Saleen S7
Source: ShutterstockAmerican automakers have tended to stay away from the super car marketplace. That changed when the Saleen S7 was finally created in the year 2000. The S7 was the brainchild of Automotive designer Steve Saleen. It was produced in limited numbers like most supercars. The original version could go 0-60 in 3.3 seconds and top out at 220 mph. Those are numbers that modern supercars are still jealous of. Saleen also produced a racing variant of the S7 called the S7R. There were used for racing in the Le Mans series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Supercar Innards
Source: Shutterstock
The S7 had a beast of a V8. The 7.0L V8 may have guzzled gas, but it moved that beautiful car around at an incredible speed. The engine was made entirely 100% out of aluminum in yet another method of reducing the weight of the car to make it even faster. In addition to the light engine, every effort was made to shed weight on every piece of the car. The entire body of the car was made of carbon fiber. The car had an incredible top speed. Due to this, a lot of aerodynamic work had to be done on the car. Without proper downforce, the car would simply take off into the air like a plane destined to crash.
Does Twin Turbos Ever Make Things Worse?
The answer to the above question is simple. No. The developers of the S7 took a look at it and decided that it could use a touch more power. After all, 550 horsepower in an ultralight car wasn’t enough right? The Saleen S7 twin turbo boosted that up to an insane 750 horsepower in a car designed that way. So what did this end up with? It ended with a top speed of a ridiculous 248 mph. That is still to this day one of the absolute fastest production cars to ever exist.
