rear bumper, something that would be added later for the production version. Even the tyre tread is of a different pattern.

AND THEN CAME BUGATTI

McLaren would hold the record for an unexpected twelve years, but the party would be crashed by another monument to high speed, Bugatti’s Veyron. Bought by theVW group, the French company was given the mission to build the most powerful and fastest production car in the world. Ferdinand Piëch, the group’s CEO, was to blame for this idea, which took several years to accomplish and gave the engineering team in charge many headaches, resulting in another carbon-fibre car, but this time no lightweight machine like the McLaren F1.

The Veyron EB 16.4 had a 6.0-litre W16 quad-turbocharged engine, capable of 987 bhp, and four-wheel drive. It reached 253.81 mph in front of German inspection officials on 19 April 2005.

We took a pair of Minichamps diecasts just to show how good they are in modelling this incredible car.The coupe is painted solid black, for the central part and metallic dark grey, for the wings.The convertible, or Grand Sport as it was called, has the same paint scheme with different colours - metallic graphite, for the middle parts and metallic grey violet, for the wings.

Even in 1/43 scale, the Veyron looks wide and big, with that classic horseshoe shaped front grille grabbing your attention at the front. Side air scoops for the engine compartment are hidden just after both doors, under big fuel caps.Wheels are huge and perfectly reproduced by Minichamps, as are very low profile tyres.The rear view is even more dramatic, with those tubular silver air scoops coming from the roof to the engine.This one lacks any kind of bonnet, so it can easily be admired. Underfloor diffuser looks as big as the real car’s and there’s that square exhaust in the middle.The convertible version gives a great cockpit view, full of details, starting with the steering and instrument panel, plus the central console shaped as another horseshoe. Even if you may not love the real car’s shape, you have to admit Minichamps did a great job.

THE ‘OTHER’ SHELBY

Back to 1998 and to Jerod Shelby, no relation to the famous Carroll Shelby. Jerod decided he wanted to build the fastest hypercar in the world and he did it.The Ultimate Aero was a mid-engine two-seater in the traditional style. It started with a Chevrolet Corvette 6.2-litre pushrodV8, fitted with a supercharger, but soon it was modified to a pair of turbochargers, reaching 1287 bhp.The

company, formerly known as Shelby Super Cars Inc, was renamed SSC North America, so it would not be confused with Carroll Shelby International. It was based in West Richland,Washington.The Ultimate Aero hypercar was ready in late 2006 and the following year, the Guinness Book of Records officials were asked to inspect and verify the speed record attempt.The Ultimate Aero reached 256.14 mph, beating theVeyron. Only five cars were ever built, but were registered as road cars and were highly regarded by their owners.

This was one of those scale models we were not confident that we’d be able to track down. However, that well-known auction site came to the rescue once more, producing a list of 1/43 resincasts in response to the search for “SSC Ultimate Aero”.This high-end scale model comes as a SCC product - no model maker is identified either in the box, plinth or on the baseplate.

It looks very accurate, painted silver with black areas and featuring some sponsors, as it replicates the car used for the record attempt. Great wheels, with disc brakes visible and a nicely detailed rear section, with six lamps, diffuser and double oval tailpipes.The cabin is painted dark red, reproducing the leather finish of the real car’s.This is another situation where the original car is not very beautiful, so the scale model can only go so far as to impress the collector.

Bugatti hadn’t finished, though, and was preparing a revampedVeyron 16.4 Super Sport. Power was up to 1183 bhp and a total of 30 examples were built. Five of these were called the Super Sport Record Edition, and had the electronic limiter turned off. In this specification, Pierre-Henri Raphanel drove the unlimited car under Guinness World Records inspection and verification, and reached an average speed of 267.856 mph. Interesting to know that, when the five World Record Edition cars were delivered to customers, they were electronically limited to 258 mph.

Minichamps modelled theVeyron 16.4 Super Sport as a diecast and João photographed it next to the other two Bugatti, so we can spot the differences, and there are many.The bodywork is finished in a carbon-fibre thread that looks quite nice and gives a strong contrast with the orange sections.The car seems similar to the coupe, however there are major changes, starting with those bigger air entrances in the front bumper.Wheel rims are crossed spoke affairs.The biggest difference comes in the engine cover area. Orange painted NACA ducts replace the pair of silver tubes on the roof and the engine gets a proper bonnet, to improve aerodynamics.The diffuser, under the quad rear lamps, has a different shape and two narrow pipes replace the central exhaust.There are also changes inside the cabin, mainly in the colours applied and the seat shape. Great work by Minichamps.

A CALL FROM SWEDEN

Seven years passed before someone could challenge Bugatti for the record.This time, the rivalry came from Sweden and Christian von Koenigsegg, founder and owner of Koenigsegg Automotive AB. He started the company in 1994, with the aim of producing the fastest hypercar in the world and it took eight years to achieve.The CC8S was the first, however it took several iterations and successive models until he got the Agera RS ready in 2017. This was a carbon-fibre car with its own developed 5.0-litre twin-turbochargedV8 engine, capable of 1341 bhp, in a limited run of 11 cars, out of the 25 Agera RS made. Factory driver, Nicklas Lilja, drove it under independent Racelogic verification and reached 277. 87 mph.

