Happy Halloween!
Here’s our list of the most dangerous cars to drive…
Whether it’s due to a lack of driving aids, immoderate power or a race-derived set-up, there are a number of road cars that when not treated carefully can majorly bite back.
Here we delve into the varying formulas which make up these spine-tingling automotive experiences.
1. Ruf CTR Yellowbird 87
RUF is a company that takes bodies in white, i.e. unfinished Porsche chassis, and they then convert them into these complete animals.
The BTR is very famous, but the CTR is the one to have. Now, they didn’t take a turbo and then build a more powerful one. They took the much lighter weight, 87 3.2 Carrera and what they did was they pulled it from 3.2 to 3.4. They installed fuel injection from a Porsche 962 prototype race car and then added turbochargers.
The normal Porsche 930 was already called the Widowmaker, to begin with, and this car is over 100 kilos lighter and has up to 130 horsepower more. Along with all the 911 driving characteristics, huge weight right over the back axle. So the issue here is that if you start getting oversteer and you lift off, you just set the pendulum in motion and you will burn it, you have to power through and lock to keep it under control. The Yellowbird isn’t for those inexperienced, it’s very, very easy to end up in a spot of bother in this one.
2. Porsche Carrera GT
Let’s keep on the Porsche theme…
We’ll talk about the Carrera GT. Quite frankly, this is a car we all knew would be on the list.
It is a precision weapon to be used in anger by only the most competent of drivers. If you don’t treat the thing with respect, sayonara.
There’s a lot of talk about the clutch being tricky to get used to. The truth is, it’s not. It’s only a problem when you’re pulling off and it’s just different inputs. You just let go of the clutch until you start rolling and then you add gas rather than kind of using it as a pendulum or counteracting the gas whilst you add the clutch. The thing that makes this car so sketchy is it’s got a 620-horsepower Le Mans V10 engine in the back, which is brutal. That thing is not only the best-sounding engine ever made, but it’s also one of the most kind of sonorous, powerful and evocative engines ever built. If you add it all together it’s one hell of a formula, especially with no driving aids. This includes no ABS, Traction or stability control.
It’s just you, your hands and your feet with what is about as close to a race car as you can possibly drive on the road when you get it right… It’s massively, massively rewarding.
It’s almost more like driving a motorbike than a car. When you’re on a bike, your full attention needs to be on absolutely everything at all times. If it isn’t you run the risk of spinning to face the way you came in a state of confusion.
When reviewed by Jeremy Clarkson, he had this to say about the Carrera GT ‘The handling puts you on a knife’s edge’ as he thrashed it around the Top Gear test track.
Such an amazing car. But it’s a car that deserves massive respect from all.
3. Ferrari F40
Next is one which won’t surprise anybody. It’s the Ferrari F40.
To get the full context of why this car is so crazy. We need to go back to its genesis, that’s the 288 GTO. What happened was that the bosses at Ferrari decided to develop a group B race car based on the 288 GTO called the 288 Evoluzione. But the point is that that car never saw the light of day on a racetrack because Group B was deemed too dangerous by the FIA to race. These cars were just too fast and too powerful for any human being to be able to comprehend what was going on and to actually control things. That was the basis and birth of the F40. They took that car and made it into a road car.
This thing is just an unfettered, unfiltered animal and the tricky thing about it is if you’ve got more than two degrees of steering lock on when the boost comes in, it’s bye-bye. Yeah, you’re going to be doing circles in 2 seconds flat.
On the face of it doesn’t sound like it’s actually going to be that hardcore. I mean it’s a three-litre twin-turbo engine car, weighing 1300 kilos, and the engine makes about 470 horsepower. So it’s relatively light and it’s relatively powerful. But for some reason, the combination of everything can be too much for even the most competent of drivers.
A good friend of mine way back when he was a technician for Ferrari worked on an F40. Did a service on one a number of years ago and took it on a test drive. Next exactly what I said happened.
He had a little bit of lock on, the boost came in and he spun the thing and he got out and he called his boss and just went, I’m never driving one of these things again. Come pick it out. And 20 years later, he still hasn’t driven one. So that’s how scary these things are. As this guy has driven every car under the sun and this is the one thing that he just goes nope, not interested.
There we go, the F40. Another absolute behemoth.
4. Dodge Viper RT10 94
Now one for all American friends and one you’re all going to know. In fact, I probably don’t need to say what it is, and you’ve got a picture of it in your head.
It is the first-gen Dodge Viper RT10.
So there are several things to discuss with this one… The Viper project started in about 1988 when the president of Chrysler suggested that the modern-day COBRA should be attempted. What they ended up with was a 1500-kilo car that had an eight-litre V10 engine, which, by the way…really? The thing made 400 horsepower. That’s 50 horsepower a litre! So this thing is so inefficient. But it’s a brute, a complete brute. No driver aids of any kind, much like the F40 and Carrera GT. It’s just you, your kind of extremities and the car. It didn’t have door handles, windows, key locks, or air conditioning. You know the most important thing here is it didn’t have airbags.
Now, you know, I was giving the engine a hard time a moment ago. But the truth is, without any of these driver aids and that engine and particularly the wide section tires. The issue with this one is it will brake traction and then it will suddenly catch and spin around. This is what you see all the Mustang drivers doing when they leave the car meets, plant the car, lose the back, and suddenly it hooks in and you just flip around. This car amongst particularly Americans who’ve had a lot more exposure to it than we have in Europe will know exactly what I’m talking about.
These things are famously unforgiving and again, respect at all times. Otherwise, you’re going to be looking where you came from.
5. Reliant Robin
Finally, a car which won’t surprise anybody… it’s the Reliant Robin.
Quite frankly, I don’t even need to waste my breath explaining why it’s so dangerous. Check out the video to see why…
While it’s mainly supercars and sports cars which make it onto our list, mentions of Formula 1 and other motorsport experiences in the office suggest we could look into those in a future video.
Let us know your thoughts?
Are there other cars you’d add to this list?