Microsoft Forza Motorsport 2 User Manual

Lim ite d C oLL eCt or’ s e dit ion

http://www.replacementdocs.com

Lim ite d C oLL eCt or’ s e dit ion

0207 Part No. X12-87636-01

TAB LE OF C ONT EN TS

Welcome ........................................................................ 2

The Vision

An Interview with Lead Designer Dan Greenawalt ....................................3

Car Manufacturers ........................................................ 18

The Art

An Interview with Art Director John Wendl ............................................71

A Sampling from the Stable .......................................... 80

The Sounds

An Interview with Audio Lead Greg Shaw ............................................108

Real-World Tracks ......................................................... 114

Racing School .............................................................

Turn Types ...........................................................................................129

Basic Turn Strategy ..............................................................................132

Braking and Cornering .........................................................................133

Managing Weight Transfer ..................................................................138

Coping with Understeer and Oversteer.................................................142

Professional Insights

An Interview with Racing Driver Gunnar Jeannette ...............................148

Industry Credits .......................................................... 152

Team Credits ............................................................... 155

126

Gotham Racing, Turn 10, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, the Xbox logos, and/or other Microsoft products referenced herein are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

ForzaMotorsport.net

.

Welcome



WE LCO ME

TH E V IS ION

Welcome to the Forza Motorsport™ 2 Limited Collector’s Edition, your passport to the world of automobile racing, both simulated and real.

Forza Motorsport 2 players have two things in common: a passion for cars and racing, and a consuming desire to win, and this book is designed to feed that passion. In its pages you will:

Get a behind-the-scenes look at what went into the making of the most detailed and immersive racing simulation to date.

Find a wealth of information on the cars and tracks you can experience in Forza Motorsport 2.

Learn about racing techniques that can fuel your success in Forza Motorsport 2.

An Interview with Lead Designer Dan Greenawalt

Lead Designer Dan Greenawalt is the keeper of the vision for the Forza Motorsport franchise. In this revealing interview Dan takes you behind the scenes for a better understanding of that vision, and of the physics that underlie this extraordinarily realistic auto racing simulation. From the tire physics that determine whether your car will stay stuck to the road or spin off the course, to his views on the automotive playground he is creating and constantly improving, to his emphasis on the joy of driving and his plans for the future of Forza Motorsport, this interview provides an intriguing look into the world behind the game.

“I envision Forza

Motorsport as the

place where car lovers can gather to talk and argue about cars they like and racing they’re

interested in. I want to bring people with

this passion together

regardless of their

other differences.

My goal for the

Forza Motorsport

franchise is broad

and inclusive.”

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Q: What are the physics behind the Forza Motorsport 2

racing simulator? What are the components of real-world racing you had to re-create?

We spent a ton of time working on the physics. We used a lot of sources, but especially Milliken & Milliken’s Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, a very reputable source on vehicle dynamics and tuning, with the graphs and the math as well as general theory. It’s used a lot, not only for racing sims, but also by racing engineers. It was the single biggest inﬂuence for us; it became the way we spoke.

We made a technology demo with ﬁve meticulously researched cars to prove our physics engine. In many ways we were just trying to see what we could do. We poured six months into that demo, and the results were really incredible. There were no licensing agreements at this point, so we had cars rolling over, taking heinous damage, shedding parts—but you’ve got to make some allowances when you have agreements with ﬁfty different premium car manufacturers. It was an all-star team of guys who had all been involved in one racing franchise or another—Rally Sport Challenge, Project Gotham Racing®, or Midtown Madness®. The physics was where we were at our purest, and I haven’t seen many simulations that match the accuracy of Forza Motorsport.

Q: So you slowly moved away from an entirely purist

approach to an emphasis more on game design and gameplay.

I love physics, and I like working on that aspect of the game in particular. While we were working on the demo, I was also working on the vision and the “pillars”—the features—that support that vision. I had to ﬂesh it out from the top down. We all threw features at the wall to see what would stick. I worked to pull it all together and create a cohesive game design. We repeated this

process for six months to get our vision honed. Not just the vision for Forza Motorsport version one, but for the franchise. This helped me get a better vision of where I want us to be in six or ten years—the game I want Forza Motorsport version six to be. This sort of forethought allows us to start planting little road signs in the game, minor features we could develop over time into major ones.

Q: It sounds like your vision of the user experience shifted

over time to become an online multiplayer experience, much more involved in version two.

In many ways, Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsport are brother and sister products. We share technology; but more than anything, we share a charter to keep pushing the bounds of online play. Microsoft in general and our teams in particular believe that online play is where gaming is at today. We also believe that the most inﬂuential innovations in this genre are going to come in the online space. Our goal every time Project Gotham Racing or Forza Motorsport ships a new version is to make sure it just keeps getting better and better. We pushed the boundaries in the original Forza Motorsport; no game had so many scoreboards. We write to multiple scoreboards at once; no one had ever done that, and we had a seamless online to single-player Career mode. At the Xbox 360™ launch, Project Gotham Racing 3 (PGR® 3) came out with even more fantastic online features, like Spectator mode. Now we’re pushing the boundaries again with our Auction House, tournaments, and other new features. I really want to get us to a new way of experiencing racing games in the future, so we’ve got to keep making forward progress.

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Q: Tire simulation is a big part of the physics model, and

people don’t usually focus on that in racing games. What did you learn in trying to develop a realistic tire formula?

We tried different tire models after our “green light” demo. We kept tuning the physics model, ﬁnding bugs, and working on it. New cars exposed new issues. We had two basic ways of expressing the tire physics. The traditional way that simulation racing games do this is Pacejka’s Magic Formula—no joke, that’s what it’s called. It’s got a whole slew of variables you tune and input, and it spits out friction values. But the cars didn’t control the way we wanted and the results didn’t mesh with a lot of our real-world data. I’ve had enough experience tuning with that formula that I can feel it at work when I play some racing simulations. It’s not quite right, but it’s close. Toyo put me in contact with their tire engineers. It was hard to understand the data they were giving me, and I had to ask a lot of questions, but they slowly brought me up to speed to where I could understand what their graphs and data were saying. Pacejka’s formula is close, and really good in most situations, but not all, and not for transitions between states. It just doesn’t feel right.

So we went to what could best be described as a table system. We have a table that linearly interpolates between the curves we have for different weights, tire pressures, and other variables. It’s a very big, computationally difﬁcult system. That’s what was nice about Pacejka’s formula when we were using it—it’s very lightweight, where our approach is extremely heavy. That’s why in Forza Motorsport, drifting, for example, is very real and very responsive. Drifting is all about weight transition, and you can control it with your throttle in Forza Motorsport because in our model the movement between those curves is very smooth and precise. We spent a lot of time getting it right. The tire model is amazing, but there are always things to improve. There are things in our physics model I’ll want to improve forever.

