Musings of Ryder Step

1 through 3, no cars that really matter, not relevant to this article.

4 Cylinders - BMW E30 M3 - A homologation car for group A touring car racing. This car has more racing pedigree in one front control arm than most cars have all together. I love BMWs and this is my favorite BMW of all time. One of my friends owns one, and someone once asked him where he got his body kit from... he responded "ummm, from BMW". The engine has individual throttle bodies and safely revved to 7800 RPMs (Insanely high for 1986 engine technology). It's a car that is meant to be driven hard.


5 Cylinders - Audi Quattro - There is almost no competition in this category, the Audi Quattro wins hands down. This is another car with lots of racing pedegree. The stock engine made 200 to 220 hp while rally versions made 450+ hp. The Audi Quattro is one of the most successful rallying cars of all time, and it is no wonder why it is pretty much the only choice in the 5 cylinder catagory.


6 Cylinders - Acura NSX - Here is a tough one. LOTS of competition. The car that I drive currently has 6 cylinders (BMW E30 325ix), and it even surprises me that I didn't pick a BMW for this category since their inline 6 engines have been legendary in the past 30 years. Anyways, I wanted my list to include a Japanese car. The funny part is that the NSX is very European compared to most sports cars from japan. The Skyline and it's RB26 engine almost made the cut here, but I like the elegance and affordability of the NSX. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the NSX in the picture is going down the 'corkscrew' at Laguna Seca)

7 -- I don't think any cars have this cyl count

8 Cylinders - C6 Corvette Z06 - The everyman's supercar. One of my friends already questioned my choice of the Z06 over the ZR1, but I'll stick to my guns. The Z06 is a car made to be on the track. The ZR1 is a little too plush and soft for me. The NA 7.0L engine, will do 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, which is plenty fast. I'd love to take a Z06 around a track a few... hundred times. Also the after-market is virtually unlimited for the C6 Z06 because of it's high production numbers, which is something you can't really say for the ZR1. You could probably build a ZR1 killer for 1/2 the of the price difference between a Z06 and a ZR1 (which is $30,000)

9 -- Same as 7

10 Cylinders - Porsche Carrera GT - I consider this the supercar that was designed for me: A traditional 6 speed manual transmission, the sound of the V10, it's built as a convertible (like the Mazda Miata, which was a consideration in my 4 cyl category), and oh so sexy. The reason I say it was built as a convertable, is that some cars like the Lambo Gallardo Spyder is a standard Gallardo with the roof chopped off which weakens the structual integrity, and chassis enhancments are required.

In general, I like the 911 styling, but not as much as the GT, it's drop dead gorgeous. The brakes on this car set a new standard for supercars too. It had carbon ceramic rotors and six piston monoblock calipers, the rotors are 1.3 inches thick, but still weigh half of normal cast iron rotors, this reduces rotating mass and unsprung weight. It is also the first use of a dual plate carbon ceramic clutch in a production car. It is 6.65" in diameter which makes it lighter, and allows the engine to rev easier. Another advantage of the clutch is that it's service life is far longer than other supercars, which can go through a standard clutch in 5 to 10 thousand miles.

11 Cyl - I thought of picking a 12 cyl car with 1 dead cyl, but that changes the article a lot :)

12 Cylinders - McLaren F1 - I got to use another BMW engine. The list has now come full circle. The McLaren F1 was the supercar to end all supercars. The basic design of the car was lots of power, awesome handling, as little weight as humanly possible. Today the Bugatti Veryon would be the car to compare to the F1, but in terms of design characteristics they are completely different cars. The F1 is light, Veryron is heavy, F1 is naturally aspirated, Veryron is force induction, F1 is small, Veyron is huge, F1 is hardcore, Veryron is plush, F1 uses a Manual Transmission, Veryron uses Auto, F1 is RWD, Veryon is AWD... and the list goes on and on. It's strange how in 13 years the definition of the ultimate supercar can change so much. I think it goes to show you that the type of cars that I desire are becoming harder and harder to find.

As I look back through my list, almost every car has the same characteristics. A high performance, RWD, manual transmission car (aside from the Audi Quattro which is AWD). Recently I have heard a lot of news about some of my favorite cars being removed from companies lineups; the Pontiac G8, and the Honda S200 come to mind. What disappoints me even more is that the only car that I can even remotely get excited about in Honda's lineup is the S2000, and they have discontinued it. What were they thinking exactly? The purpose of high performance cars isn't necessarily to make you money, but is to get people talking about your company. If you don't have anything that is exciting, you're going to lose credibility. Look at Ford, while the Ford GT was around everyone was talking about it. It gets the press excited, and gets the general public excited. GM has done the same with the ZR1. Start blowing people's minds, start at the top. If you're making an amazing halo car ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_vehicle ), people will talk about it, and it will increase your brand loyalty and recognition, if you don't people are going to look at you the same way they look at Kia or Daewoo, and I think those two brands speak for themselves.