ODDEST EXHAUSTS

Clio RenaultSport 197 Cup

The Clio RS 197 came out back in 2006, just as Renault won the second of two F1 championships with Alonso. The tailpipes exited in the top of the diffuser, forcing the hot gasses out of the vanes and generating, well, next to no downforce.

Lamborghini Murciélago LP640

No messing. The Murciélago started life with two tailpipes, but when it was facelifted to LP640 spec, Lambo just fitted the Channel Tunnel to the back of the car and went for lunch. Not a bad noise, either.

AC Cobra

A real mad exhaust pioneer here. Deafen the occupants, burn their legs as they get in and out, and shoot unburnt fuel (or fire) out of the side of the car in traffic, if you’re not careful with your throttle blip. Absolutely lovely.

Lexus IS F

Lexus’s first true ‘fast car’ was the 5.0-litre V8-powered IS F. It breathed out through exhaust pipes with fake tips which, to be different, were diagonally stacked. Weird. Though not as bizarre as when it was copied, badly, by Ferrari for the California.

Koenigsegg Regera

Whatever Renault can do, erm, Koenigsegg can do better. See those slim oval pipes in the Regera’s underbelly? They’re also exhausts. They work as diffuser vanes too. What else would you expect from the extra-clever head of CvK?

Pagani Zonda

All Zondas have wonderfully ornate quadpipe-in-a-circle pipes, but the later versions – the Cinque, the Barchetta and the 760 RS – made it even sexier with blue-tinted titanium outlets. And perhaps the best noise made by any of these cars.

Porsche 918 Spyder

The hybrid 918’s vertical exhausts weren’t merely Porsche showboating. To keep the hot exhaust gubbins as far away as possible from the car’s temperaturesensitive batteries, the engineers decided to route the pipes upwards.

TVR Sagaris

The Sagaris really was bonkers, wasn’t it? The slashed bodywork, the transparent wing, the lack of any driver aids or safety features at all... and then there were the exhausts. Pointing sideways out of the car, for no reason other than because TVR thought it was funny.

McLaren-Mercedes SLR

You can rely on McLaren to take a piece of theatre (the side-exit exhaust) and make it geeky. They poke out of the car just ahead of the doors, because McLaren didn’t want to route the pipes all the way to the back, as that would add weight and ruin the rear’s aero.