Forza Motorsport 2 is a simulation, not a complete emulation—no one has ever done that, no matter what they claim. We can’t completely emulate tire technology until the scientists learn it, and they haven’t learned it all yet. Tires

do some funky things. They’ve got load sensitivity, which involves nonNewtonian physics. A tire with a coefﬁcient of friction of 1.0 at 500 kg actually develops a smaller coefﬁcient of friction at 1,000 kg. With 500 kg on the tire, it might require a value of 500 kg force to push it. But with a 1,000 kg load, it might require a value of 800 kg force to push it. Understanding this is huge in understanding how tires function. It’s a big deal to simulate this, though few people know about it. When I told the tire engineers, they were amazed we were doing it.

Q: Please elaborate on why tires are so important in

racing. Why do most people give more thought to parts upgrades than to tires?

People tend to take their tires for granted; you see the tires on your car every day. But turbochargers and computer-controlled fuel injection systems are like alien technology to many folks—they’re high tech and people don’t see them every day. People think they understand everything about tires, and unfortunately tires are the part of the car they usually understand least.

Tire compounds are really crazy. We were at an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) race in Portland, Oregon, under very hot conditions, and saw how tires have a huge impact on racing. The science behind tire technology is always changing. We can get amazing performance out of tires, and the tires of today are much better than tires even just ﬁve years ago. That extreme rate of rapid iteration doesn’t happen with turbos or many other engine technologies.

Your car talks to the road through four little tire contact patches, and it’s how you manage those patches that makes everything work. After the ALMS race the manager of the winning team said the only reasons they won were their drivers and their tires, that both really came through in the heat.

The tires have many layers, all of which are meant to react to heat, torque, and force in various ways. If they do what they’re supposed to do, they create the

The Vision

Th e V is ion



necessary coefﬁcient of friction. When you start twisting that contact patch the tire winds up like a spring and gives you the slip angle required to hit peak friction. Doing that is a very complex process. It’s interesting that different tire compounds, like a Y-rated tire, or a DOT-spec tire, or a racing tire, have very different characteristics. You look at them—they’re just some rubber on a rim. It’s not just the tread that gives tires their characteristics. Tread quality is essential, but it mostly comes down to the composition and construction of the tire. How sticky it is, how it reacts to heat, how the sidewalls ﬂex, all make a huge difference.

Q: Is there ever a reason not to use sticky tires?

As someone who tracks his car, I can tell you that sticky is more expensive to buy and that you’re going to go through them faster because they’re softer, so you have to buy more of them. They also generally react badly to high heat. In that hot ALMS race, most teams were running on their hardest-compound tires. Because of the heat, those hard tires were getting soft and losing rubber, leaving “marbles” all over the track. On a cool day you would go with a softer compound and might only have to pit, say, once an hour. On a hot day you’d go with your hardest compound, and might also have to pit at the same rate. If you had stuck with the soft tires on that hot day, you might have had to pit twice as often. Also, on a hot day the softer tires might blister and fail. In Forza Motorsport, tire pressure increases as the tires heat up. This changes the contact patches and tire friction, and affects your handling.

Q: What is the process of tuning more than 300 cars to

make them feel right?

We use roughly 9,000 individual variables just to deﬁne the physics for a single car—not including the tires, but for the variables that deﬁne the car and its upgrade parts (from spring rates, damping bump and rebound, to weight, aerodynamics, and so on). Even race cars that can’t be upgraded involve 5,000 numeric values to deﬁne each car.

It all started when we were ﬁguring out and iterating on the physics, and I was trying to determine whether there were patterns. We were reading Milliken & Milliken as well as other vehicle dynamics books and trying to identify how the cars relate to each other. Basically, we were developing a math model for tuning the cars. The hardest thing is, you can’t ﬁnd, for example, spring rate data for all 300 cars. You’re lucky if you can get it for 20% of them, from the manufacturers and from research. Sometimes you can get that kind of data on fan Web sites, which can be freaky that way. Sometimes we contacted the spring manufacturers, not the car manufacturers. The manufacturers we contacted were based on the continuum of all of the cars, so we could get a really even spread of data on low-end cars to high-end cars to race cars, ﬁnding out about progressive springs versus linear springs, and so on.

Then we looked at ride height, the weight of the car, and what we call the “goodness rating,” from reading reviews and learning a lot about each car. We ranked the cars based on their “goodness,” and arranged those values into buckets. For example, we might put a Ford Focus SVT a little lower than a Subaru WRX STi. When we set the spring rates for those cars, and we don’t have the actual spring rates for them, we use a formula, a mathematical model, to automatically tune those numbers for us. Then we put in critical damping, and offset damping with “goodness,” ranking cars by region. A lot of this we call “automagic”—it’s our voodoo magic that we do in the game, and it’s the only thing that makes it possible to tune 9,000 numbers on 300 cars.

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Proving that this automagic model could work to tune the cars was a big part of our getting the green light for version one. And there’s a ton of testing that goes on. We list and graph the numbers we get, looking for anomalies, and then we test the cars by hand. For example, one may come out with a really loose spring rate. Sometimes we ﬁnd that our formula isn’t taking weight distribution into account as well as it should. Then we rework the formula, reexport all the cars’ values, and retest. That’s a lot of systems—engine systems, such as turbo pressure, rpm, inertia, and so on. Some things we get to research a lot, like all of our stock turbo pressures. We went through and tested them, and made sure that they were in the right stack rank relative to each other and that their results in the game matched our research and knowledgebase.

Q: For the original Forza Motorsport, racing driver Gunnar

Jeanette made some suggestions about cars he had driven, and you were able to change some numbers on the ﬂy to make the car more realistic. Is that something you’re doing for Forza Motorsport 2?

There are two sides to it. Some of the cars drive the way they do because it’s completely predictable. You look at the car’s behavior and it’s easy to see why it behaves that way. If it understeers and you see that it’s front-weighted with no downforce, all the tires are the same size and its spring rate is tighter on the front, obviously it’s going to understeer. In a front-drive car with 60% of the weight on the front wheels, it’s just physics that the car will understeer. So there are a whole bunch of characteristics people comment on—“You really got that right!” I say, “We didn’t have to get it right—the physics got it right!”

Q: So we’re really talking about hand tuning.

After the automagic has done its thing, then you go in and hand tune. For instance, getting the nuances of the suspension right is less about oversteer and understeer and more about controlling the car with the throttle through a turn; how getting onto, off of, and back onto the brakes creates oversteer; how braking and throttle techniques affect the car. We’ve got a really good team—guys who are rally drivers, guys who have driven all kinds of cars. So we start tuning that way. But inevitably there are cars no one on the team has driven, like the Lancia Stratos. We had trouble ﬁnding reviews on it; we just knew it was a famous rally car, but our physics got a ton of that stuff right. You start putting in the weight distribution, the size of the car, its moment of inertia, and it starts getting better and better.

Q: How do you handle implementing upgrades? When does

the upgrade variable come in?

Some of the upgrade variables are researched heavily in order to create the model. The issue is that our Level 3 upgrades are full racing upgrades, as if you had a million dollars to burn, which very few people have, especially on a lower-class car. No one is going to spend so much upgrading cars like that, so we have some cars people don’t race much, and have no idea how much power that engine can really make. So we have to use some math and our model to ﬁgure it out. The car has a certain displacement and conﬁguration, it’s a certain size, has a certain rpm redline and top speed, and we take all those things and put them together and come up with what we think is its theoretical maximum torque and horsepower. But believe me, gas velocity out of the valves and headers can be a real pain to estimate.

