When it comes to the fastest production (road-legal) cars in history, the last 10 decades have demonstrated how brands have really shifted gear to push performance faster and faster over time.
Comparethemarket.com.au created a video animation to visualize the evolution of the fastest production car of each decade, spanning the last 100 years. As well as providing an average horsepower and top speed figure, the video shows how the shapes of these speed machines has changed over time.

The roaring ‘20s: Old fashioned speed machines
Sports cars during this decade were a statement in elegance, but that didn’t stop them from paving the way for faster supercars in years to come. With an average horsepower between 50 and 70, engines ranged from four to eight cylinders and the fastest of the lot reached speeds over 60mph. Adorned with stately leather seats and hoods that opened sideways, models like the Bentley 3 Litre or Rolls-Royce Phantom Jonckheere Coupe are timeless pieces of art as much as they are road cruising machines.

During and after World War II
The ‘40s saw speedy automobiles, such as the Aston Martin Atom and Jaguar XK120 become more curved with smoother shapes and lines to minimize wind drag. These cars’ bodies also sat lower to the road, and they grew wider to make room for larger, more powerful engines like the Jaguar’s 1970CC twin carborettor heart or the six-cylinder dual overhead camshaft XK6 engine used on the Jaguar XK120. World War II caused a bit of a dip in the average top speed in our animation, as some car manufacturers turned their efforts into creating engines for their nation’s war machines.

The era of the muscle car
The ‘60s beckoned the golden age of American muscle cars, like the Chevrolet Corvette C1, the 427 Stingray and Shelby Cobra – long, powerful cars designed to go fast in a straight line. European brands produced agile roadsters with sleeker angles and headlights that retreated into the car’s framework, further reducing wind drag to help the fastest cars of this decade reach speeds over 170mph. This decade also saw the legendary battle between Ferrari and Ford, as well as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

An age of sci-fi
Beastly supercars of the ‘80s saw rear spoilers become fashionable not just for their sci-fi looks but also increased downforce – providing grip around fast corners. Rear ends grew larger and recessed side vents (fender vents) became popular for their style and ability to relieve pressurized air, improving stability. Leading into the ‘90s, stability became an issue. The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR flipped over backwards at speeds of over 200mph in 1999 on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans. The same model had also become airborne twice previously, including one instance involving Australian racer Mark Webber.

A new millennium, a new age of supercars
At the turn of the millennium, cars became wider at the rear and angled slightly downwards; this design helped them to maintain a neutral or negative pitch, helping reduce any air pressure build-up. A new century also saw new contenders enter the race, such as Koenigsegg, Zenvo and Shelby SuperCars (SSC).
Cars like the Bugatti Veyron, SSC Ultimate Aero, Zenvo ST1, Koenigsegg Agera R and Hennessey Venom GT all brought more than 1,000 horsepower to the road. In the early 2000’s, the fastest supercars and hypercars were able to reach speeds just over 250mph. In the late 2010’s, the fastest hypercars were recording speeds over 298mph. In 2019 the Bugatti Chiron was the first to break 300mph (490kph)[1].
A shift to green power
While recent years have seen a growing number of supercars embrace hybrid and pure electric engines, electric cars aren’t anything new. In 1899, Belgian inventor Camille Jenatzy created the first car to reach 100kph, La Jamais Contente (The Never Satisfied). It was a fully electric one-seater missile (literally shaped like a missile, with its cylindrical body and conical nose and tail) on four wheels.

Pininfarina’s CEO Michael Perschke said, ‘electrification unlocks the door to a new level of performance and a zero-emissions future,’ when he announced the Pininfarina Battista, a fully electric hypercar with 1,900 horsepower (released in 2020)[2].

What’s next?
The race for supercars is always speeding up with carmakers pushing the limits of aerodynamics, power and style. Looking to 2020, Hennessey Performance is working on a new carbon fiber chassis for their Venom F5 to help propel its car to speeds of over 305mph, according to one Hennessey Performance spokesperson. Indeed, the competition may never end as luxury marques and performance brands chase racing glory – and at least right now, there are exciting things to come.

Visit comparethemarket.com.au to see the full list of fast cars from the 1920s until now, including a detailed video incorporating the best elements of past vehicles into hybrid designs.
A version of the video in MPH can be found directly via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2s1ghpkS1k

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[1] Bugatti – Bugatti Breaks the 300 MPH Barrier: https://www.bugatti.com/media/news/2019/bugatti-breaks-the-300-mph-barrier/
[2] Mahindra Rise – The World’s First Pure Electric Luxury Hyper GT Revealed: https://www.mahindra.com/news-room/press-release/pininifarina-battista-the-world-s-first-pure-electric-luxury-hyper-gt-revealed