This was another scale model that we had few hopes of finding, however, it turned out that Chinese high-end modeller, Fronti Art, actually modelled the AgeraRS, and in a very high standard indeed.The resincast model comes attached to a leather-finished plinth, with no visible screws, so we could not take it off for photography. It really doesn’t matter, because one can see how good this scale model is. Paint finish joins a dark metallic red hue with carbon-fibre effect decals and looks as shiny as the real car. Koenigsegg’s unique shape is perfectly reproduced and then we have all the details to enjoy.The front end has a wide and deep splitter, plus a pair of winglets in each corner.The wing mirrors are an absolute masterpiece, both in terms of shape or finish.The rear wing is as thin as it should be and the wheel rims look fabulous.The roof features a glass section from where we can see the excellent cockpit, with its detailed steering, sports seats and complete dash. It is one of the best-looking scale models in this collection.

The latest episode in the fastest production car of the world saga has been staged recently and the main characters were again from SSC North America. Production of the new Tuatara hypercar started in 2019, limited to 100 examples. It features a carbonfibre monocoque and a unique 5.9-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, with 1750 bhp, red-lining at 8800 rpm. The ingredients were there to beat the speed record again, so SSC tried in October 2020, on a sevenmile stretch of closed road near Las Vegas, where the Koenigsegg had set its record. British racing driver, Oliver Webb, was at the wheel and SSC claimed a two-way average of 316.11 mph, beating Koenigsegg by 46.6 mph. But this attempt was disputed by various independent analysts on the basis that GPS data and on-board footage didn’t match.

Jerod Shelby admitted there was something wrong and tried a second time, two months later, but the car was unable to exceed 252 mph, due to mechanical troubles. A third attempt was undertaken in January 2021, and the car reached a two-way average of 282.9 mph on a 2.3 mile runway in Florida.This time, several independent bodies, with multiple satellite tracking systems, verified the run.

It is considerably slower than the first attempt, but is still the new record for the fastest production car in the world. SSC North America expects to try again later this year to break the 300 mph barrier.

Fronti Art released the last model in this collection and it follows in the same lines as the Koenigsegg. It is another high-end resincast, on a closed leather plinth.The model reproduces the real car fabulously - the canopy-style glass area is exquisite, allowing a glance inside a fully detailed cabin.Wheel rims are just perfect, with disc brakes and callipers easy to spot.The small rear winglets are a nice touch and the rear section features a mesh grille to extract heat from the engine compartment.

This open collection will surely be updated in the coming months and years, probably with electric hypercars playing a role. So watch out for the announcement of a new record for the fastest production car in the world, so you can start hunting for another scale model. DC

SSC claimed a two-way average of 316.11 mph, beating Koenigseggcby 46.6 mph. But this attempt was disputed by various independent analysts on the basis that GPS data and onboard footage didn’t match.

Photos: João Carlos Oliveira ▲ From the left - three of the fastest production cars in the world: 2007 SSC Ultimate Aero (SSC), 1987 RUF CTR Yellow Bird (Spark) and 1993 McLaren F1 (Minichamps).

▲ RUF held the trophy twice, first with the 1983 BTR (black) and four years later with the CTR Yellow Bird, both by Spark.

▲ Rear wing was much slimmer and the body narrower on the Yellow Bird, to reduce drag.

▲ NACA duct air intake, with a nice black mesh to protect from road debris.

▲ Yellow Bird was based on the 964-series Porsche 911 - the rear gives it away.

▲ The 1983 BTR featured a deep spoiler and enlarged wheel arches.

▲ Longer overhangs were needed to accommodate the mechanical parts of the 959. Porsche took the 911 concept to the limit with the 959, from 1986. Minichamps made an excellent diecast to replicate this iconic car.

▲ Three McLaren F1s. From the left, the resincast TSM Model XP5 prototype, followed by a pair of road versions, both diecasts by Minichamps.

▲ There were side air scoops to feed the engine and twin-turbos with cooling air.

▲ The rear wing perfectly integrates into the shape of the car.

Bugatti's Veyron EB 16.4 held the title of fastest production car twice. Initially with the standard car (first two models from the left), the second time with the special Super Sport version, on the far right. All by Minichamps.

▲ Carbon fibre and orange Veyron Super Sport (right) features a different engine cover to the standard model, here photographed in both coupé and Grand Sport convertible versions. From above, we can appreciate the detailing to the cabin in the Grand Sport convertible version.

▲ Engine cover on the production version of McLaren’s F1, modelled by Minichamps.

▲ A pair of McLaren F1s compare the XP5 prototype (left) with the final road car.

This is the SSC Ultimate Aero, as used by the American company to take the fastest production car in the world record, in 2007. This resincast was sold by SSC and has no reference to any model maker.

▲ The model features some technical sponsors that helped the in reaching the world record.

▲ Wide stance for the Ultimate Aero, with no less than six tail lights.

▲ The wing mirrors on this scale model of Koenigsegg's Agera RS are a masterpiece.

▲ The two colour paint job on the Agera RS is perfectly reproduced by Fronti Art.

SSC Tuatara is officially the fastest production car in the world, right now. Fronti Art reproduced it as a high-end resincast.

Koenigsegg Agera RS was the fastest in 2017. Fronti Art made this high-end resincast.

▲ Tuatara features a much more sophisticated design, compared with the old Ultimate Aero.

▲ Rear winglets and diffuser are enough to keep the Tuatara on the ground at top speed.

▲ Rear wing is modelled as thin as it could possibly be in 1/43 scale.