Interested in Owning the Fastest and Most Exclusive Cars in the World?

For the most obsessive car collectors, the goal is to secure that one car that none of your colleagues and/or competitors was able to land. This pursuit can spin off in various directions. You could scour the local automotive graveyard, visit a classic car auction, or contract a resto-mod builder for a one off creation. Or you could consult an exotic car manufacturer regarding a track special, the subset of modern-day collectibles that are defined by their extreme rarity. Engineered for pure speed on the track, these rare beasts bring high performance to new heights. The most exclusive car brands in the world are ready to deliver a track special to you—if you have the connections and the funds. Here’s a quick rundown of what you can find in this rarified arena.

Aston Martin

Adrian Newey, arguably the greatest race car designer in history, drew the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, which is, effectively, a Formula 1 car for the private owner. (AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing, the motorsport division that produces race cars for various series, including Grand Prix.) The car is an audacious and exceedingly rare derivation of the “regular” street-legal Valkyrie. There have been 235 examples of the road-going Valkyrie produced but only 40 of the AMR Pro version. The car is powered by a naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 Cosworth engine that has been massaged to produce 1,156 horsepower and rev to a screaming 11,100 r.p.m. Although the manufacturer doesn’t provide precise acceleration or top speed figures, a single line on the landing page says it all: “Insanely fast, by anybody’s standards.” The Valkyrie AMR Pro is not the first track special from the British manufacturer. For example, in 2015, it produced the Vulcan AMR Pro, a track-ready GT car priced at $2.4 million (U.S.). Only 24 were ever built. In the past, there have also been AMR Pro versions of the brand’s nominally “entry-level” performance car, the Vantage. The Valkyrie project was initiated in 2016 by Aston Martin with the Red Bull F1 team, back when the manufacturer was a sponsor of the F1 squad. There have been two major developments since then: first, the brand now has its own F1 team, and second, the team has lured Adrian Newey away from Red Bull. The smart money: look for more track specials bearing the Aston Martin winged logo in the near future, but get your wallet ready.

Ferrari

Ferrari offers exclusive track experiences and motorsport opportunities for Ferrari owners as a part of their Corse Clienti program encompassing the XX Programme and the Ferrari Challenge. The Ferrari XX Programme, launched in 2005, takes road cars and fine-tunes them for the track, extracting maximum performance in the process. The program— inhabited by some of the more serious Ferrari aficionados out there—began with the Ferrari FXX, based on the Enzo Ferrari supercar, which churned out more than 800 horsepower from its naturally aspirated V12 engine. Other models to come through the program have included the 599XX (the only track special with a front-mounted V12 engine), the 1,050-horsepower FXX K (based on the LaFerrari hybrid hypercar), and most recently, the 1,016-horsepower SF90 XX Stradale. The Ferrari 296 Challenge is the diehard driver’s entrée into track competition, based on the fantastic 296 GTB, and the star of the Ferrari Challenge Series. The onemake championship takes place in Europe and North America, England, Japan, and, as of this year, Australasia. The Ferrari 296 Challenge is powered by a twin-turbocharged three-litre V6 with 690 horsepower. While this is less than the hybrid-enabled 296 GTB, the race version counters by being some 140 kilograms lighter due to various weight-saving measures. Other revisions include a full roll cage and an F1-inspired braking system. To prepare owners for taking the green flag in the 296 Challenge Series, Ferrari offers instruction at tracks around the world.

Maserati

In the stratified world of Italian supercars with racing bloodlines, there are two names at the top: Ferrari and Maserati. Each has a rich history in both the manufacturing of adrenaline-fuelled production cars and in motorsport competition. The Maserati factory team competed in the Formula 1 World Championship from the inaugural season in 1950 to its withdrawal following the 1957 campaign. In that brief stretch, it captured one manufacturers’ title and powered the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio to two of his five drivers’ championships. Almost 70 years later, Maserati is once again setting racetracks on fire with the appropriately named Maserati MCXtrema. Based on the MC20 supercar, this track special features a twin-turbocharged three-litre V6 that generates 734 horsepower. Limited to just 62 for the global market, all of them already spoken for, the MCXtrema also boasts a quick-shifting six-speed sequential gearbox, adjustable suspension system, racing brake kit, full roll cage, and massive rear wing. So, yes, it’s a real race car. This latest Maserati also has ties to one of the most valuable track specials of the recent past, the Maserati MC12 Versione Corse. Produced in 2006, the Versione Corse was derived from a road-going version of the MC12 and another variation that competed in GT races around the world

McLaren

If not obvious by now, the car manufacturers that produce the most exciting track specials are those that have found success in motorsports. Chief among those is McLaren, a brand that was involved in top echelon racing long before it started building road cars. Founded by race driver Bruce McLaren, McLaren Racing has been competing in Formula 1 since 1966. The road car division, now named McLaren Automotive, was formed in 1985 but did not produce its first road car, the aptly named F1, until 1992, and then took a break before going full bore in 2011. Many of its road cars since then have set the stage for track specials, some of which are also ready to compete in race series. These include the McLaren P1 GTR, McLaren Senna GTR, and McLaren Artura Trophy Evo, which is based on the car that competes in the single-make McLaren Trophy race series. But another track special tops them all in terms of performance and audacity. Introduced in 2023, the McLaren Solus GT is based on a hypercar that was designed to compete in the virtual world. The McLaren Vision GT concept appeared in the Gran Turismo Sport video game in 2017 before making the leap from vision to reality. The real-world Solus GT is powered by a 5.2-litre V10 engine that creates 829 horsepower and screams like an F1 engine from the early 1990s. The reported performance figures for the car are staggering: 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in 2.5 seconds and a top speed in excess of 322 kilometres per hour. There will be 25 of this dynamite car built, but the entire production run has sold out.

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