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Q: Since you have to account for things you can’t ﬁnd in

reality but that can exist in the sim, are there times when the potential for so many car modiﬁcations seems too crazy and unbelievable even though the math says the model is right?

When I was developing the franchise vision, I hit on the idea early that this is an automotive playground, a sandbox. We could have gone the route of a super-credible, licensed parts catalogue. We could have said, “Exactly what parts really are available for, say, the Mark II GTI? Oh, these parts are available in the real world—okay, then that’s exactly what the player will get—no more and hopefully no less. It’s sort of limiting for cars that for one reason or another have never gotten a lot of race R&D in the real world.

Also, we could have exposed the player to the money pit and no-win situations that deﬁne tuning in the real world. One turbo is more reliable; one has better low-end spool-up. Why use this suspension part instead of that one? One is better at low-speed bump compression and the other is better at high-speed bump compression. Which one is better? Neither, but one is more expensive. That’s real tuning. That’s what I’ve got to do on my own car. That’s why my “check engine” light is always on for one reason or another and my fenders rub during track days.

I want to make this a sandbox or playground where people can safely experiment. I want to invite people in and teach them a ton of things, but not require them to already know it all. If we throw them into the deep weeds and expect them to already know everything there is to know about cars and upgrades, most won’t even know where to start. I didn’t feel it would be very inviting. Moreover, it wouldn’t be as good a place for people to learn. If you buy a car that in the real world doesn’t have many upgrade options or a tuning community, we’d have to say, “Sorry, this car doesn’t get any substantial upgrades.” It’s not that parts couldn’t be made for those cars; there simply isn’t demand for them in the real world.

What we want to do is make it all about real-world potential: “Hey man, if you had three million dollars and really like a particular car, you can go ahead and upgrade it. We’ll do the legwork to make sure the results are plausible and rooted in real science.” This makes our upgrade system a really cool playground where people can learn about cars and upgrades.

Q: Someone in the Forza Motorsport community tuned an

Integra to go over 250 mph, so I guess in the sandbox it’s theoretically possible?

It’s hard to know. We simulated cars driving on an open plane at their top speed and tried with gearing to match theoretical top speed in our database. In some cases we ended up tuning drag coefﬁcient and driveline losses quite a bit. What’s important to me is that we really do our homework, really do our math to ﬁgure it all out, so if you see it in the Forza Motorsport games, it really is possible.

Q: So it’s a balance between the sandbox element and also

being credible.

It’s all about being credible. It’s whether or not our math shows it could be done in the real world given time, money, and expertise. We look at the math and say, “Wait a minute—with that frontal area and drag, you need this much power to put enough torque onto the ground to reach that speed”—it’s mathematical. Sometimes I don’t believe our results and we have to test them. Sometimes we have to rework the system to provide better results.

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Q: What do you think people responded best to in the

original Forza Motorsport?

First and foremost, Forza Motorsport is a fantastic simulator. The thing we really did well was the thing we had to do well, the thing we’re always going to have to do well: create a fun, deep, and rewarding driving experience. We had to create an experience that was fun to drive and easy to get into while maintaining a deep and rewarding path to mastery. You pick up Forza Motorsport and if you’re not really good at it, you can use driving assists. We don’t dumb the physics down; we bring the player up using assists. Players can start turning them off one by one as they advance down the path to mastery. I want Forza Motorsport to have all the depth of a great sim, but I also want people to be able to play it. Once you start turning the assists off, you can start expressing yourself in your driving, the way you can in the real world. You can be really fast, you can drift, you can be stylish, and you can recover when you start to screw up. Once you get skilled at the game, it no longer feels like a razor-thin edge, where if you get any yaw going in your car—goodbye, you’re out of here. You can start playing with the physics and making the car obey your every command. In the real world it all comes down to sensitivity and timing. You see a guy like Juan Pablo Montoya in a car with racing slicks. Racing slicks are the most intolerant tires there are, and he can still get the car’s back end out a little bit and whip it back in and not spin out because he can feel it and he’s on it instantly. You can do that in Forza Motorsport. We can build a game around the player’s path of mastery, but at heart Forza Motorsport is a fantastic simulator, and it’s a fun simulator.

Q: Now that version two is wrapped up, as the visionary,

what do you see down the road for the Forza Motorsport franchise?

We’ve only built a small percentage of the game I see in my head. In some instances, the technology isn’t there yet. In others, we just haven’t had time to fully realize the experience I’m chasing. As before, we’ve made little road signs about what’s coming in the future. In a lot of ways it’s about experimentation. We try little bits of things to see how people react, whether people have fun

and maybe even learn a thing or two. It’s one thing to design something and proclaim, “People are going to love this!” It’s another thing to put a little bit out there and ask, “How does this taste?” Give them a little sample. It’s a chance for me to watch them. People say they like a feature or don’t like it. Players are rarely good at articulating what they like or don’t like, but they are spot on at identifying whether or not they are having a good time. To learn what they’re really feeling and enjoying, it’s important to watch them, watch how they play. They might say, “Oh, I’m really frustrated with this!” But they’re smiling. Or they might say, “I’m really enjoying that,” but it looks like they’re ﬁdgeting, like they want to leave. Often there is some other aspect of the experience that they do not perceive that is having a greater effect than what they identify. It’s our job to sniff that out.

Q: So you’re going to be perfecting that fun-to-drive

experience for every version of the game?

What I’m trying to capture is the joy of being a race car driver and sports car enthusiast, not the experience of having to pay for fuel, pay for tires, blow your engine, get scammed by a shady tuner, and so on. We don’t want to simulate the struggle to get a ride with a team, because that’s not the joy of driving. There are people who may want that game, but that’s not what this game is about. This game is about the joy of collecting, customizing, and driving amazing cars and learning how to get good at it. We don’t just dumb the physics down. We let the player experience the car in its full glory and supplement their skills with powerful assists. We’ve got to build a game that grabs people. Where car collecting, car upgrading, car customization, car owning, car trading, and living in a community and interacting with other people are all great things to do. At any moment you can go in there and have a great experience. I want to get gamers excited about cars, and car people excited about games.

The Vision

Th e V is ion



Q: So the game is really built around the core experience—

the joy of driving.

The driving experience is deﬁnitely the core mechanic of the game—it’s what we had to get right. However, at the heart of the vision, the grain that got this whole thing growing is “car lust,” a passion for cars. That’s what sprouted the simulation, sprouted the upgrades and customization, what sprouted this community. Everything came from that. So simulation is the core mechanic, but it’s not the seed of the game. The seed is that emotional response you have when you see an amazing car on the street. That’s car lust.

Q: Can you give us a hint of what you’re thinking about for

Forza Motorsport 3? What would you like to add to the experience that will signiﬁcantly change it?

