Gallery: are you ready for London 2019 supercar season?

By topgear, 31 March 2019

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It’s time to *record scratch* rewind and take it back to the old-school. See, having spent the last few years swanning around the world shooting the best supercars on the streets of California, Japan and Monaco, you may think that Alex Penfold would have gone full tilt diva and forgotten about his roots.

But you’d be wrong. He still skulks around England’s capital to seek out the finest cars on our fine city’s streets. And he’s still very good at it.

Having returned from his far-flung travels, our supercar paparazzo has been on a tireless quest chronicling the recent explosion of exotica strewn expensively around our ancient streets.

Scamping around the streets, he’s eaten out of bins and slept in an old TV box to make sure he spots the finest four-wheeled cars in Zone 1. This may be an exaggeration.

But as you can see, he’s managed quite the haul of hypercars. With a flock of McLaren Sennas, the new Ferrari F8 Tributo and a host of gorgeous classics to name a few, there’s plenty out there.

This weekend the clocks spring forward, meaning summer and the latest crop of scintillating supercars will soon be parked on the streets. So click through to whet your whistle at what’s coming. Then let us know what you’d like to see on the street below.

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Ferrari F8 Tributo

This is the new Ferrari F8 Tributo. Not only the most powerful mid-engined V8 Ferrari supercar in history, but also a rosso-liveried haymaker aimed at Woking. Watch out 720S: the 488’s successor is here.

(Click HERE to read our Ferrari F8 Tributo review)

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A trio of McLaren Sennas

Does anyone know what the collective noun for a trio of McLaren Sennas is? Let us know.

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Ferrari F40

The most famous wedge to come out of Maranello, the awesome F40.

(Click HERE to read about a 348 that's been transformed into a F48)

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Pagani Zonda Uno

The Zonda is the seemingly oxymoronic never-ending limited production run. This one being the ‘Uno’, a special one-off built for Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Thani, a member of Qatar’s royal family who loves his rare cars to come in the same colour as posh parts of the sea.

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Porsche 997.1 GT3 RS

If you’re going to get clamped, you may as well be colour-coordinated.

(Wanna see more of Porsche 911 GT3 RS? Click HERE)

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Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster

At the 1957 Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz introduced a convertible version of the celebrated 300 SL coupe “Gullwing,” the 300 SL roadster. 62 years later, it’s still just as stunning.

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911 reimagined by Singer

To most people, this is just another Porsche 911. To Porschephiles, it’s pretty much heaven.

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Ferrari 288 GTO

Conceived to go racing in the subsequently aborted Group B category, the 288 had the F1 team’s fingerprints all over it, and used a high tensile steel spaceframe, with Kevlar, fibreglass and aluminium elsewhere.

Its 400hp, 2,855cc 32v V8 was mounted longitudinally, which allowed the ancillaries, gearbox and twin IHI turbochargers to be more efficiently packaged, though Pininfarina design boss Leonardo Fioravanti still had to stretch the wheelbase by 11cm and widen the track.

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Jaguar XK120 Coupe

We’re not sure what’s artier: the painted bricks, or the gorgeous Jag.

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Ferrari Enzo

Ferrari made 400 Enzos. But there’s only one bare-carbon Enzo in the world… this one.

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Lamborghini Reventon Roadster

There have been many extreme cars in Lamborghini’s history. But this is one of the most mental of the bunch. The drop-top version of the jet fighter-inspired V12 supercar, the Reventon Roadster.

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Ferrari F12tdf

Yes to a flipping fast Ferrari with fog lights.

(Click HERE to see what happens when an Isetta 300 meets a F12tdf)

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AC Cobra

There were only 998 true Cobras ever made, yet you’d struggle to find anyone not familiar with its curves and bulges.

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Porsche 991.2 GT3 Touring

The 911 GT3 Touring is essentially a GT3 without the rear spoiler and a compulsory six-speed manual gearbox. Nothing wrong with that.

(Click HERE if you're looking for a big-winged 6spd manual 991.2 GT3)

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Porsche 918 Spyder

The 918 is the car with the biggest difference between Race mode and “all off”: switch off all the electronic minders, and the fastest Porsche becomes tricky. Leave them on and you’ll be gasping. Not that you can do that around London.

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Pagani Zonda

An early Zonda. An icon if there ever was one.

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Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

The Mercedes-Benz 300SL glistening like a giant, exquisite paperweight hewn from a solid piece of precious metal. Glorious.

(Click HERE to read about the perfect barn-find 300SL)

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Ferrari Challenge Stradale

Literally ‘Challenge Street’ in honour of Ferrari’s one-make race series, the CS was the car that really kicked off the lightweight trend for Ferraris. True, there were uprated versions of the 348 and F355, but the howling 420bhp really is the daddy of Scuderia and Speciale.

(Wanna read about the Challenge Stradale, 430 Scuderia and the 458 Speciale? Click HERE)

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Aston Martin Zagato Speedster

Just 28 of these will be built, and unsurprisingly, all 28 have been sold. And there we were, set to value our kidneys…

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Porsche 911 GT2 RS

The fastest car around the TG Test Track. And probably one of the fastest ways to get a pint of milk.

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Porsche Carrera GT

Launched in 2005, the Carrera GT produced 620hp from its 5.7-litre race-derived V10. Mounted in the middle of that lightweight tub, it revved to 8,400rpm and made the most incredible wail. If you could get around the tricky clutch, you’d see 0-100km/h in 3.9secs and a top speed – where permitted, naturally – of 330km/h.

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Ferrari 250 Lusso

Money green Ferrari. Worth a pretty penny this, too.

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Aston Martin Zagato Shooting Brake

The Vanquish Shooting Brake was the final part of the burgeoning family of Zagato-designed Vanquish models, built to celebrate Aston and Zag’s long, storied history. It may be the best.

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Ford GT

The Ford GT is not a supercar in the same mould as an Audi R8, a Ferrari 488 GTB or even a McLaren 720S. It’s the next step on, where they strip out the weight, ramp up the aggression and really work the aero. Really, really work the aero.

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McLaren P1 LM

Road legal P1 GTR boasts less weight and more downforce. Hypercars don’t get any more hardcore than this.

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Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

The four-litre was the last road-going appearance for the Mezger flat-six, so-called because it was the culmination of the brilliant career of Hans Mezger, one of Porsche’s lynchpin engineers for four decades up to the mid-Nineties (the 917, the TAG McLaren F1 engine, dot dot dot).

This crank and block won Le Mans in 1998, mid-mounted and turbocharged in the Porsche GT1 car. This is an engine with heritage, character and immense physical integrity. It was one of the greatest ever.

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Lamborghini Huracan Performante

Shock! A Lamborghini Huracan Performante in London not doing launch control runs into a tree.

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McLaren 675LT

This is what happens when you love the McLaren F1 and throw your LT and wallet at MSO.

(Fab drive! Click HERE to read about it)

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Ferrari F50

Ah, The Ferrari F50. As we said in our special TG Collector’s Edition Ferrari mag, “the F50’s years flying under the radar are now emphatically over”. It really was something of a forgotten gem for about 20 years. And we really can’t figure out why.

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Pagani Huayra BC

Remember the Huayra? The successor to the almighty Pagani Zonda that’s named after a South American wind god called Huayra Tata? Well, here’s one in purple.

STORY Rowan Horncastle

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