Japanese Supercar

Performance criteria
The term supercar usually refers to factory-built, street-legal sports cars, rather than modified production cars that may have similar performance. Supercars are usually designed for road and amateur track use rather than racing alone, and because of this their standard equipment often does not include roll cages and other features required for race cars.

Some common criteria for measuring whether a car should be considered a supercar include the following:

Design
Many supercars have a rear mid-engine (RMR), rear-wheel drive layout, which allows for better distribution of weight. By moving mass towards the middle of the car, its moment of inertia is reduced. The result is often sharper, more agile handling. Some supercar makers have started building all-wheel-drive supercars as new engines are producing more power than a rear wheel drive car using street legal tires is able to take advantage of. For an example, see Bugatti Veyron or Lamborghini Murcielago.

Power to weight ratio
Most supercars have high engine power and low vehicle mass, for the sake of high acceleration (see Newton's Second Law) and good handling dynamics. For example, the 2004 Porsche Carrera GT masses just 3 kilogram per kilowatt (5 lb/hp)—compare this to the similarly sized and shaped Porsche Boxster with nearly 7.1 kg/kW (11.7 lb/hp). The McLaren F1, introduced in 1991 and one of the fastest supercars of the 20th century, produced 467.6 kW (627.1 hp) against a mass of 1140 kg (2513 lb), translating to 2.44 kg/kW (4.01 lb/hp).

Acceleration

Top speed
Handling
A supercar is usually built for maximum cornering and road gripping ability in order to achieve superior cornering speeds. Lateral g-forces during the tightest turns can generally exceed 1 g.

Brakes also have to be very powerful to slow cars traveling at high speeds. Distances from 100 to 0 mph are typically less than 300 ft. A good example of efficient brakes are those on the Dodge Viper SRT-10, which is capable of stopping from 100 mph in 274 ft. The brakes must not only stop cars quickly, but also resist brake fade, which is reduced braking performance due to continuous use.

A popular benchmark is a lap time around the Nürburgring of under 8 minutes. There are also other tracks where supercars are being tested. Lap time tables from different racetracks are posted at fastestlaps.com.

History
Flashback: For the sports car enthusiast, the mid to late 1980’s represented a period of limited choices for high performance hardware. The fastest reasonably priced options ranged from the 240 hp Chevrolet Corvette to the 247 hp Porsche 944 Turbo S - all other choices such as the Ferrari Testarossa, Lotus Esprit and Porsche 928 had asking prices on par with those of some luxury homes. At this time, the Japanese economy was booming and its six largest automakers - Subaru, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi - wanted to boost their international market share by proving to the world that they could build more than inexpensive, reliable economy cars. They all turned to their R&D departments to come up with the blueprints for supercars that could rival the best from the US, Germany, England and Italy…

Fast-Forward 5 years: By 1993, all six of these automakers have ‘halo’ cars that are well established in the western markets. Subaru’s SVX was an AWD Grand-Touring cruiser with 230 hp and exotic styling penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro of ItalDesign. Mazda’s RX-7 was a lightweight 2700 pound ‘go-cart’ with a 50:50 weight distribution, that utilized a turbocharged version of Mazda’s renowned 1.3 liter rotary engine producing 255 hp. Toyota’s MK IV Supra was a 320 hp twin-turbo street-legal race car with a rear spoiler that would be more at home on the Mulsanne Straight of Le Mans. Nissan’s reborn Z came ready for action, packing dual turbochargers, 300 hp and exterior styling with timeless proportions. Honda’s (Acura) Formula-1 derived NSX was an exotic, mid-engined two-seater that had an all aluminum unibody frame, variable valve timing, titanium connecting rods and 270 hp (updated in ’97 to 290 hp). Mitsubishi’s dazzling AWD 3000GT VR-4, with its Ferrari-esque exterior styling was the technological marvel of the group and was going through an update that year which would leave it with 320 hp, and 315 ft-lbs at an incredibly low 2500rpms.

The Japanese automakers were pulling no punches, and their onslaught on the US market sent their rivals scrambling to develop better and faster products - in 1992 Chevrolet updated its C4 Corvette to 300 hp - or near bankruptcy in the case of Porsche. Straight out of the factory these six cars came ready to dance, and each one - with the exception of the SVX - was capable of 0-60 runs in the high 4 to low 5 second range with top speeds ranging from 144 mph for the SVX to almost 172 mph for the NSX!

20th century
Subaru SVX

The Strengths Giorgetto Giugiaro styling; sumptuous leather interior; excellent driver visibility; broad torque band from the 3.3 liter boxer engine!

The Weaknesses A transmission that overheats with spirited driving; performance on par with the base models of the 300ZX, 3000GT and Supra.

Mazda RX-7

The Strengths 50:50 weight distribution; excellent steering feedback, 2700 lb weight; fade resistant brakes; amazing turbo rush!

The Weaknesses Spartan interior, long-term turbocharged rotary reliability issues.

Toyota Supra

The Strengths Street racer styling; perfect handling and balance at the limit; amazing acceleration; smooth shifter action!

The Weaknesses Plain layout of the controls on the dash; top speed limiter on a Supra…c’mon Toyota!

Nissan 300ZX

The Strengths Timeless styling; ergonomically sound interior; out-of-this-world performance!

The Weaknesses Poor rearward visibility; twitchy movement of the HICAS system at the limit; slight brake fade after serious hot-lapping.

Honda NSX

The Strengths Exotic mid-engine layout; great looks; endless rush of power once the variable valve timing kicks in at 5000 rpm.

The Weaknesses Semi-exotic price tag; evil dealer mark-up when the car was first launched; little torque in the low rpm ranges.

Mitsubishi 3000GT

The Strengths Leather interior that was second to none; well engineered AWD system that performed flawlessly; addictive rush of turbo power; predictable handling and progressive break-away at the limit.

The Weaknesses Notchy shifter action; 3700+ lb curb weight.

Unfortunately, due to a downturn in the Yen’s value, high insurance ratings and a shift in the automotive market from sports cars to SUV’s in the mid 90’s, each of these cars with the exception of the NSX, were discontinued by their respective manufacturers between ’95 and ‘99.

21st century
Nissan GT-R

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