[Peloton25]

Before the debate begins to rage (if at all), here's the few paragraphs that mention the F1 in the editor's column:

Super Car Du Jour

But not all cars will appreciate. At the Collier Seminar, (Simon) Kidston led a class on the future of today's supercars. We had, on site, a McLaren F1, a Ferrari Enzo and F40, a Porsche 959 and Carrera GT, a Jag XJ220, and a Bugatti EB110 and Veyron. It made for a handsome garage. In my opinion, these flavor-of-the-month cars have -- with a couple of exceptions -- nowhere to go but down in value.

The McLaren is a surefire blue-chip collectible, with technological excellence backed up by true competition heritage. Winning at LeMans is a nice "occupational experience" to have in your marque resume.

And though the 959 looks like a 911 with a rather tail-heavy body kit grafted on, it will stay strong. This is partly because it was such a successful rally car, partly because it was a highpoint in automotive technology, and because a large number of Porsche fanatics will always look to it as an icon.

The F40 stands the same way. LM versions had some successes, and visually, with its outrageous Plymouth Superbird wing, the car was the first bad-boy Ferrari to come along since the Daytona.

But here the water gets murkier. The Carrera GT looks like the Boxster from the front, has no competition history, and is being built in huge numbers (over 1,200 at last count). These factors alone will guarantee that no one cares in the long run.

The Enzo will become as unloved as the F50 is, once the model supplanting it. the "Enzo X-treme," hits the road. The EB110 is just a goofy afterthought, a made-up car with a made-up brand who's only redeeming value is its rarity.

The XJ220, arguably launched with the worst PR campaign in history, as well as a raft of Jaguar lawsuits against disgruntled customers, continues to be curvaceous, huge, and irrelevant. Finally, rather than concentrating on the Passats that paid the bills, VW's ex-chairman, Ferdinand Piech, managed to squander enormous resources on the new Veyron, a car that will never be more than a collecting afterthought, no matter how prodigious its performance.

-Keith Martin

My sincere apologies to Enzo and Veyron lovers everywhere.

>8^)
ER