Bristol fighter
Ask any car enthusiast to name a British manufacturer of luxury cars and you are odds on to hear the words Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin or Jaguar. Often said to be the best kept secret in the world of British cars, Bristol deserve to be bracketed with all the above, for they have been producing hand made luxury automobiles of the very highest quality for more than 60 years.
Best known for understated saloons of undeniable quality, Bristol took the motoring world by storm a few years ago when it unveiled what is quite possibly the most astonishing car on the market today: the Bristol Fighter – the name is, like most Bristol’s, a reference to the companies origins manufacturing aircraft – is quite simply a car like no other.
Like most well kept secrets Bristol’s tend to harbour loyal customers, and the Fighter looks as though it will continue with the tradition. From the shape – a quite beautiful fastback that exudes speed and style – to the specification this is a very special car indeed.
A V10 engine of a mighty eight litres churns out a spellbinding 525bhp, this increasing to 550bhp at high speeds thanks to supercharging, and is enough to propel this quite remarkable car to 210mph, having reached 60mph from standstill in four seconds flat.
Listening to the Fighter in full flow is like listening to a squadron of Spitfires swarming overhead, a beautiful cacophony that more than justifies the name.
And this is just the standard version: the ‘S’ version gives an astonishing 660bhp, and there’s more.
Bristol customers demand the best, and the firm took the step of introducing the Fighter T – a twin supercharged version of an already incredible car – to satisfy the most demanding of customers. And look at these figures – if you can do so without catching your breath, well, you’re a better man than I am.
The Fighter T produces – wait for it – 1012bhp. I’ll write that in words just to make sure you take it in – one thousand and twelve brake horse power. There is nothing like it – bar the Bugatti Veyron – in the world today, and the Fighter T is even more exclusive than that German pretender.
The Fighter T reaches 60mph in three and a half seconds, and is electronically limited – for safety’s sake – to 225mph. The manufacturer claims a potential 270mph if unlimited.
This has to be just about the fastest car on the road today, and the fact that hardly anybody has heard of it is testament to the closely guarded way in which Bristol customers keep their passion close to their hearts.
Britain has always had a tradition of high performance sports cars, and the Bristol Fighter is one such car that promises to cement that tradition in the modern age.
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