If you’ve been following developments in the auto industry closely, you’ve probably realized that the naturally aspirated engine is an endangered species when it comes to sports cars and supercars. Over the past five decades, advances in turbocharging and hybrid technology, not to mention growing pressure from environmentalists to build greener vehicles, have forced automakers to move away from naturally aspirated engines.
Fastest these days supercar Usually feature turbochargers, superchargers, or electric motors to give their engines a boost in performance. However, this was not the case in the 90’s as the technology was still quite new. As such, there is a wide range of incredibly fast naturally aspirated cars produced in the 1990s. Those were the fastest.
10 Vector M12 – 189 mph
About: Classic Driver
Vector Aeromotive is a little-known American automaker that had a dream in the 90’s to build a supercar that could compete against European exotics. The result was the M12. From the outside, the M12 looked like a real supercar. It featured a wedge-shaped design that looked cool from every angle.
via: Dyler
The M12 also had the power to match, which came from a Lamborghini-built 5.7-liter V12 that produced 492 horses and 425 lb-ft of torque. With just 17 examples made, the M12 is one of the rarest American sports cars of all time.
9 Jaguar XJR-15 – 191 mph
About WSupercars
Not many gearheads have heard of the XJR-15 despite being one of Jaguar’s finest sports cars. The XJR-15 was special in many ways – it was based on the Le Mans-winning XJR-9 and was the first street-legal car to be made entirely of carbon fibre.
turned over
The XJR-15 was powered by one of the most advanced engines of the ’90s – a 6.0-liter Jaguar V12 producing 450 horsepower on tap time was very progressive.
8th TVR Cerbera – 193 miles per hour
About collecting cars
Following the huge success of the Griffith, TVR returned to the drawing board and developed another superb sports car in the ’90s – the Cerbera. The Cerbera had a lot to offer – a stylish design, a 2+2 seating configuration and plenty of power to play with.
About Classic Driver
Under the hood of the Cerbera lived a 4.2-liter V8 engine with 360 hp, mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, giving it a 0-60 acceleration in just 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 300 km/h .
7 Ferrari 550 Maranello – 199 mph
Via favcars.com
The 550 Maranello is a Pininfarina designed two-seat grand tourer introduced in 1996. The 550 Maranello was a special car as it marked Ferrari’s return to the front-engined, rear-wheel-drive configuration 23 years after the 365 GTB/4 Daytona.
Via favcars.com
The 550 Maranello was powered by Ferrari’s 5.5-litre F133A V12 engine with a variable-length intake manifold, four valves per cylinder and dual overhead camshafts. An output of 478 hp and 419 lb-ft of torque gave the 550 Maranello a top speed of just under 200 mph.
6 Ferrari F50 – 202 mph
About Thomas Hartley
The Ferrari F50 doesn’t get the respect it deserves. That’s because it was overshadowed by the iconic F40 that preceded it and the Enzo that succeeded it.
About Opumo
However, viewed in a bubble, the F50 was an amazing car. It had a superb design and was powered by the engine of the Ferrari 333 SP race car – a 4.7 liter V12 developing 512 hp, mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.
5 Cizeta Moroder V16T – 204 mph
Via supercars.net
In the late ’80s, a group of former Lamborghini employees came together and decided to build the ultimate supercar. The result was the Cizeta Moroder V16T, which went into production in 1991.
About Autodata
Cizeta did some things right with the V16T. For starters, they hired the legendary Marcello Gandini to develop the design – the man responsible for some of Lamborghini’s biggest hits. They also outfitted it with a revolutionary engine – a 6.0-liter V16 with tons of power.
4 Lister Storm – 208 miles per hour
About Classic Driver
The Storm is a high-performance supercar built by little-known automaker Lister Cars in 1993 to meet homologation regulations for GT racing. Lister wanted the Storm to destroy every car on the road and track, so they outfitted it with the largest V12 engine available – a 7.0-liter V12 with 546 hp.
about the truth about cars
The Storm was destined to be a success, but one thing stood in its way – the design. The Storm had a questionable design that many gearheads hated, which explains why Lister only sold a handful.
3 Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster – 208 mph
about amari supercars
The Diablo had an interesting start in life. Developed as a successor to the legendary Countach, the Diablo was to be a stylish, high-performance, mid-engined, naturally aspirated supercar capable of 200 mph. It was originally designed by Marcello Gandini, but Chrysler took over Lamborghini and changed the design, leaving Gandini famously unimpressed.
About Mind Over Motor
The last Diablo produced – the VT Roadster – is the fastest. It was powered by a 6.0-liter V12 with 530 hp, making it super fast.
2 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR – 214 miles per hour
about Gooding and company
The CLK GTR is a fantastic sports car built by Mercedes-Benz in the late 90’s to meet homologation requirements for the FIA GT Championship. Mercedes-Benz only built 25 street-legal examples of the CLK GTR and each sold for $1.5 million, making it the most expensive production car at the time.
via Motorious
While the CLK GTR is street legal, it’s considered more of a street racer. That’s because it retained almost all of the race car’s features, including a massive V12 that produces 604 hp and 572 lb-ft of torque.
1 McLaren F1 – 240 mph
About NetCarShow
When asked to name the greatest British sports cars of all time, most gearheads will put the McLaren F1 in their top 3 and we agree. Having conquered F1 racing in the 80’s, McLaren wanted to show that they could also build the world’s best supercar, so they built the F1
About Bonhams
The F1 was specifically designed to break the production car land speed record, so McLaren fitted it with a mighty 6.1-litre V12 engine that produced 618 hp. This performance, combined with various F1-inspired technologies, allowed the F1 to reach an incredible top speed of 240 mph.
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About the author
Martin Pete
(218 published articles)
Martin is a veteran content creator who has been writing about cars for over a decade and has been in love with them even longer. Growing up, Martin was surrounded by gearheads which instilled in him a deep love and understanding of cars from an early age. He loves learning and writing about all developments in the auto industry – especially in the field of electric vehicles. When he’s not writing about cars, he enjoys spending time with his wife, kids, and fur baby.
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