We were going to tag this post as one of regular ‘car crush’ offerings. But, on reflection we think it deserves the tage Lust over ‘Crush’.

Without getting into a dodgy pseudo-philosphical rant about the nature of love, desire and passion, we’ll just say this. We’re not in love with this car. We just WANT it.

The LM derivative of the eighties Ferrari supercar was built in extremely limited numbers for Ferrari’s highly favoured and honoured clienti.

This coterie of silver foxes and oligarchs of various hue were treated to a car that was developed for competition by Michelotto of Padova on behalf of the factory.

The LM benefited from a reinforced chassis as well as a deeper front air dam and larger, cockpit adjustable rear wing. It had even more of a stripped down, racing oriented cabon than the factory model too, along with stiffer suspension, up-rated brakes and running gear.

The specially-prepared engine produces between 850-900bhp — quite a handful if you were ever thinking of taking one out onto a busy English street.

It’s not particularly likely that you’ll ever do this — or even see one — apart from at Goodwood and other classic/historic racing events. There were after all only 17 of these cars produced.

But no matter how rare this brutal beauty may be, it’ll always appear in our racing dreams.

This car is possibly the most Italian thing on the planet; even more Italian than smiling indulgently as your suspiciously black-haired elderly Prime Minister appoints former topless models to the cabinet or attempts to bed an eighteen-year old. So it makes no sense to translate the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider’s name into dull, humble Anglo-Saxon. Even Alfa’s staff with their near-flawless English don’t bother to Anglicize it, and simply refer to it as the otto-chee as one tosses me the keys.

So otto-chee it is, then. But is the noisy, gorgeous otto-chee Spider actually any good, or are we in danger of being seduced by a La Scala–standard tenor in a perfect Brioni suit?

If price alone conferred supercar status there’d be no debate. The 8C Competizione coupe, of which 500 were made, cost £112,000 in the UK. The Spider, of which another 500 were made from 2009 with 35 coming to the UK, cost an eye-watering £174,000. Objectively, that price was hard to justify. The Ferrari California, with its more aristocratic badge and folding hard-top costs a good BMW 3-series less. But the looks, the noise, the name and the rarity are plainly enough; value for money isn’t a consideration, and they both sold out fast. You can still buy them from dealers, of course, but demand means you’ll pay closer to Spider money for a low-mileage coupe now.

So what do you get for your fifth of a million euros? The engine is the same as the coupe’s: a Ferrari-cast, Maserati-derived 4.7-litre V8 making 450bhp and maybe the most extraordinarily exuberant noise of any car on sale. The pulchritudinous looks are as good as the coupe’s too. The best-looking, best-sounding car of recent years? Quite possibly, and for many the debate ends there.

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And it is very loud; the exhaust maintains a constant conversation with you when just manoeuvring; you’ll turn heads even when parallel parking. At higher revs it hardens into a hollow bellow with a prolonged crackle and bang when you shift gear. The Alfa engineer – Italian, naturally – who took me out for a couple of familiarization laps at the firm’s Balocco test track gave up trying to describe it — or make himself heard over it — and just started waving his right arm in the air in a lassoing motion when he thought it sounded particularly nice, which was most of the time.

This is a fast, powerful car, but at the risk of sounding terminally spoiled, it isn’t that fast; not quite fast enough to justify that price or put any significant distance between the 8C and rivals at a fraction of the price. A 0-100kmh time of 4.5sec and top speed of 290kmh are very nice to have regular access to, but aren’t significantly quicker than a Porsche Carrera S, and are appreciably behind the sub-four of the California.

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But while the engine disguises an average performance — by the standards of the class — with sharp responses and a showy exhaust note, the handling is very well-judged but just doesn’t excite you. The steering is weighty, direct and quick enough but mute; experience rather than sensation tells you that the car will go where you point it. Same with the brakes; now carbon-ceramic, they’re long in travel and lacking in feel.

Objectively, the 8C Spider doesn’t have the specification or the dynamics to justify the price. But it doesn’t need them, because the more Alfa asked for the 8C, and the rarer it made it, the less it competed in any objective sense with other supercars. Those lucky enough to have one will have Ferraris already and won’t be blind to the otto-chee’s shortcomings. But they’ll also love Alfas, and know that this is one of the stand-out cars in the firm’s storied, century-long history.