For me the future of gaming is all about pushing online and community. Online gaming plays to that seed, that car lust, but not everyone is good at driving. Having car lust doesn’t mean you have a big bank account, doesn’t mean you’re a male, doesn’t mean you’re good at driving, doesn’t mean you’re a dexterous gamer with fast reactions. That nugget of car lust is way more universal. It’s shared by a lot of people in all walks of life. So for me, the future is about getting more people who share car lust to experience the game; bringing them together to play. They don’t all have to be driving; they can be doing different things to be part of the community. They can be equally valued in the community if we give them the right tools. Even if I like muscle cars and you like European cars, we’ve still got something to talk about. You may be more dexterous, a really good sim racer. Maybe I’m not so good at it. But let’s say I’m really good at painting, or tuning, or strategizing, or getting people together in a community. There are a lot of skills you can use to be part of the Forza Motorsport community. It’s all about giving a diverse group of people brought together by “car lust” the tools they need to add value in the community.

Q: So races are won by collaborative effort?

My goal is to look at the kinds of things people can be good at. If they have that car lust, they can ﬁnd ways to be successful and rewarded and valued in the community. While in a lot of ways this resembles a racing team, I’m not interested in simulating a racing team per se. What I want is for someone who isn’t necessarily a great gamer but who loves cars, to feel they should be playing Forza Motorsport to connect with other car lovers. When a new car comes out and people read about it, they should be able to drive it in our simulation.

I envision Forza Motorsport as the place where car lovers can gather to talk and argue about cars they like and racing they’re interested in. I want to bring people with this passion together regardless of their other differences. My goal for the Forza Motorsport franchise is broad and inclusive.

CA R M AN UFAC TU RER S

Car Manufacturers

2

Ca r M an ufaC tu rer s

AC URA

In creating a very large stable of cars for our players, the Forza Motorsport team has worked with ﬁfty car manufacturers from all over the world. Each manufacturer has a history of its own, and each has made its contribution to the evolution of the automobile.

In this section of the Forza Motorsport 2 Limited Collector’s Edition book you will learn about the following automobile manufacturers:

Acura Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Motorsport Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Eagle Ferrari Ford Honda Hyundai Inﬁniti Jaguar Koenigsegg Lamborghini Lancia Lexus Lotus Maserati Mazda McLaren

Mercedes-Benz MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Opel Pagani Panoz Peugeot Plymouth Pontiac Porsche Proto Motors Renault Saab Saleen Saturn Scion SEAT Shelby Subaru Toyota TVR Vauxhall Volkswagen Volvo

In 1986, Honda Motor Co. of Japan started producing the Acura line of cars for several markets, including the U.S., becoming the ﬁrst of three Japanese manufacturers to launch separate luxury brands. The ﬁrst Acura models—the Legend, Integra, and especially the avant-garde NSX—set the tone for the new brand, with a dual emphasis on luxury and performance. The late Formula One champion Ayrton Senna consulted on the NSX’s suspension and chassis tuning, and the car was both a stunning performer and suitable for everyday street driving.

Acura also produced some very desirable special models with an extra emphasis on performance. The 195-hp Integra Type-R features a race-tuned suspension, high-performance tires, powerful brakes, and special seats. The NSX-R, introduced in 1992 for Japan and Europe and updated in 2002, is a lightened version of this already super car. Its 290-hp V6, aggressive suspension, and improved aerodynamics allow it to compete successfully against more powerful cars.

2001 Acura Integra Type-R

Car Manufacturers

2

AS TON M ARTIN

AU DI

This British manufacturer of hand-crafted high-performance sports cars was founded in 1914. After early competition successes (the Aston name was derived from an English hillclimb course), Aston Martin focused on racing during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1947, Aston Martin was acquired by David Brown Limited, which launched the long line of “DB” high-performance sports cars for which the company is best known. The series began with a few examples of the Two Litre Sports/DB1 in 1948 and the DB2 in 1950. Racing versions of the Aston Martin sports cars achieved great racing success during the 1950s, culminating in a ﬁrst-place ﬁnish at the Le Mans 24-hour road race in 1959.

In the 1960s, Aston Martin decided to concentrate on road car production, creating perhaps its most famous car, the DB5, in 1963. This sports car began a long relationship with secret agent James Bond after appearing in the ﬁlm Goldﬁnger in 1964, and gained the company and its cars many new admirers. The DB line of sports cars continues to this day, with the award-winning DB9. Aston Martin returned to motor racing in 2005 with a racing version, the DBR9. The current three-car lineup also includes the V8 Vantage and the Vanquish S.

August Horch, who founded a car company under his own name in 1899, started Audi (the Latin translation of Horch) in 1909. Early Audis were luxurious, and also had some competition success. In 1932, four German car companies (Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer) merged to form Auto Union; the four linked rings of the current Audi logo represent the four companies. Along with racers from Mercedes-Benz, mid-engine Auto Union race cars designed by Ferdinand Porsche dominated motor racing in the 1930s.

In 1964, Volkswagen acquired the company and revived the Audi name. The car that launched Audi’s modern reputation as a technology leader and maker of advanced, competitive cars was the four-wheel drive Audi quattro in 1980. The Group B racing version of the Audi 200 quattro dominated the TransAm series in 1988, and sent competitors back to the drawing board. Audi’s popular A4, A6, and A8 series cars ﬁrst appeared in 1996. The high-performance all-wheel-drive S-series versions of these cars have been successful in amateur competition, and Audi’s Le Mans Prototype race cars have played a dominant role at the top level of motor racing, led by the 550-hp R8, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in a row. In 2006, Audi introduced its latest Le Mans Prototype, the Dieselpowered R10 TDI, which won in its ﬁrst outing at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, as well at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.

2001 Aston Martin Vanquish

2006 Audi RS 4

Car Manufacturers

2

BE NTL EY

BM W M OT ORS PO RT

W. O. Bentley founded this legendary British marque in 1919, and decided to prove and promote his cars through competition. In 1924 a 3-liter, 4-cylinder Sport model won Bentley’s ﬁrst victory at Le Mans. In 1926–1927, Bentley introduced the 6.5-liter Speed Six and the sportiest Bentley, the 4.5-liter 4cylinder. This was Bentley’s golden age, with four consecutive Le Mans wins in 1927–1930 shared among the three models. The drivers, who came to be called “The Bentley Boys,” were amateur sportsmen who drove fast and lived glamorously. Their big, British racing green Bentleys stood out for both performance and size, dwarﬁng most continental racers. Ettore Bugatti compared them to trucks, commenting that Bentley built “the world’s fastest lorries,” but Bentleys quickly built a reputation as the world’s best sports cars.

With the Great Depression Bentley sales plummeted and in 1931 the company was sold to Rolls-Royce. For many years most Bentleys were Rolls-Royces with a different radiator shell. One major exception was the 1952 R Type Continental, a beautiful 120-mph, four-seat fastback that still turns heads today. In the late 1980s, Bentleys again emphasized performance with turbocharged power and roadholding to match. This transformation continued in 1998 when German manufacturer Volkswagen bought Bentley and invested heavily in new models. After a seventy-one-year lapse Bentley returned to racing with the Speed 8 Le Mans Prototype, taking third place in 2001, second place in 2002, and winning a sixth Le Mans victory in 2003.

