The Golden Age

The irony of today makes me cackle like a kid who just saw his PE teacher miss a free-throw. We are seeing the greatest, fastest, best handling and most expensive cars, ever. And we may never see anything like this again. Everything in the world is aimed at being "Green." Green cars, green lawn mowers, green socks, green faucet, if it's not a hybrid or purifying something it might as well be burning baby seals. And yet, with all our campaigns for energy efficiency and hybrid technology, the fastest road cars EVER are being bested each year.
A few years ago, a car with 300 hp was built by Ferrari, and a number that was usually included with a conversation that began with "Remember those cars in the 60s? They had those V8s with..." But BMW made an M3 with 333hp, and people lost their minds. It was a 63 hp jump from the previous model, and it was great. But then in 2004 Subaru made the new WRX STI, it had 300hp too, and was half the price. At the same time, Corvette was making the Z06, a 405hp track-ready screamer that was the cock-of-the-walk...for about a week. Since then 400 hp is the new 250. Nissans come with 300 hp, Ferrari and Porsche? If they aren't well beyond 400 no one gets up from an afternoon nap.
And none of these cars are "green", they're not even Olive, they are black. Black is the color oil makes when it's on fire, and in this case, it's beautiful. My STI got 25mpg on it's best day, under 10 on it's funnest. Ferraris never get above 20. And then the greatness comes...the elite club of cars that will slap the 200 mph "barrier" (which to them, is made of floss) and suck down gas like Kirsty Alley attacking a stick of butter.
Here's a few new names for you: Enzo, Ascari, Reventon, GT2, Veyron, SSC, and Koenniggsegg. These are cars that will do things few race cars did a decade ago. The accelration with change your DNA to that off the opposite sex, the top speed is higher than some F1 cars, and the cost is above most 4 bedroom homes. In the 90s, one car fell under these descriptions, the McLaren F1. One car. That car set the mark for what a Supercar truly can be. It still sits at the elite dinner table, but it's no longer alone at the bar. Almost every major exotic manufacturer has a car that has over 500 hp and will touch 200 mph. Chevy, for Pete's sake, just built the ZR1, and it is incredible. There is no car, for the money, faster. And the Koennigsegg is holding onto Bugatti's belt as it passes 240mph.
And none of these cars, and I don't care if the label on the windshield is made form recycled plastic, are "green". They drink fuel from a beer bong. They smoke rubber like Tommy Chong. And they are fast almost beyond comprehension. The company BRABUS will take your Mercedes CLS grocery getter, and give it 1000 ft lbs of torque, so you can get to Whole Foods at 230 mph. 230 mph in a four-door sedan with air conditioning! These speeds have rarely been seen in fully prepped race cars, and now we can do it with a seat that massages our butt while we cycle through our iPod. It is amazing to me, that as the world trembles at the uncertainty of foreign oil, people are building cars that can run on nothing else.
I applaud these builders. They are pushing the limits of what the car can be, and doing it as fast and hard as possible. The end of the gasoline motor, I fear, will be within my lifetime. And these amazing companies and tuners have seen the end, and decided to give it their all until it is no longer possible. They haven't said "Ok let's make the fastest electric car with today's technology." No they are using the best technology today to make 700 hp daily driven 911 Turbos, and SLRs, and Vettes, and EVOs. This is the true depth of the passion for cars and power. The chips are down, our backs are against the wall, but we are still going to fight and scrap to make the best the world will ever know before the ability to do so is gone forever.
I salute Ferrari, Bugatti, Koenig, Ascari, AMS, EVOMS, Chevy, and the countless others that watch the price at the pump go up and just turn the boost up with it. If the 60s were the muscle car era, and the first horsepower battles were fought, then this is the sequel and there's bigger muscles, better guns, and the war is only growing. I can't wait to watch.