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And it bodes well for the new 4C. That car might be very different in specification and price; it will cost around £40,000, and deliver a similar sub-5-second 60mph time but with a 232bhp four moving just 850kgs. But the intent is the same; a bespoke, low-volume sports car to keep us in love with Alfa, and most importantly keep the brand in America until the Mitos and Giuliettas get there in force. The 8C did all of that. It’s still doing it. We think the 4C will do the same, and be just as ineffably Italian.

This week we’re contemplating sixty odd years of aesthetic and technology

Innovation ebbs and flows. Technical solutions sweep all before them, until they too are made obsolete by the passage of time.

Ferrari’s FF, the newly released 12 cylinder, four wheel drive shooting brake, has as much cutting edge technology crammed into its intelligent insides as the average human brain. And the exactitude of its electronic nervous system reaches to the furthest extent of its delightful sinews.

The Alfa C 2500 Competizione from 1948, on the other hand, has none of these things. This beauty was motored by good old valves and carbs and hammered out by Italian craftsmen amid the wreckage of the second world war.

You couldn’t ostensibly find two vehicles farther apart in terms of their way of being-in-the-world.

But of course, they are remarkably close in essence. Gentlemanly in their conception and beautiful in their execution, they are separated by half a century of human ingenuity — yet they share the same balance of form and beauty.

We’re in love with both of them, but for completely different reasons.

You can keep your traction control. You can keep your Bluetooth-synched Sat Nav. You can keep your self dimming mirrors, your piped two-tone leather upholstery and eighteen speaker Bose system.

Give me a foot full of grunt with a heavy clutch, a ramrod straight shifter and an open expanse of bone dry tarmac.

That’s what I call an automotive experience.

Happy Friday, drive safely.

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As the wires are abuzz with the official launch paraphernalia of Maclaren Automotive, we had to make our perhaps predictable take on the new British supercar.

Sure, if McLaren produce a production car it is going to be special. Of course it is going to be loaded with tons of engineering knowledge, and perhaps a little trickle down tech from the all-conquering Formula One team.

But for us, the way the car looked was always going to be at least as important in the tech that made its tick. And also for us, the relatively staid, conventional look of the first press and show issues of the 12C were completely underwhelming.

Compared to the brutal, forward-leaning stance of the snarling uber car that was the F1, it looked rather timid – a rather staid confection that amounted to something akin to the Evora without the quirk. But, looking at these latest pictures, and with the carbon black finish drawing your eye to the whole rather than the parts, you can see how the design cues are at least as reminiscent of Ferrari’s 458 Italia and the R8. And that can only be a good thing.

Call us shallow. But we would only want one in black.

Lamborghini have produced some of the most hardcore cars ever to grace the streets. The overt machismo of the designs aren’t to everyone’s taste. But you can’t help but admire the definition of automotive exotic. Here are a few of our fave Lambos, from concepts to classics.

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The rarified world of academic car design throws up some interesting concepts every now and then. Many are worthy responses to real-life briefs from within the car industry and offer constructive solutions. Others take future scenarios and offer outlandish strategies for practical or aesthetic problems that haven’t arisen yet. Other just look evil. Firmly in the latter category is designer Slavche Tanevsky’s ‘Ankonian’ concept for Lamborghini from 2009. This concept was, apparently, named after a breed of bull famous for its black bristly hair – and basically pushed the real-life Reventon design signatures to their ultimate conclusion. The designer had a healthy amount of practical help from the inhouse team at Lamborghini/Audi, so as you can see, the model he produced looks good enough to develop. Give the man a job.

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This is the car that raised new Lamborghini to new levels. Incorporating the sort of technology, like e-gears, cutting edge aerodynamics and lightweight construction crossed with stratospheric power, the Murcielago defined the obsession with extremes in super car aspiration in the noughties. And for all its various manifestations, the original LP 640 in fighter-plane grey and black alloys is the Lamborghini for which we would most willingly sell a kidney.

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Having become a legend with the Miura and Miura S models since their production began in 1966, in the spring of 1971 Ferruccio Lamborghini surprised the world with the new Countach LP 400. Because the demand for the Miura was still high and preparations were still underway for the mass production of the Countach LP 400, the company decided to present the evolution of the Miura, the SV model, with its wider mud guard and greatly revamped 385 HP engine with separate lubricating systems for engine and gearbox. The last Miura SV was delivered on 15th January 1973 to the son of the car manufacturer Ferdinando Innocenti.