German automobile and motorcycle manufacturer BMW (the Bavarian Motor Works) began as a manufacturer of aircraft engines during the First World War, so the BMW logo, a roundel of alternating blue and white quadrants, represents a whirling aircraft propeller. The company produced its ﬁrst car in 1927. By the late 1930s, BMW was building two pre-war classics, the 327 sedan and the 328 roadster.

After WWII BMW resumed automobile production in 1952, and produced the legendary 507 sports car in 1957. During the 1960s, BMW launched a series of increasingly sophisticated models. With their independent suspensions, front disc brakes, and emphasis on performance, BMW established its reputation as a maker of cars for driving enthusiasts. In 1972, BMW created its racing subsidiary, BMW Motorsport, which started producing the “M” high-performance versions of standard BMW models in 1979.

2004 Bentley Continental GT

2002 BMW Motorsport M3-GTR (street version)

Car Manufacturers

2

BU ICK

CA DIL LA C

David Dunbar Buick, a Scottish immigrant to the U.S., started making gasoline engines in 1899 and built his ﬁrst car in 1902. He incorporated Buick Motor Company in 1903, which was taken over the following year by William Durant, later the founder of General Motors. By 1908, Buick® was producing about 8,000 cars annually, more than any other manufacturer. Buick pioneered the overhead valve engine and started a racing team featuring Louis Chevrolet. Early racing successes and a growing reputation for reliability solidiﬁed Buick’s reputation. It became the ﬁrst brand in the General Motors stable in 1908.

By the mid-1920s, Buick was producing more than a quarter-million cars a year, but its sales slumped early in the Great Depression. In 1936, stylish new models conceived by GM design chief Harley Earl revived Buick’s popularity. During WWII, Buick built aircraft engines and military vehicles. Buick sales boomed during the 1950s heyday of big, stylish American cars. In the 1960s and 1970s, Buick introduced smaller, lighter, more innovative cars powered by V6 engines. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Buick again emphasized racing and competition, building engines for the Indianapolis 500 and performance cars powered by turbocharged V6s, especially the 1987 Regal GNX “muscle car.” Buick continues to be a mainstay of the General Motors Corporation today.

Cadillac Automobile Company was founded by Henry Leland in 1902. In 1903 its ﬁrst production car was an instant success, and in 1909 Cadillac® became General Motors’ prestige brand and a leading innovator. Cadillac introduced fullyenclosed bodies in 1910, the ﬁrst reliable electric starter in 1912, and a powerful V8 engine in 1915. These and other innovations in the 1920s, including a betterbalanced V8 engine, a synchromesh transmission, and safety glass, enhanced Cadillac’s reputation. In 1930, Cadillac introduced luxurious V16- and V12powered models. Soon Cadillac offered independent front suspensions (pioneered by Chevrolet) and automatic transmissions.

During WWII, Cadillac V8s and transmissions powered American tanks. After the war, Cadillac combined technical innovations and styling, introducing a trendsetting overhead-valve V8 and tail ﬁns. A British Allard powered by the Cadillac V8 ﬁnished third at Le Mans in 1950, and a stock Cadillac coupe ﬁnished 10th, proving how potent the new engine was. Over the years Cadillacs grew larger and more ﬂamboyant, but in 1992 Cadillac introduced the twin-cam Northstar V8, renewing an emphasis on performance. In 2000, Cadillac returned to Le Mans with its Prototype racer, the LMP02, which it also campaigned in the American Le Mans Series. The 2003 CTS and the 400-hp CTS-V race car continue Cadillac’s return to performance-oriented production cars.

2004 Cadillac CTS-V1987 Buick Regal GNX

Car Manufacturers

2

CH EVR OL ET

CH RY SLE R

In 1911, William Durant enlisted Swiss-born racing star Louis Chevrolet to design a car with broad appeal, and in 1912 the new Chevrolet Motor Car Company introduced its ﬁrst sedan with a long list of standard features. In 1915, Chevrolet® introduced the 490 (priced at US$490) to compete directly with the best-selling Ford Model T, and it was an instant success. By 1927, Chevrolet was the most popular American car. When WWII started, the division was building over 1.5 million vehicles per year. After the war, Chevrolet reclaimed its place as the bestselling brand with popular features including automatic transmission and power brakes, seat, and windows.

In 1953, Chevrolet launched what would become America’s most successful sports car, the Corvette, and when Chevrolet introduced its legendary small-block V8 two years later, it quickly found its way into the Corvette. The 1963 Sting Ray with its fully independent suspension added to the Corvette’s popularity and competitiveness. The compact, sporty Camaro debuted in 1967, and became another instant best-seller. Today, Chevrolet continues to offer a car for nearly every market niche, and the company’s nickname, “Chevy,” shows the popular impact of this brand.

In 1910, Walter P. Chrysler became works manager for Buick Motor Company, and then vice president of General Motors in 1919. In 1925 he founded Chrysler® Corporation, and rapidly expanded it to become a serious rival to General Motors and Ford. Chrysler started Plymouth® and DeSoto, and in 1928 acquired the large and successful Dodge Brothers Corporation, which had sold two million cars under its own name. In 1934, Chrysler introduced the Airﬂow, a streamlined car that pointed to the future, but found few buyers. By 1937, Chrysler was building more than a million cars a year.

In 1951, Chrysler introduced its powerful “Hemi” V8, which was continually developed in the 1960s, growing in displacement from 331 cubic inches (5.4 liters) to 426 inches (7 liters) to become a major force in American automobile racing. In 1998 the Chrysler Corporation merged with Daimler-Benz AG to form DaimlerChrysler. Two products of this merger appeared in 2004. The Chrysler Crossﬁre® sports car shares many components with the ﬁrst-generation Mercedes-Benz SLK. The Crossﬁre SRT-6 is a supercharged high-performance model with a 320-hp version of the standard V6. The Chrysler ME Four-Twelve, produced as a prototype, is a 250-mph, V12 powered mid-engine supercar billed by the company as the “ultimate engineering and design statement from Chrysler in terms of advanced materials, aerodynamic efﬁciency, and vehicle dynamic performance.”

2006 Chrysler Crossre SRT62006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06

Car Manufacturers



DO DGE

EA GLE

Like the Wright brothers, the Dodge brothers (John and Horace) began in the bicycle business, but around the turn of the twentieth century they switched to making automobile parts. From 1902 until 1914, when they started the Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle Company, the brothers made parts for other manufacturers, including transmissions for Olds and engines for Ford. The engine deal netted them a ten percent interest in Ford Motor Company, which they sold back to Ford in 1919 for US$19,000,000. Dodge Brothers cars, with their all-steel bodies, rugged construction, and attention to detail, quickly built a reputation for “dependability,” a word invented by a copywriter to describe them. After 10 years the brothers had built a million cars, and made another million by 1928, when they sold their company to the Chrysler Corporation.

