These Cars Were Ahead Of Their Time, Even More Awesome With Age

The 5 Greatest Homologation Specials Of All Time

They cost a fortune, look absolutely mad and are completely impractical, but homologation specials are arguably the coolest creations to ever hit the streets. Here are five of the best, as chosen by you

4. Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion

In order for Porsche to enter the highly competitive GT1 category back in 1996, a total of 23 road going-machines had to be built. To be specific there were two 1996 cars, 20 1997 cars and only one variant was built in 1998.

The Strassenversion (road going) uses a 3.2-litre twin-turbo flat-six engine which puts out 536bhp and 443lb ft of torque. Now these might not seem like big numbers compared to modern supercars like the Porsche 918, but considering the GT1 only weighed 1120kg, the GT1 could get to 62mph in around 3.8 seconds.

Unfortunately the GT1 was routinely beaten on track by Mercedes’ ferocious CLK-GTR. As a result Porsche - along with a number of other manufacturers - pulled out of the GT1 class for 1999, effectively killing the championship class.

5. Nissan R33 GT-R LM

Key regulations were introduced for 1995 in the FIA GT1 championship that effectively abolished prototype racers from the class. Eyeing an opportunity, Nissan decided that it would base its new Le Mans racer on the highly successful R33 Skyline. Unusually, only one road car had to be built to homologate the model, so Nismo did just that.

The R33 GT-R LM retained its RB26DETT engine and produced a reasonable 305bhp which was sent to the rear wheels. Visually, the biggest difference was the wide body kit that Nismo designed to accommodate the race car’s wider track. Because only one car had to be built, the LM was never sold. It is now stored in Nissan’s invitation-only museum.

Complete list (CarThrottle.com)