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Why are we so fascinated with Sport Cars? What separates it from any other car? Is it simply the flowing curves of its body, the sound of a high performance, high output engine or perhaps the harmonious combination of all of these factors?
Everyone will have a different opinion on what makes a Sports Car so special and the reasons why we love them so much. Even those claiming that Sports Cars are an unnecessary luxury can't help but to turn their heads when one drives by flashing its aerodynamic lines and with the beautiful sound of a powerful engine. Since the development of motorized vehicles, a small select group of individuals were fascinated by power, beauty and speed and made it their life's mission to continue building them bigger, more powerful and faster.
From their relatively simple and sluggish beginnings, vehicles quickly developed into a very useful mode of transportation and working tool. For some, this new way of transportation turned into an obsession of power and speed and the age of racing cars and Sports Cars began. What spurted the invention of the motor vehicle was not the thought of beauty or aesthetics, but function. Originally what designers and manufacturers had in mind when building cars and other means of transportation was not looks or power, but the need to carry both people and heavy loads from one place to another.
Humans though have an eye for beauty and a thirst for power and speed and the combination of these attributes led to the inevitable birth of Sports Cars. As new developments occurred in the early motor industry a small number of designers, builders and drivers pushed the earlier motor cars on race tracks to test their handling and speeds to the limit. These races fueled the next generation of cars and drivers. As engines became more powerful, the need for better handling and stability began to push designs to new levels.
Big powerful engines were placed into fragile frames and pushed to the limit often with dire consequences to drivers and spectators. But humans have a need to go faster and faster and this drove these brave and quite often reckless early pioneers to design better and more powerful machines and this began the start of the new age of the modern motor Cars. Safety was usually an after thought if it came up at all. The main focus was pushing the machines and drivers to their limits and beyond if possible.
The engines power output quickly outgrew the motor cars ability to handle the new speeds, so the designers had to rethink the chassis and suspensions limitations. Motor cars began to evolve with new ideas and breakthroughs in technologies incorporating aerodynamics to help reduce drag and using stronger materials in the building of the chassis and bodywork. Developing test vehicles purely for racing was the beginning of what we now class as Sports Cars or Race Cars.
After the Second World War a new breed of Sport Cars began to emerge. Up until then only wealthy individuals could afford to buy Sport Cars. But with the new technologies and advancement in manufacturing processes mass production became possible. What was even more important, a more affordable price tag made them more accessible to the average owner and driver. Sport Cars had taken their first steps from the exclusive domain to main stream availability.
Over the next few years as advancements were made on and off the racing circuit designs began their slow transformation into the popular modern shapes of today's models. Many famous names have added their own distinctions to the Sport Cars moulds and most can be easily identified by pure shape alone even today.
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