Sports car

Porsche 911

A sports car is a small, fast, quick-turning automobile. Most of them only have two seats or very small seats in the back. Luxury versions of sports cars are known as "grand tourers".

Name

A sports car is different from an automobile for racing. The sports car is allowed to drive on a normal road, whereas race cars cannot.

History

Since the invention of automobiles, people have tried to make them faster. The first sports cars were made to be raced by rich people.

Layout

There are different versions of sports cars. There are automobiles with the motor in the front and those with rear-wheel drive. Examples are the Chevrolet Corvette or the Honda S2000. There are also cars with the motor behind the passengers, in the middle of the car. One of the first cars like this was the Lamborghini Miura. Porsche uses a different layout. The motor in a Porsche 911 is in the back, behind the rear wheels. Since the 1980s, a lot of sports cars have four-wheel drive. The motor in the front and front-wheel drive is only used in a few sports cars.

Seats

Most sports cars only have two seats. Some sports cars also have small seats in the back. For example, the Porsche 911. The McLaren F1 has three seats, with driver sitting in the middle.

Records

Sports cars are often fast and expensive cars.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

• The fastest sportscar is the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. The maximum speed is 431 kilometres per hour (268 mph).

Examples

These are some sports cars:

• Audi R8
• Chevrolet Corvette
• Honda S2000
• Lamborghini Aventador
• Porsche 911

Sports Car Media

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  Mazda MX-5, one of the world's best-selling sports cars

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  1996 Porsche 911 GT2, a model homologated for sports car racing

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  2-seat layout (Ferrari 458 Spyder)

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  2+2 layout (Porsche 911)

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  Mercedes Simplex 60 hp (1903)

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  Austro-Daimler Prince Henry (1910-1914)

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  Vauxhall Prince Henry (1912)

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  Hispano-Suiza Alfonso XIII (1912)

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  Bugatti Type 22 (1913)

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  Sunbeam 12/16 (1914)