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Espada became Lamborghini’s best seller from 1968 to 1978. The 4-seater was designed and built by Carrozzeria Bertone. Depending on the version, the 4-litre 12-cylinder engine developed between 325 and 350 HP. With 1,227 models produced – and from 1974 also available with a Chrysler automatic 3-gear gearbox – the Espada was the backbone of the company in financial terms, for eleven years.

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The Diablo was the ultimate transitional Lambo. It’s chunky, brutal design wasn’t for everyone, but the aesthetic was moving toward the new look of the Murcielago and the Gallardo that were heralded by Audi’s involvement in the brand. In September 1999 Lamborghini presented Diablo GT at the frankfurt show as the world’s fastest production cars. To reach the promised 338 km/h the GT had a 6-litre V12 engine, plus a completely revamped body and chassis. Only 83 were ever built. Brutal beauty.

Lamborghini released late last week the first photographs of a limited edition Murciélago LP 650–4 Roadster. This hyper-exclusive hyper-roadster will include an uprated 6.5 litre V12 engine that produces 650 hp, along with permanent four-wheel drive. With 660 Nm of torque, performance is at 0– 100km/h (0-62mph) in 3.4 seconds. The top speed is around 330 Km/h (205mph). Only 50 of the special edition model will be produced with a Grigio Telesto exterior that combines grey bodywork with a special bright orange logo featured on the front spoiler and sills. It features orange brake calipers and a transparent V12-engine cover, which shows off the engine behind the driver.

Of course, the Murcielago is an incredible creation. With each lighter, faster, more powerful manifestation of the car it becomes more stunning and desirable. But does it really even come close to the beautiful outrageousness that was the Countach LP400 of 1974 (Above)? Coming hot on the heels of the gorgeous but relatively understated Miura, the Countach represented the quintessence of a Lamborghini legend that in our opinion, the company has been trying to invoke, not quite successfully, for almost 40 years. You can see the echoes of the Countach’s design in the contemporary Murcielago, but it’s a digitised, almost too perfect resonance.

Marcello Gandini and Nuccio Bertone were responsible for the design of the LP400. It had twelve cylinders mounted lengthwise (Longitudinale Posteriore – hence LP) and a wedge-shaped body only 1.07 m tall with scissor doors. With its lack of compromise and unforgettable personality (not to mention the blistering performance) it redefined the very idea of the sports car. I remember seeing a white one parked on our local high street on a Saturday afternoon. It caused a sensation. I can remember feeling something akin to infatuation for weeks after. Even today the cars gather crowds wherever they go. But back in the mid seventies the muscular braggadocio of the beast seemed to have come from Mars rather than the hills of Northern Italy.

So why does the newest Murcielago leave us a little cold compared how the Countach made us feel? It might be that technology has seemed to make the production of supercars too easy. In the same way as the Apollo program took men to the moon using little more than a slide rule and a greasy spanner, the Lamborghini Countach defined the future of cars with hand-beaten steel and 4-star brawn. The genius of the Murcielago is undoubtedly there. It is just hidden in a super slick format we’ve seen so often before.

The Maserati Ghibli is one of the finest car designs ever to flow from the pen of Giorgetto Giugiaro (see our feature on Giugiaro on page 20 of influx issue 6). Powered by a V8 mounted up front, the car came with the unusual feature of two fuel tanks.

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The immense 612bhp 6 litre v12 makes the 599 the most powerful production Ferrari ever, and if supercars have any kind of a future, this may be it. The Pininfarina design is fresh as ever, and the ride is superb, thanks to the same Magneride suspension used on the Audi R8 (and featured on page 7 of influx issue 6).

In fact the 599 is everything the Ferrari F40 wasn’t — a usable supercar with performance when you need it, and refinement all the time, with all mod cons thrown in — it even comes with an iPod connection as standard.

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The Ferrari F40 recently celebrated its 21st birthday. The swansong of Enzo Ferrari, it was introduced on 21st July 1987 to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary.

Engineered with the sole purpose of becoming the fastest production car in the world, Ferrari viewed it as a competitor to the Porsche 959. But whereas the Porsche was a luxury automobile, the Ferrari was a stripped-down, raw machine of Kevlar, carbon fibre and lightweight aluminium and didn’t even come with floor-mats.

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