Legendary Race Cars You Need to Know

Some race cars are so advanced, they change motorsport forever. Here are some of the most important competition cars, according to you.

The FW14's dominance came to a head in 1992, when it was equipped with a highly advanced active suspension system. It also had a semi-automatic gearbox and a traction control system, which, when combined with the suspension, made for a car that was nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the field. Of course, that dominance didn't last long - the suspension and traction tech have since been banned from the sport.

Running against cars with more displacement, more cylinders, and more power, it didn't look like the Audi 200 Quattro had a chance. But what those cars didn't have was all-wheel drive. The Audi did, which helped it put more power to the ground and led to Audi completely dominating Trans-Am racing in 1988. To keep Audi from repeating that performance, the rules were changed to keep it from competing in 1989.

It's easy to say your car is a "Tesla killer" or a "911 killer," but it's a lot harder to back up that claim with a product that's actually better than the one it's intended to beat. When Ford decided to go up against Ferrari with a new car, the idea sounded similarly laughable. Despite Ferrari winning LeMans the previous six years, the Ford GT40 managed to win the next four years.

Before the 1970s, rally cars weren't built specifically for rally duty. Existing cars were modified to become rally cars. That changed with the Lancia Stratos. It was designed from the beginning to be a rally car, and as a result, it was incredibly successful. The Stratos won 18 WRC races and took the World Rally Championship three years in a row.

Before Audi's all-wheel drive technology dominated Trans-Am racing, it was helping the company excel at rallying. Over the course of several generations, Audi's Quattro won rally after rally, culminating in the Sport Quattro S1 E2. While not quite as successful in WRC as previous versions, the S1 E2 is also notable for winning Pike's Peak's hill climb in 1987.

It may sound crazy to racing fans now, but until the Lotus 78 came along, Formula One cars didn't take advantage of ground effects. Its successor the Lotus 79 took what the 78 started and advanced it even further, making it the first car to truly use ground effects. The change to the car's aerodynamics was drastic, but the result was a car that may as well have been unbeatable in 1978, allowing Lotus to take first place in the WCC that year.

Mazda's known for its love of the rotary engine, so it should come as no surprise that one found its way into a Mazda race car. This particular race car, the Mazda 787, was exceptionally reliable, which made up for the fact that it was slower than the rest of the competition. In 1991, it ended up winning 24 Hours of LeMans, making it the only Japanese car to ever do so. It's also the only rotary-engined car to ever win, as well.

When you talk about dominant race cars, you can't do so without talking about the McLaren MP4/4. With Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at the wheel, the MP4/4 was nearly unbeatable in 1988. It placed first in 15 of the 16 races that year, with Senna even going on a streak where he won four in a row. Needless to say, McLaren won the Constructors' Championship that year.

While the Porsche 917 faced its fair share of challenges in its first year, by 1970, those kinks had mostly been worked out. The resulting car was capable of hitting incredibly high speeds for the time, reportedly as high as 240 mph. It won 24 Hours of LeMans in 1970, then followed that up with a victory in 1971, too. The Porsche 917 was also used in the 1971 Steve McQueen movie LeMans.

Porsche wanted to win in Can-Am, so it took the flat-12 engine from the 917, turbocharged it, and stuck it in this car, called the 917/30. In qualifying trim, it made an absurd 1580 horsepower, and could get to 60 mph in less than three seconds. It didn't take long for limits to be imposed, which eventually led to Porsche pulling out of the sport.

In the mid-1980s, the Porsche 962 was one of the most successful cars in racing. It was run by quite a few private teams as well as the factory team, and with modifications was still running races almost a decade later. It won the 1985 and 1986 World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of LeMans in 1986 and 1987, the IMSA GT Championship every year from 1985 to 1988, and quite a few other championships. A heavily modified 962 even won the 1994 24 Hours of LeMans.

Most of the cars on this list were included because they won a lot of races. The Tyrrell P34 only ever won one race, the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix. But with six wheels, it's still one of the most radical designs in motorsports history. The idea was to use smaller front wheels to reduce drag and improve braking, and it actually briefly worked. Tyrrell placed third that year but couldn't keep up the development needed to stay competitive. After the 1977 season, the six-wheeled P34 was retired.

Like the Tyrrell, the DeltaWing wasn't very successful in racing. But its weird, quirky design was a major step in seeing how a new shape could dramatically cut aero drag with less weight, using less engine power and fuel. Unlike most Le Mans race cars, the DeltaWing used no wings - all of its aerodynamics came from the underbody. New regulations in 2017 meant the DeltaWing could no longer compete.