Issue Forty Six

In This Issue

Ferrari 488 Pista – The Ferrari 488 Pista is powered by the most powerful V8 engine in the Maranello marque’s history and is the company’s special series sports car with the highest level yet of technological transfer from racing.
Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG – 6.0 litre V12 Bi-turbo AMG engine emits an intoxicating sound right from startup.
Lotus Exige S3 Sport 350 – The Exige is lighter, faster and uses cutting edge tech to raise it above the competition.
Porsche 968 Club Sport – Regarded as one of the best handling cars of all time.
Print PDF book

The digital version of the magazine is available here

Note from the Editor

This month I’ve been looking closely at auction prices and sales going through UK specialist and sportscar dealers, the market has noticeably slowed. Speaking to others involved in the industry, it seems as though it is a great time to buy a sportscar, dealers are accepting low offers on cars they have in stock. My advice as always is to buy with you head as well as your heart, be picky on which cars to offer on, the ones in the best condition, impeccable history and the most desirable options. For those of us that are in for the long term, this temporary slowdown will dissipate. When Spring arrives in full force, interest and demand in excellent cars will pick up again.

The three cars in this months issue of MotorStars magazine are the Porsche 968 Club Sport, Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG and the Lotus Exige Sport 350. If you see any of these cars available on the market now, my advice is to snap them up (subject to all necessary pre-purchase due diligence).

The Porsche 968 Club Sport was overlooked up until around four years ago, purely because it didn’t fit the usual formula of Porsche track cars, the engine was not only made of the wrong number of cylinders (four instead of six), it was also put in the wrong place (front instead of hanging out the back!) The level of involvement when driving the car is now widely accepted and prices have been rising dramatically from all time lows. We explore finding a good one in this issue.

The Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG is a monster, there is no other way to describe it. Fitting a V12 into the front of the convertible super tourer was a no brainer, however strapping not one but two turbos to it is utter over exuberance. The torque figure of 738ft lb rivals the thrust from a small commercial airliner, okay this is a slight exaggeration, but you get the point! Very few were made because they were simply too expensive compared to the extremely capable SL55 AMG, which means now the few that exist are highly coveted. There is the risk of big bills with the SL65, but if you follow our advice then you’ll be able to pick a good one and experience one of the most indulgent sportscars ever produced.
Raj Hunjan