5 Incredible Cars, Made Almost Entirely from Carbon Fiber

Carbon fiber got its big break in Formula 1 back in the early-’80s, and the motorsport hasn’t looked back since. Now, it’s almost assumed the average sports car will come with carbon fiber for the aesthetic at the very least. In the right applications, carbon fiber is both stronger than steel and lighter, so it’s really a no-brainer why race teams originally forked over the money to make their entire cars out of the stuff. And, like many technologies born from racing, over the past few years, carbon fiber has become a household name when it comes to road cars too. But the black woven material is expensive. So while some more pedestrian cars only have a few trim pieces and parts made of CF to save a little weight, it’s the heavy-hitting performance cars that are made almost entirely of the stuff that really show off carbon fiber’s best characteristics.

Wrinkling NYC Streets in a McLaren 570S

Sung Han

My thoughts on the 570S are simple: it’s so vibrant, so alive, so natural and so feral. A Porsche 911 Turbo coddles you as though you’re a slick executive; the McLaren doesn’t give a damn about your corner office.

Roaring from the Ashes, the Alfa Romeo 4C

The Alfa Rome 4C confounds. It boasts the curves of a $300,000 supercar, enough precision steering to slosh your organs, and a turbo dump with enough swoosh to make Nike sue for infringement.

The Greatest Car Japan Has Ever Made

Maybe it’s the classic sports-car proportions. Maybe it’s the fact that there aren’t any extraneous gadgets and gizmos. Or maybe it’s just some ineffable translation of the passion that was put into the LFA by its team of engineers, designers and craftsmen.

Driving the Aventador Roadster in the Hills Above Sant’Agata

Like any Lamborghini with a V12, the Aventador is a numbers car: 0–60 in 2.9 seconds, 6.5 liters, 12 cylinders, 690 horsepower, 8,500 rpm redline, $441,600 price tag. But saying you have an idea of the car based on its spec sheet is the same as saying you have a pretty good idea about quantum physics because you read the back cover of A Brief History of Time.

The McLaren 675LT’s Deal with the Devil

This is the $345,000 tricked-out track-ready version of the British brand’s already awfully track-ready car, the 650S. LT stands for “Longtail,” in homage to a special edition of the company’s famed F1 supercar from the mid-1990s.

Oris Williams Chronograph Carbon Fiber Extreme

Swiss watchmaker Oris and Willams Formula have enjoyed a 13-year partnership, but Oris’s latest watch release may be the best product of the collaboration thus far. The new Williams Chronograph Carbon Fiber Extreme is an incredible feat of engineering, utilizing the same lightweight technical materials you’d expect to see on an F1 car. The case is made from carbon fiber, molded in a patented process where sheets of woven carbon fiber are layered into molds, then hardened twice under 50 meters of pressure at 130 degrees Celsius. The end result is a strong and lightweight watch that, when paired with DLC-coated titanium trim and a reliable chronograph movement, makes for a stealthy timepiece truly befitting hardcore car enthusiasts. Learn More: Here

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