The six best cars from Supercar Sunday

Lamborghini Diablo SE30 Jota

This is a very special car indeed. The Diablo SE30 was a competition orientated, more powerful rear-driven version of the regular Diablo built to celebrate 30 years since Lamborghini’s foundation, of which only 150 were made. The SE30 Jota was something more extreme.

It had wider wheels, a larger rear wing, more aggressive nose and two huge intakes on the roof for the engine. On the inside, you’d fine two leather-clad carbon-fibre seats, no air-conditioning, racing harnesses, a six-speed manual and, if you wanted it, a full roll cage. Of those 150 SEs just 28 were given the Jota treatment, and of those only 12 or 15 cars were given the upgrades at the Lamborghini factory itself. The biggest talking point, though, has to be the engine, a 5.7-litre V12 with a lighter crankshaft, new cams, a reprogrammed ECU and a louder, more free-flowing exhaust. The result of that was 603PS (445kW), up from the standard Diablo’s 492PS (362 kW). Oh, and it weighed 113kg less than the regular car, too.

Porsche Carrera GT

There were two Carrera GTs here this morning. Two. They simply cannot be ignored. As modern super and hypercars move further into the age of electrification, looking back at the Carrera GT makes it feel all the more special.

The phoenix that rose from the ashes of a Le Mans endurance car that never was, the Carrera GT used a 5.7-litre naturally-aspirated V10 with 612PS (450kW) at 8,000rpm and 590Nm (437lb ft) at 5,750rpm. It was rear-wheel-drive, had a roof you could pull out to hear the noise all the more clearly, and had a six-speed manual gearbox with a delightful beechwood-topped lever. All in all, 1,270 were built, considerably more than its contemporary, the Ferrari Enzo. But the Enzo was paddle-only, and while its V12 was excellent it wasn’t as special as the Carrera GT’s V10. It’s impossible to see one and not take a photo.

The Carrera GT has made it onto our list of the best sounding V10s of all time and the best V10 engines ever made. If you haven’t read those lists, they’re well worth a look.

Lamborghini Gallardo

A basic, near-20-year-old Lamborghini? Why on earth is that on this list? We’ll tell you why: it’s brilliant. OK, we’re a little biased – we’ve written about the coupe in our list of the best noughties supercars and about the Gallardo Spyder in our list of the best Lamborghini road cars ever made. But just look at it. It is so simple and so pretty compared to facelift Gallardos and modern Huracans.

Another reason to love the early Gallardo, aside from the looks, is the gearbox and engine combination: a 5.0-litre V10 with 500PS (367kW) and a six-speed manual ‘box. There was an automatic, sadly, but this particular Gallardo didn’t have it. Bravo.

Jaguar XK120

By modern standards the Jaguar XK120 is not a supercar. It’ll do ‘just’ 120mph, hence the XK120 name, and its 3.4-litre straight-six engine is several litres short of many of the cars here today. But in its day it was a monster.

Launched at the London Motor Show in 1948 the XK120 produced 162PS (119kW), enough for 0-60mph in 10 seconds and a top speed of just over 120mph. When you consider many regular road cars of the time would hardly hit 60mph at all, let alone sprint to that speed in a time that’s still faster than some cars on sale today, and just how completely stunning it is you realise what a terrific machine it is. Not as fast as a 512 Testarossa or as flashy as a Huracan Spyder? Who cares.

McLaren Speedtail

This was a surprise to us, we’ll admit. We’d seen MP4-12Cs, 620Rs, 675LTs and 765LTs on the entry list, but somehow we failed to spot this rarity, a beautiful McLaren Speedtail.

The Speedtail launched in 2020 and was at first considered to be something as a follow-up to the McLaren F1, with its three seats, central driving position and limited build numbers (106, the same as the F1). It was also insanely fast, faster in fact than the F1, with a top speed of 250mph thanks to a super slippery body and a 4.0-litre V8 hybrid powertrain with a total of 1,070PS (787kW) and 1,150Nm (851lb ft). If you want some other stats to fry your brain, how about 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds and – more impressive still – 0-186mph in 12.8 seconds. But where the F1 was capable on the road and on track, the Speedtail was very much road focussed.

Finished with two-tone paintwork, with a stunning transition from one colour to another from the front to the back, this car actually took our breath away.

Ferrari F430 manual

Saying a car is cool because it has a manual gearbox is a bit predictable nowadays, with more and more cars only available with automatics. But still, did you see this manual Ferrari F430?

The Ferrari F430 was the last mid-engined V8 Ferrari to be sold with a six-speed, gated manual ‘box – every car since, from the 458 that followed to the 488 and F8 Tributo, have had seven-speed double-clutch gearboxes only. Only one-in-ten were bought with the manual, making them super rare, and because it’s still a relatively modern Ferrari it drives like a serious supercar. It had the famous ‘E-Diff’, the electronically controlled differential, to manage power at the rear axle, and saw the introduction of the Manettino dial on the steering wheel to switch between the car’s various drive modes and disengage the traction control. It also had a delightful 490PS (360kW), 4.3-litre V8, enough for 0-62mph in 4.0-seconds and a top speed of 196mph. Contemporary Ferrari performance and a manual gearbox? We like.

Koenigsegg Regera

Following on from the Speedtail in ‘cars that made us hyperventilate’ is this, a Koenigsegg Regera. My word, would you just look at it.

That it is fast is something we just know and accept. It’s twin-turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 hybrid powertrain produces 1,521PS (1,119kW), enough for 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds, 0-186mph in 12.3 seconds and a top speed of 249mph. But to see one in the metal, when only 80 are planned to be built, is wild. And to go all geeky for a moment, that the Regera has a single-speed gearbox, the Koenigsegg Direct-Drive system, blows our minds. This particular car, resplendent in a subtle blue colour with what we can only assume is real gold highlights across the bodywork, is drop-dead gorgeous.

Photography by Joe Harding and James Lynch.