Some of the most potent post-WWII Dodges, including the late-1960s Chargers, were powered by a 426-cubic-inch (7-liter) version of Chrysler’s Hemi V8. In 1992, Dodge introduced the V10-powered Dodge Viper, a muscular retro sports car that has competed internationally, winning in its class at Le Mans and in the GT2 World Championship. Dodge has also produced performance versions of its small cars, notably the Neon-based SRT4 and the PT Cruiser GT Turbo. For 2006, Dodge reintroduced a Hemi V8-powered Charger, the SRT8.

Eagle was the last reincarnation of American Motors Corporation (AMC), which had been formed by the merger of Hudson Motorcar Company and NashKelvinator in 1954. In 1970, AMC acquired the Jeep name and facilities from Kaiser-Willys, but fell on hard times in the 1980s. After a brief collaboration with France’s Renault, AMC was sold in 1987 to Chrysler Corporation, which ran AMC as its Jeep/Eagle division from 1988 to 1998. Chrysler’s goal was to attract driving enthusiasts and would-be buyers of imported cars.

The division’s most successful model was the sporty Eagle Talon, based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse. The Eclipse and the Talon, as well as the Plymouth version, called the Laser, were manufactured in Normal, Illinois by a Chrysler/Mitsubishi joint venture called Diamond Star Motors. From 1990 to 1998, these two-door, front-wheel drive hatchbacks (powered by a Mitsubishi 4-cylinder engine and turbocharged in the all-wheel-drive TSi model) were Eagle’s best-selling car. Its success wasn’t enough to save Eagle, and Chrysler stopped producing the brand in 1998.

2006 Dodge Charger SRT8

1998 Eagle Talon TSi Turbo

Car Manufacturers



FE RRA RI

FO RD

Ferrari is a legendary name. For 60 years this elite Italian manufacturer has built some of the world’s fastest and most beautiful cars, and has won innumerable races. Founder Enzo Ferrari drove his ﬁrst race in 1919, and started Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 sponsoring amateur drivers, many competing in cars built by Alfa Romeo. In 1947 he founded Ferrari and started the string of stunning cars and racing victories that continues today. In a sense, Ferrari’s intent was to build a race car that could also be used on the street, but from the beginning Ferrari built sports and Grand Touring cars to ﬁnance its racing efforts.

The ﬁrst postwar Ferrari, the sleek Tipo 125S roadster, was powered by a 1.5-liter V12, and started Ferrari’s long record of racing victories. In 1950 the Formula One World Championship series began, and Ferrari soon won the ﬁrst of 14 F1 championships to date. These victories and many more at Le Mans and elsewhere have added to the fervor of Ferrari fans (Tifosi in Italian). Famous Ferrari cars include the 250 GTO, the Testarossa, the Dino, the 550 Maranello, the F40, the F50, the F430, and the Enzo. Pininfarina and a few leading designers and coachbuilders have always created striking bodies for these cars, and Ferrari cars continue to offer an outstanding blend of technical and esthetic excellence.

Henry Ford incorporated Ford Motor Company in 1903, and it rapidly grew to become a major force in the ﬂedgling automobile industry. The Ford Model T, introduced in 1908, revolutionized the mass-production of affordable automobiles. Key to its huge production was Ford’s pioneering use of the moving assembly line. In nineteen years Ford manufactured more than ﬁfteen million Model Ts.

Ford entered the luxury market by purchasing the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, and started the mid-priced Mercury brand in 1939. By 1927 the Model T was losing sales to more modern cars from other companies, so Ford replaced it with the more competitive Model A, and produced four million Model As in four years. In 1932, Ford Motor Company became the ﬁrst auto manufacturer to offer an affordable V8-powered car. In the mid-1950s, Ford added the sporty Thunderbird to its lineup, and the 1960s saw the introduction of the best-selling Mustang. Ford introduced the exotic GT-40 in 1964, which won the Le Mans 24-hour road race four straight times in 1966–1969. In 2004, Ford began producing a new street version of the Ford GT, directly inspired by the GT-40 race car. At the other end of the spectrum, Ford entered the sport compact market with the affordable high-performance SVT Focus.

2003 Ford Focus SVT1999 Ferrari 360 Modena

Car Manufacturers



HO NDA

HY UND AI

Starting in 1948, Soichiro Honda ﬁlled an important niche in post-WWII Japan by building motorized bicycles, but his Honda Motor Company soon grew to become one of the world’s largest and most successful motorcycle manufacturers. This success allowed Honda to start building small cars in

1960. The energy crisis of the 1970s made Honda’s efﬁcient Civic, with its lowemission CVCC engine, a best-seller in many markets. The mid-size Honda Accord introduced in 1976 also added to the worldwide reputation of Honda. In the 1980s the company started building cars in the U.S. and Canada.

Soichiro Honda had always been interested in motorsports, and by 1961 his motorcycles were international winners. He sought the same success in automobile racing at the highest level—in Formula One and Indy Car racing. In 1964–1968, Honda campaigned its own cars in the Formula One World Championship, and since 1983 has supplied engines to other constructors. In 1988, Honda-powered F1 cars won ﬁfteen of sixteen races. In 2006, Honda once again began running its own cars in the Formula One World Championship.

South Korean industrialist Chung Ju-Yung founded Hyundai Motor Company in 1967 as part of his Hyundai Group, a major engineering, construction, and shipbuilding enterprise. The company grew to become South Korea’s major car manufacturer. Hyundai exported cars to Asia, Europe, and the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s, and entered the U.S. market in 1986 with the subcompact Excel.

Hyundai soon established its reputation as a maker of affordable cars, starting with subcompact models for entry-level buyers, then added both sportier and more luxurious models to its lineup. Current Hyundai models include the Tuscani sport coupe (called the Tiburon in the U.S. market). Now the seventh-largest car maker in the world, Hyundai sells its vehicles in up to 193 countries across several continents, and has sold around 2.5 million units worldwide.

2003 Honda S2000

2003 Hyundai Tuscani Elisa

Car Manufacturers



IN FIN IT I

JA GUA R

Japanese manufacturer Nissan Motor Company introduced its luxury Inﬁniti brand in 1989, focusing on a blend of style, comfort, and performance. The Inﬁniti ﬂagship was the potent V8-powered Q45, which featured technology such as active suspension and four-wheel steering. Over the years the Inﬁniti line has grown to include the slightly smaller M45 sedan, the sporty G35 coupe (on the same chassis as the Nissan Skyline), and G35 sedan.

British automobile maker Jaguar began in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company, building stylish aluminum sidecars for motorcycles. By 1926 it was also producing custom bodies for other manufacturers’ cars. In 1931 the company began building its own cars under the SS name (for Swallow Sidecars). Long, low, and sporty, the SS1 looked like a more expensive car than it was. In 1935 the company used the Jaguar name for the ﬁrst time on a stunning new sports car, the SS Jaguar 100.

