The Hypercars are a recurring class at the London Concours and are a big attraction for the show.
It’s an incredibly rare opportunity to be able to get so close to such incredible examples of modern day engineering excellence and craftsmanship.
To see even one of the following cars at a show is a treat but to see all 14 at the same place is spectacular and I’m thankful that I get to cover the London Concours and experience this.
Normally with these articles I like to work my way up to the headline act. For instance, with my articles covering events at Brands Hatch I’ll write about the supporting races before the main event, to keep you guys here and to highlight something that you might not otherwise see. However, because every car that was at this event was noteworthy, I’ve broken each of the classes up into individual articles (for example: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2025/06/22/london-concours-2025-the-dream-cars/ ) which means that with The Hypercars I don’t really have a gentle place to launch from, so we’re just going to jump in.
I suppose the sensible place would be to start with something you might not have heard of before. This is the Maserati MCXtrema. It is a track car based very loosely on the MC20.
Like the MC20 at the heart of the car is Maserati’s twin-turbocharged ‘Nettuno’ 3.0 V6. This one has been heavily reworked though and now produces between 730-740bhp (up from 621 in the standard road car).
The body and chassis have also been heavily altered for greater downforce and it is lighter than the production MC20 (the figures for the MC20’s weight seem to be a bit of a drama – it seems to be somewhere between 1500 and 1700KG, the MCXtrema apparently weighs 1300KG.)
If you had a spare £936,000 to buy one I’m afraid you’re out of luck! All 62 units being built have been sold.
I have a bit of an obsession at the moment for air jacks. You basically plug a big bottle of compressed air into this plug and it fires four pistons out of the bottom of the car which lifts it so your pit crew can change the tyres super quickly. It would be completely pointless, but I’d love them on my road car haha!
Let us stick with the Italians and we’ll take a look at the Lamborghini Centenario.
40 of these were built (20 coupes and 20 roadsters) to commemorate the 100th anniversary Ferruccio Lamborghini’s birth.
It’s based on the Aventador platform but has a different body that features active aerodynamics and, interestingly, four wheel steer to give it a tighter turning circle.
I was going to make a sarcastic comment about it having four wheel steering to make it easier when you’re driving your £2 to 3 million car around a busy city centre. Then I remembered this show is in central London so I’ll just keep quiet.
The Countach LPI 800-4 is Sian which itself is also based on the Aventador chassis.
This has been a controversial car. Marcello Gandini who designed the original apparently doesn’t like it and neither do a lot of you guys on the internet.
I think that companies do take a risk when they bring back iconic names. The BMW Mini was hated at the time as was the reimagined VW Beetle. In more recent times Ford Europe have massively shot themselves in the foot by bringing back the Puma and Capri, names typically associated with sports cars, as SUVs.
I personally liked this Countach though. It takes a lot of design cues from the original car. I think the red really helps this car too. It’s a lovely colour and really suits it. I actually don’t think I’d like it as much if it were white, which was a colour iconic to the original Countach.
Aston Martin’s Speedster was heavily inspired by the DBR1 of the 1950s.
The Vantage was the base for these, but as Aston Martin wanted to use the DBS’ V12 they also used a lot of the front of the DBS chassis too.
88 were built in total.
Ferrari’s SP3 Daytona is the third car in the Icona series which is a program aimed at creating modern supercars that are inspired by classic Ferraris.
The SP3 takes cues from a number of racing prototypes from the 1960s and early 1970s but the design was most heavily inspired by the 330 P4 that won the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona.
I love the idea of the Icona program and I think the SP1 and SP2 are fantastic. Ferrari have a phenominal history and it’s nice to see them celebrate it (rather than naming SUVs after their most iconic models).
The SP3 is a car that you really have to see in person. I always think its quite an ugly car in photographs but when you see it in person it does work.
Sticking with Ferrari we have the LaFerrari.
The LaFerrari was Ferrari’s flagship car – following the Enzo and being succeeded by the upcoming F80.
It is Ferrari’s first hybrid and was one of the three cars that made up the Holy Trinity of hybrid supercars that came out in 2013.
The rest of the Holy Trinity were in attendance. Porsche’s 918 in Martini livery.
The final car in the trinity was the McLaren P1. This is one of just nine cars fitted with the high downforce kit (HDK).