After WWII, the company became Jaguar Cars Ltd. The beautiful 120-mph XK120 sports car appeared in 1948. The racing version, called the C-type, won Le Mans in 1951 and 1953. In 1954, Jaguar introduced the more powerful XK140 sports car and the D-type racer, which won Le Mans in 1955, 1956, and 1957. The sensational 150-mph E-type sports car, introduced in 1961, was the most visually striking in a long line of attractive cars. Ford Motor Company acquired Jaguar in 1989, and has carefully preserved Jaguar’s unique identity. Between 1992 and 1994 Jaguar produced 281 XJ220 supercars, and in 1995 launched the sleek, V8-powered XK-8 sports car. Most recently Jaguar unveiled its new supercharged sports car, the Jaguar XKR. Building on the excellence of the most technologically advanced Jaguar ever, the all-new XK with the 4.2 V8 engine introduced in late 2005, the XKR takes the Jaguar experience to new heights. For more than seventy years Jaguar has maintained its vision of the well-bred sporting automobile, combining superior performance with unique style.

1993 Jaguar XJ2202003 Inniti G35 Coupe

Car Manufacturers



KO ENI GS EGG

LA MBO RG HIN I

Christian von Koenigsegg founded his Swedish supercar company, Koenigsegg Automotive Ltd., in 1994. Its mission is to build exclusive two-seat, mid-engine super sports cars based on state of the art Formula One racing technology for a few select customers. Bodies and chassis are made of lightweight carbon ﬁber composite reinforced with Kevlar and aluminum honeycomb. These cars offer a combination of race car performance and superior comfort for longdistance touring.

After three years of development and testing, Koenigsegg showed its ﬁrst production prototype at the Paris Motor Show in 2000, and delivered its ﬁrst production car, the 655-hp V8-powered CC8S, in 2002. This luxurious 240-mph supercar features a custom leather interior and ﬁtted luggage, along with a host of high-tech features seldom seen outside of advanced race cars. Koenigsegg introduced the 806-hp CCR in 2004, and the CCX, which delivers the same performance using 91-octane fuel and meets even more stringent emissions requirements, in 2006. Koenigsegg creates each car in its very limited production speciﬁcally for each customer. Like racing cars, these formidable vehicles can be set up to perform on any track or set of road conditions. Unlike racing cars, they are well-mannered on the street and offer a level of luxury no race car driver ever enjoyed.

After WWII, Ferruccio Lamborghini started converting military vehicles into tractors, and began producing his own tractors in 1948. Many questioned his judgment when he decided to build sports cars to compete with Ferrari, but in 1963 he founded Automobili Ferrucio Lamborghini. The 350 GT was the ﬁrst in a long line of striking designs to wear the charging bull badge, with Lamborghini’s own V12 engine and chassis, and coachwork by Touring of Milan. In 1966, Lamborghini produced the ﬁrst mid-engine supercar, the Miura, a barely tamed race car for the road, named for a legendary breed of Spanish ﬁghting bulls. Its 4-liter V12 was mounted transversely behind the cockpit, and its sensational body by Bertone blended aggressiveness and elegance.

In 1974, Lamborghini introduced the Countach, an angular mid-engine supercar that never lost its ability to astonish ﬁrst-time viewers and drivers. Its successor had to be extreme and spectacular; the Diablo was all that and more, with exotic styling, a 5.7-liter V12, and all-wheel drive. In 1998, Audi AG acquired Lamborghini, and in 2001 replaced the Diablo with the Murciélago. Aptly named for a famous ﬁghting bull, it combines modern sophistication and brute force, with a potent 6.2-liter V12 (enlarged to 6.5 liters in the 2006 Murciélago LP640) and all-wheel drive. In 2003, Lamborghini introduced the Gallardo, a highperformance sports car designed for everyday use, with all-wheel drive and a 500hp V10. Ferruccio Lamborghini’s goal to build cars that compete with the world’s best has been fully realized.

2002 Koenigsegg CC8S

2005 Lamborghini Murciélago

Car Manufacturers

4

LA NCI A

LE XUS

Vincenzo Lancia began building cars in 1906, and this Italian car manufacturer (part of the Fiat Group since 1969) quickly developed a reputation for technical innovation. Its ﬁrst car, the 1907 Alpha, featured a tubular front axle. The 1913 Theta included the ﬁrst built-in electrical system in a European car. The 1922 Lambda featured V4 power and independent suspension, and the 1933 Augusta was the ﬁrst sedan with a load-bearing monocoque body. The 1936 Aprilia was one of the ﬁrst mass-produced cars with a truly aerodynamic shape. The 1950 Aurelia was powered by the ﬁrst V6, and mounted its clutch, gearbox, and differential in a single unit on the rear axle.

Over the years, Lancia cars made their mark in road racing and at times dominated rally competition. Winning Lancias included the D50 Formula One racer that appeared in 1954. When the Lancia family sold its interest in the company, Ferrari took over the Lancia team. The renamed Lancia/Ferrari D50 won the F1 world championship in 1955. Some of Lancia’s greatest competition successes came from rally cars. The futuristic, wedge-shaped Lancia Stratos won the World Rally Championship three straight times in 1974–1976. Even more successful was the HF Integrale version of the Lancia Delta and its ultimate development, the Evoluzione. This powerful four-wheel-drive hatchback won six consecutive Constructors Championships between 1987 and 1992.

In 1989, Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan introduced its Lexus line of luxury cars to the U.S. market, and then Great Britain, Canada, and Australia a year later. The V8-powered LS 400 and the mid-size ES 250 set the tone for the new brand with excellent build quality, value, and performance. Lexus has ﬂeshed out the line with sport coupe and sport utility models. Lexus cars have enjoyed major success in North America, and were offered for sale in Japan for the ﬁrst time in 2005. Lexus successfully entered the world of sports car and endurance racing in 2004 with its Daytona Prototype, powered by a competition version of the company’s V8. Current models include the IS300 and IS350 compact sports sedans and the V8-powered SC430 hardtop sports convertible.

1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale

2006 Lexus IS350

Car Manufacturers

4

LO TUS

MA SER AT I

Compared to some other British car manufacturers, Lotus is a relative newcomer, founded by Colin Chapman in 1952. But Lotus has packed the stuff of legend into its 55 years, including a long string of celebrated sports cars and seven Formula One Championships. Chapman’s innovative designs emphasized simplicity and lightness. In 1957, Chapman introduced two cars that exempliﬁed this approach: the elegant Lotus Elite sports coupe and the Lotus 7, a minimalist high-performance roadster. The 7 remains in production after almost ﬁfty years, built by Lotus until 1973, and then by Caterham Cars, which bought the manufacturing rights.

Lotus won its ﬁrst Formula One victory in 1960 and its ﬁrst World Championship in 1963. By 1978, Lotus had won ﬁve more World Championships and continued to innovate, experimenting with turbine power, four-wheel drive, lightweight composites, and the use of ground effects to generate downforce. The Lotus Esprit sports car, produced from 1976 to 2004, turned heads from the start, particularly when it appeared in a James Bond movie as a car with submarine capabilities. After Chapman died in 1982, the company changed hands. Under GM ownership from 1986 to 1993, Lotus turned the modest Vauxhall Carlton sedan into a 176-mph “super saloon.” Current models include the Elise roadster and the Exige coupe. These diminutive ﬁberglass-bodied sports cars on aluminum frames maintain Lotus’ ﬁfty-year reputation for putting big performance into small packages.

Ofﬁcine Alﬁeri Maserati was founded in December, 1914, in Bologna, Italy. Since then, Maserati has played a consistently important role in the history of sports car culture and its development. In 1926, Alﬁeri Maserati and his brothers built their ﬁrst complete car, the Tipo 26, and Maserati himself drove it to a class win in its ﬁrst race. Before and after WWII, legendary racing drivers such as Tazio Nuvolari and Juan Manual Fangio drove Maserati single-seaters to European victories. In the U.S., Wilbur Shaw scored back-to-back wins at Indianapolis in 1939–1940 driving a Maserati 8CTF. In the early 1950s, the A6GCS sports car proved itself to be a winner, and in 1957 the great Fangio won his ﬁfth and ﬁnal Formula One championship in the Maserati 250F. Maserati then began building competition cars for private entrants, including the race-winning Tipo 61, popularly dubbed the “Birdcage” Maserati because of its complex tubular frame.

In the late 1950s, Maserati focused on building cars in larger numbers, starting with the handsome aluminum-bodied 3500 GT. In the 1970s, Maserati produced a series of mid-engine GT cars, including the Bora, Merak, Khamsin, and Mistral, all named for desert winds. In 1993, Maserati was acquired by the Fiat Group. With the technical collaboration of Ferrari, the company now makes fast and elegant tourers including the Quattroporte sedan, and the Coupé and Gran Sport (Coupé and Spyder) GT cars. Maserati has returned to racing with the MC12 supercar, and remains one of the great Italian makers of sports and luxury cars.

2005 Lotus Elise 111S

2004 Maserati MC12

Car Manufacturers

4

MA ZDA

The Toyo Kogyo Co. of Hiroshima, Japan, the predecessor of Mazda Motor Corporation, built its ﬁrst vehicle, the Mazda-Go three-wheeled truck, in 1931. All of the company’s trucks were given the Mazda name, partly in reference to Ahura-Mazda, the Zoroastrian god of light, and partly because it sounded like the name of company founder, Jujiro Matsuda. The ﬁrst Mazda passenger car, the R360 coupe, appeared in 1960. In 1961, Mazda started technical cooperation with the NSU of Germany for rights to develop and use the powerful, lightweight rotary combustion engine originally designed by Dr. Felix Wankel.

Mazda started selling rotary-engined cars in Japan in 1967, the same year it began exporting cars to Europe. Mazda entered the U.S. market in 1970 with the rotary-powered RX-2, and introduced the slightly larger RX-3 in 1971. Their ability to leave cars powered by larger conventional engines behind made a big impression. Mazda introduced the RX-7 sports car powered by a twin-rotor Wankel engine in 1978, and its combination of power and handling made it an instant hit. The Mazda 787B prototype, powered by a four-rotor, 700-hp engine, won at Le Mans in 1991. Current models include an updated version of MX-5/ Miata sports car, the Axela/Mazda 3 and Atenza/Mazda 6, and the latest Mazda rotary-powered sports car, the RX-8.

Since 1990, McLaren Automotive in England has designed and produced a limited number of exclusive, high-performance road cars. Along with Formula One constructor and competitor Team McLaren Mercedes, the company is part of the McLaren Group. The organization is named after the late Bruce McLaren, a New Zealand-born racing driver, engineer, and race car designer whose creations won races in series from Formula One to CanAm. The McLaren F1 is a 240-mph supercar that uses technology from Formula One racing, including a strong, lightweight carbon ﬁber monocoque structure. Between 1992 and 1998, McLaren built one hundred F1s, priced in excess of US$1 million each. The F1’s 6liter, 627-hp BMW V12 gives this exotic three-seat coupe tremendous speed and acceleration, and the chassis provides handling to match. In 1995, F1s took ﬁrst, third, fourth, and ﬁfth places at Le Mans 24 Hours, proving that a million dollars also buys impressive durability, along with racing capability.

In 1999, McLaren started working with DaimlerChrysler to develop and build the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which debuted in 2003. For a lucky few with US$450,000 to spend, the new SLR provides unsurpassed levels of speed, handling, safety, and comfort. Like the McLaren F1, the SLR wraps a very powerful engine and a luxury interior in a lightweight composite structure. Its 5.4-liter, 617-hp AMG V8 propels the SLR to over 200 mph.

1997 Mazda RX7

1997 McLaren F1 GT

Car Manufacturers

4

ME RCE DE S-B EN Z

MI NI

Mercedes-Benz history reaches back to the dawn of the automotive era. In Germany, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler were working independently to perfect the internal combustion engine and use it to propel a vehicle. In 1885, Benz became the ﬁrst to build and patent a gas-powered vehicle, the three-wheeled Tri-Car. By 1900, both Benz and Daimler were selling cars in signiﬁcant quantities. Daimler distributor Emil Jellinek named a new model for his daughter, Mercedes. In 1902 the low-slung Mercedes Simplex set a standard of performance with its 43-mph top speed. By 1911 the Blitzen (Lightning) Benz racer set a speed record of 141 mph.

In 1926 the two companies merged to form Daimler-Benz, making cars under the Mercedes-Benz name. Technical Director Ferdinand Porsche developed two of Mercedes’ greatest cars, the supercharged SS and SSK in 1928–1931. Before WWII, Mercedes became a dominant force in Grand Prix racing with a series of technologically advanced machines. From 1952 to 1955, Mercedes returned to racing with the Le Mans-winning 300 SL and the W196 Formula One car, which proved equally dominant. In 1989, Mercedes started supplying engines to race car constructors Sauber and McLaren. The company partnered with McLaren to launch the 200-mph Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren supercar in 2004. From the spindly, bicycle-based Tri car to today’s SLR supercar, the history of Mercedes-Benz is the history of the car itself.

One of the most popular cars in recent years is the new MINI, launched by BMW’s MINI subsidiary in 2001. This small, nimble car is a modern interpretation of the Morris Mini Minor, an even smaller car launched by British Motor Corporation in 1959 and produced until 2000. The original Mini was a revolutionary transverseengine, front-wheel drive design that devoted 80% of its petite frame to passengers. It sipped gasoline, and handled surprisingly well, riding on tiny ten-inch wheels. Race car builder John Cooper designed higher-performance models called the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S. During its forty-year production more than ﬁve million Minis were sold, and the original remains a cult classic and tuner favorite.

In 1994, BMW bought the Rover Group, whose assets included the Mini, from British Aerospace. BMW kept the little car in production while planning its successor. The new MINI is available in three models: the basic MINI One powered by a 90-hp, 4-cylinder engine, the 115-hp MINI Cooper, and the supercharged 170-hp MINI Cooper-S. An optional John Cooper Works tuning kit increases horsepower to 210. In 2004 a soft-top MINI Cabriolet was added to the line. The new MINI may be a lot bigger than the original version, but is its spiritual successor, offering a lot of fun in what is for today a very small package.

2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR

2003 MINI Cooper S

+ 56 hidden pages