The Senna was next in line in the McLaren Ultimate Series.
Named after famed Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, this is a track focused beast.
The graphics package on this one was really nice. It doesn’t show too well in photos but the graphics shifted from blue to purple as the light hit the car. The darker base colour really suits the Senna too – in my opinion they don’t look as nice in brighter colours.
The Gordon Murray Automotive T50 is really a celebration of Gordon Murray’s career.
The T50 shares a lot of DNA with Murray’s most famous design – the McLaren F1. It has a central driving position with passenger seats either side of the driver, but set back in the car. It also has the iconic butterfly doors of the McLaren Senna (which Murray drew inspiration for from the Toyota Sera of which I really, really want one!)
The T50 also has a fan at the back to suck the car into the road. Murray designed a Formula 1 car for Brabham called the BT46B which utilized a similar fan which was officially for cooling. The car raced at the Swedish Grand Prix in 1978 and was then banned.
The American Chaparral 2J utilized a similar technology in Can-Am in 1970. The BT46B’s fan was driven by its main engine though whereas the 2J’s was driven by a separate two stroke engine. The secondary engine was unreliable and ultimately Can-Am banned the 2J.
Swinging back to the T50. The car is powered by a 4.0 Cosworth V12 mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox and it weighs an impressive 997KG. I bet it is a blast to drive!
It has been 11 years since the Koenigsegg One:1 was presented at the Geneva Motor Show and it still blows my mind. This car (based on the Agera RS) makes 1,341bhp (one megawatt) and weighs 1341KG giving it a perfect 1:1 power to weight ratio.
Seven were built and curiousity got the better of me here. To buy it from new the One:1 cost £1.67 million. The last one to sell was at Bonhams in 2019 and that sold for £3.7 million. Now in 2025 it’s surely got to be pushing £5 million or more. Not a bad investment!
I’ve always loved the carbon fibre wheels on the Agera.
Horatio Pagani is an artist. All three of the cars that Pagani Automobili Modena have produced have been absolutely spectacular.
There were two examples in this class of the Concours competition. One, I loved, and the other… to be polite about it the specification really didn’t do it for me. Obviously as long as the owner is happy with it, that’s what matters, but it really didn’t do it for me.
We’ll start with the positive. This is an exposed carbon over yellow Huayra and it is a work of art.
I loved these dainty mirrors.
The patterns in all the grills were a really nice touch too.
The airbrakes at the back. These were lifted up and down by little intricate gold adonised aluminium arms which was such a lovely little detail.
The main man’s signature:
The interior was a bit vibrant and I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure of it at first. After spending a couple of minutes with the car though I’d found I’d come to like it. It was a brave choice of colour but it does work.
The yellow brake calipers to match the interior tied the car together.
Following the Huayra came the Utopia.
I’d not actually seen a Utopia in person and I’m going to wait until I’ve seen another before passing judgement.
This one was bright! Whereas with the Huayra you could pick up on all the intricate little details as you walked around it, with this Utopia my eyes were just bombarded by the colour.
Again, as long as the owner is happy with it that’s what counts, but it was a bit full on for me and to be honest I felt the bright colour detracted from the car. When all the promotional material came out for the car it was presented in a really pale rose gold which I personally felt suited it much better and complimented the craftsmanship that went into the car rather than distracting you from it.
Ok, I’m going to have to share some pictures of it. Do you have your sunglasses ready?
Last warning. Get those sunglasses on!
Here we go:
Finally we come to the OG hypercar. The first car to really wear that title.
It made 1001PS (987bhp) and would carry you to 253mph. It wasn’t a brutish, harsh race car for the roads though. It had big leather seats, plush carpets, air conditioning that would keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature even at high speeds and a good sound system.
It is the automotive equivalent of having Concorde as a private jet.
The Veyron and the subsequent W16 powered Bugattis are extremely complex machines and maintenance is eye wateringly expensive. To change the oil in a Veyron costs $21,000 (£15,500 ish at the time of writing) and each of the specially designed Michelin Pilot Sport PAX tyres cost $10,000 (£7400 ish). Scary stuff!
Thanks for reading. It’s a great experience getting to photograph and write about these astonishing cars.
There are still a few more posts to come covering the London Concours. If you would like to see more please subscribe to the blog via email (from the box at the bottom of the page).
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By Richard Francis
